Filling Wembley with Smarties

Leoné Watson, of digital development agency Nomensa, loves to quest for information, entertainment and trivia

I’m an information junkie, so for me the Internet is all about knowledge. The web is such a glorious place of interest, intrigue, curiosity and craziness.

Of course, the professional in me despairs at the quality of most websites. So little thought is given to making them easy to use, intuitive and accessible. Yet there are some good examples out there. Websites that give a little thought to the user’s experience and which don’t make me shout at my keyboard in frustration. Not all of the following websites fall into this category, but they do all lead to some fabulous information.

Internet Movie Database (IMDB) (www.imdb.com) has everything you ever needed to know about movies and quite a bit that you probably didn’t. If you’ve ever been watching a film and wondered what the name of an actor was, or which other films you’ve seen them in, IMDB is the place to go. Accessibility isn’t a word that you’d associate with this site, at least not if you’re a screen-reader-user. But with a little effort, you can find your way around and the rewards are worth it. Random facts and useless information about every film. Heaven!

As I write this, an email has just arrived in my inbox explaining that the Audible site (www.audible. co.uk) will be updated tomorrow.

Who knows what that will bring in terms of accessibility, but in terms of content, Audible is a treasure trove. When I’m not gallivanting on the Internet, I’m happiest with a good book. Audible happily combines those two passions.

With one of the largest collections of unabridged books I’ve been able to find, Audible always has something of interest. Better still, they’re reasonably-priced, often matching the cover price of conventional print books. In a complete break from tradition, Audible recently offered an audio copy of a book two weeks before the print version was available. Now how about that?

There are many more websites I could include. Wikipedia, BBC Food, Downing Street petitions, Babel Fish, Linked In and so many more. I’ve only got a limited amount of space to write here, though, so I’ll leave you with this thought: the Internet is a revolution. Whether you want to listen to Chopin, read Shakespeare, look at Da Vinci or find out how many smarties it takes to fill Wembley Stadium, this is the place to do it. Get out there and enjoy yourselves!