Answers.com Takes New, Old Approach to Search - Getting Some Answers
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If I weren't such a trivia and information junkie, I'd be in a lot less trouble visiting a site like Answers.com. But I am, and the home page is set up to invite subject browsing. There are two versions of this page, Classic and Deluxe, and it's the latter version that shows up by default. Here's the Classic version, for those who are easily overwhelmed:
And what do you get with the Deluxe version? Across the top you can click on categories such as Business, Entertainment, Health, People, Reference, Shopping, Travel, Words, and more, just as you can on the Classic home page right underneath the search box. Below that is a highlighted article; the day I checked the site, it was Adam Smith. Right below that was the Question of the Day from WikiAnswers: “What is the historical significance of 'The Wealth of Nations' by Adam Smith?” I liked the synchronization.
Other sections on the Answers home page/portal included Today in History, Today's Birthdays, Word of the Day, Featured Health Videos, and a “spelling bee” (it defines a word, gives you four ways to spell the word it defined, and you must choose one). There was also a “What's New” box at the bottom. There were advertisements interspersed among all this information, of course, but they were limited to the right-hand side and easy to spot.
So much for the details; it's time to ask a question. And since my training is in history, I decide to apply a little English to the search box:
As you can see, I had to crop and shrink to fit. I asked “Who were King Henry VIII's wives?” and got an article that focused mostly on, well, King Henry VIII. Two of his wives are mentioned in the first article. Scrolling down yields an article that does mention all six. Sadly, the one link near the top that says “Six Wives of Henry VIII” is sponsored and doesn't go anywhere useful for my query.
The articles themselves, of course, are a browser's dream. And on the right hand side, there are boxes that show related questions waiting to be answered on WikiAnswers, related topics to read about, related items to purchase from Shopping.com (three books on Henry VIII's six wives, so I'd definitely call that well-targeted), and a quote from Quote of the Day, from the William Shakespeare play Henry VIII. The quote itself is even appropriate; it's spoken by King Henry VIII upon meeting Ann Boleyn, a future wife: “The fairest hand I ever touched: O beauty, Till now I never knew thee.”
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