WEBHUB
REWARD
FOR
SEPTEMBER 1996
Arizona Pizazz bills itself as "your one stop site for leisure and entertainment related info on the Grand Canyon State and the Valley of the Sun." Depending on your tastes this is true or not true. While perhaps long on pizazz the site is too short on content to be a one stop for most of us. Still, this is a handsome, well done web site and deserving of notice.
The quick loading home page is well laid out. There is no wasted space or clutter. Text, images, and navigation icons are arranged in a simple, harmonious form. The icons and major text items are compilmentary and the red and purple pastel color scheme holds all the formal elements together very pleasingly. If David Siegel (Creating Killer Web Sites, Hayden Books, 1996) is right and the next generation of web sites is to be "wrought by design" then the talented folks at ATM Mediaworks, AZ Pizazz's production team, will likely find a place in that future.
Currently there are these 8 areas within the site: Concierge Services, Golf and Sports, Tours, Dining, Sites to See, Nightlife, Fun and Adventure, and Shopping. Each is the solid piece of design work that the home page is. Unfortunately, a closer look at these pages reveals the site's content shortcomings.
Illustrative of this problem is the Rock 'n Roll club listing at Nightlife. There are only four venues noted and several of the most prominent are missing. Long Wong's, Gibson's, Nita's Hideaway, the Nile Theatre, and Hollywood Alley are all neglected. Included, however, is Capers Bar. The accompanying description reads in part, "If you enjoy ballroom dancing or any form of Latin dancing, you'll love Capers." Huh?
A second sort of sin against content is the navigation bar at the bottom of the home page. Three areas are hyperlinked from this bar, but a click on any one of them brings you to a page that says only "Coming Soon." This is a needless shot to the foot. By all means announce what is to come, but don't create dead ends for your site surfers.
The upside to these evils is that they are easily correctible. With its smart and stylish format already in place Arizona Pizazz could in short time make itself over into a real asset for its owners and users. After such a strong start it certainly would be worth the effort.
