It’s really been awhile since I had any interesting report from all my agents around. The last issue was WebSighting #7 dating back to August. I’ve been really busy and nothing out of the ordinary actually appeared before me on my screen.
However, the draught is about to meet some refreshing Bali rain. This latest review will blow away especially the Malaysian Tourism Board.
My latest agent, CSSImport brings you the wonderful website of Bali Tourism Board Magazine. And I can tell you that for a magazine website, it puts a lot of shame into our Malaysia Tourism Board website.
Would an excuse of comparing one being a magazine website and the other being a portal of information suffice the level of excellence between these websites? I don’t think so.
The Hello Bali or Bali Tourism Board Magazine website uses very earthy tones though green is its main color. The moment the homepage loaded for me, I was astounded by the feeling of R & R that it would have tempt me to just book a flight and flown to Bali. It’s utilization of many beautiful images gels with the website and creates this complete holiday like experience for me.
The website acts like a blog yet doesn’t feel like one. Even the layout used, tell me as if it’s being powered by WordPress but I don’t see any sign of it anywhere. Maybe I need Edrei to snoop around and try to find signs of WordPress around.
In their Listing page, it’s like a travel guide for you to search the experiences you want in Bali. There’s the reviewed nightclubs, the many different segments of the good food guide and the types of shopping you could do in Bali.
What I don’t really like about the website?
The banner with the ‘travel > dining > shopping’ I actually mistaken it for buttons or part of the website navigation.
It’s navigation is rather obscure because it’s got a menu above where the Home button is placed and below that is the content navigation. I would have prefered the Home button to be on the same row as the content navigation. I also personally feel that the Month 2005 button shouldn’t be placed on the far right because no one would really notice it.
I feel that it’s submenus in the categories isn’t effective enough. There’s something I’ve learnt about naming your navigation and it’s to keep it relevant with a meaning. If you were to give me a submenu like Hello Ubud found in Features, I’d be wondering what in the world is that?
I’m not sure if it’s just my perception of thinking but is anyone else confused with What’s On and Features? Both have the same meaning if I’m not mistaken.
Overall, I still feel that this website is a big hit in helping promote Bali and it’s magazine. I hope one day our Tourism Board website might be like this and better.
Malaysia got pwned!
gotta agree with you one the travel > dining > shopping thing, i myself thought it was for navigation =/
but overall nicely done :)
Danny, why don’t you propose to give the Malaysian Tourisn Board site a makeover?
Hmm, it’s not that I’ve never thought about it but I’ve never given it enough deep thought about it. I don’t think it’s as easy as emailing them and saying, “I would like to revamp your website..” and so forth.
Other than procedures, I believe you need to know someone on the inside to get you the project if you really wanted it. So in other words, anyone has got a person inside? :P