Module 3

Blinklist v HTML:

BLINKLIST: - is a specialized web based application for creating a personalized bookmarking site. It has intuitive features designed to file and manage bookmarks according to personal preference and other variables such as favorites, popularity, recently visited and a most used “cloud” which graphically enhances the font, type and color of each bookmarked site in the “cloud” to give a visual overview of the sites that have been visited the most.

The bookmark “tag” that the user attaches to a site enables the link to be filed with other links with the same tag. The intuitive bit happens when Blinklist starts suggesting “tags” based on those you have already used. This provides some consistency in the filing method and should make it easier to maintain lists of references that are managed with an element of personal preference. Multiple “tags” means that the reference link has the potential to relate to any number of related topic enquiries.

Blinklist automates the task of creating and managing a personalized reference library that will become more advantageous as the list expands. This is an end-user application that can be integrated with other applications such as blogs and other Web 2.0 applications.

At first glance, the Blinklist has all the preferred format features such as scannability, easy to navigate and a simple and ordered appearance that make it easy to read and experiment with.

HTML: - reference list has, up to a point, provided the same results as Blinklist and any time difference taken in the initial construction of both lists was probably negligible. However, the html source code would have been very labour intensive and the process would require manual updating each time a new link/reference was added.

The absence of a cross reference link or tag would mean the individual references were isolated from each other and links to other related sites would require separate browser software. This highlights the dependency of this html list version on a server rather than the web (as in Blinklist).

The appearance of the html document is functional and ordered in headings but not graphically enhanced as Blinklist.

My Preference: - would be Blinklist as it is a tailored application that contains a package of features that focus on executing its function. It combines automation to handle large amounts of data and establish relationships within the data, with an ability for the user to include personal preferences e.g. tag names. There are several ways that the data can be stored and accessed and the tags give it access to other related data.

Html is a functional format but would be cumbersome if used to manage large amounts of data manually. It requires other server functions to perform similar tasks that are all contained in Blinklist.

If the web is going to be filled with these types of “Web 2.0” products then using “mashable” applications like Blinklist to expand the potential of other applications like Blogs would be preferable.