BlackPlanet Bugs: Reach Out and Click Someone?
Written: Dec 12 '02
| Site Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Sense of Community: |
 |
|
|
| Full Review |
You'd have to understand my position. I went to a liberal arts university with a relatively low "diversity" count -- Black students composed a bit less than 3% of the total population. For those of you who aren't interested in statistics, it's akin to being the only student of color in many of my classes -- and for someone who worked heavily in a major and had extensive classes in his dual minors, it's a bit rough on the nerves.
Well, enough self-pity, I'm here to talk about BlackPlanet.com, which was recommended by a couple of my friends at the university. What they liked about BlackPlanet was, well, that it featured Black community (for once). They told me of chat rooms and getting in touch with folks all over the nation. Granted, BlackPlanet couldn't do much for my university's Black population, but it sure helped alleviate that stress.
So I got a free membership and signed up, took a look around, checked things out. The BlackPlanet web design crew made quite the colorful and visually attractive design: clean, precise fonts (Small caps for all the navigation buttons and commands do it for me.), muted and coordinated color designs (that won't make you squint or strain), and a good sense of spacing. The bottom toolbar features a folder-tab navigation style that can zoom you around BP with relative ease.
With such careful attention paid to visual detail, it's a bit shameful to feature so many broken links and browser interference. You can click a tab several times and, even on a T1 connection, the page will load slowly, if at all. A BlackPlanet message service icon will pop up, providing the same functions as the home page's toolbar, but it often freezes up. In addition, some links try to open new browser windows; anyone who's had a tragic experience with frames knows how annoying it must be to watch toolbars pile on atop the other until, in frustration, you shut down Internet Explorer altogether.
My friend says BlackPlanet is better compatible with Netscape, but that only brings up a cross-generation browser. I'd like to think the Internet has demonstrated greater site success with sites that can be seen easily in IE, Netscape, or whatever third-party browser you choose.
If browser issues don't get in the way, by all means, feel free to enjoy the great sense of community among users. Chat rooms are often full, doing their best to cater to all types of users -- college students; mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers; senior citizens; people who want to share recipes, tips, websites. There's a place for everyone, literally, and chat rooms grant easy access to user profiles, guestbooks, and e-mail to facilitate communication...
...if you can get there smoothly.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
About the Author
Member: Dee Hill Zuganelli
Location: Tucson, AZ, USA
Reviews written: 133
Trusted by: 12 members
About Me: yo! :D
|
