Website Of The Week – Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk
The Guardian Unlimited network of websites was launched at the beginning of 1999 – 11 January – in a flurry of press publicity and promotional garb.
On the whole, I was unashamedly impressed by the whole of the Guardian online network. Although this might have been slightly swayed by the fact that The Guardian is my favourite national daily, the title’s excellent editorial and reportage, combined with the advantages of being online, amount to an inexhaustible source of information, entertainment and discussion. The only problem the standard of the editorial created was distracting me from my task of reviewing the overall site, as I inevitably got drawn into reading too hard and too long!
The network consists of a number of specialist sites: News Unlimited deals, surprisingly, with news, taken largely from The Guardian, and online versions of both The Guardian and The Observer are available. The ‘Breaking News’ section is updated throughout the day, using sources such as the Press Association and Associated Press. News Unlimited also has some rather natty functions which enable you to email someone a news story simply by keying in their email address, and also allows you to put stories aside for reading later.
The other sites are: Jobs Unlimited, Football Unlimited, Cricket Unlimited, Film Unlimited and Work Unlimited. Film and Work Unlimited are currently preview sites, and full versions of them are yet to be made available.
The Film section is your pretty bog standard news and review page, with the added bonus of the special Guardian interviews, all of which prove to be invaluable reading for any movie-buff whose interest in film stretches beyond the superficial. Work Unlimited is highly amusing, even in its incomplete stage. The ‘Gag Factory’ provides copious giggles and features on office stress confirm that the average UK employee works too much and too late!
Not being much of a sports buff, there is a limit to how much I might appreciate both the football and cricket sites. Both are equipped with their own separate news and breaking news sections, and keep up to date records of all of the current and relevant tournaments, and the cricket site links to Wisden On The Web, described as ‘the bible of cricket’. Indeed.
Probably the most impressive part of the network, next to its news service, is Jobs Unlimited. Updated every day, the site showcases over 2000 jobs and can be personalised according to each individual user using the ‘Career Manager’. Jobs Unlimited also links to various specialist recruitment bodies and consultancies.
The Guardian Unlimited network is also very user friendly – perhaps the best place to start is the ‘Network Guide’ and ‘Get The Net’ in the ‘Useful Stuff’ drop-down box, which gives a helping hand to the vast majority of us who have learnt to use the net via trial and error rather than under instruction. Hell, it even shows you how to email the notorious Bill Clinton and Clint Eastwood!
Possibly the only major fault I could pin-point with this site is the fact that the text itself is presented in a rather dull and unadventurous way. Many of the features require long and sometimes arduous reading (due to the fact that they are on a computer screen), but once the header and some links to other parts of the site have been by-passed, the text just reels down against a blank black or white background. However, almost all of the items are complemented by sharp and stylish images, particularly the news, sports and film sections.
The Guardian Unlimited Network is generally an excellent and inexhaustible resource. It is unlikely anyone would have time to wade through the entire site in a day, and due to the fact that it is constantly being updated, it provides a continuous source of vital information, discussion and amusement. Although it drops a few points on the design front, this is counter-balanced by the quality of its editorial, and the accessibility of the site as a whole.