Jim Regan -- Site Reviews
eHow and Learn2.com
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Let's start with eHow. Using a notebook interface (the home page has fake spiral binding on the left - functional Index Tabs on the right), eHow offers visitors several methods of accessing its pearls of wisdom.
For the goal-oriented, a vertical Index down the left side of the page divides the site's contents into such categories as Automotive, Electronics, Pets and Travel. Of course, some of us may not realize that we need to know anything specific, so eHow uses the center of the home page to entice curious visitors into sampling the service.
It uses pull-down menus to offer such 'commercial' categories as "The Top 10 eHows" (Numbers 1 and 2 are, "How to ask Someone on a Date," and "How to Avoid an Encounter with a Bear"), "eHows For Who You Are" (Home Owners, Parents, etc.) and finally, advice on how to make "Something From Nothing" (finally, a use for all those AOL CDs) and how to "Cut Your Taxes." Other centerpage features include a Keyword Search and an "eHow of the Day" (on this day, How to make Risotto).
Choose a subject, (personally, I felt compelled to investigate "How to Avoid an Encounter With a Bear") and eHow produces a page with as much information on the topic as most of us will ever need -- including a bulleted list of recommendations, related eHow subjects, (including the not entirely encouraging "How to Survive an Encounter with a Bear") user tips, related Web sites and books, a printer formatted copy of the page, and the opportunity to purchase such relevant items as Bear Bells. (For you - not the Bear.)
If you want more detailed advice, you can use the "Ask an Expert" link to take you to EXP.com - a service that directly connects individuals to experts in any of nearly 100 subjects.
Finally, tabs down the left of the page take the visitor to a specific Search page, a personalized "My eHow" option, Resources (EXP.com) and the eHow Shop (which has its own list of eHows - ranging from "Shopping Securely Online", to "Buying an Iguana Terrarium").
Meanwhile in this corner is ... Learn2.com. While there are similarities, (Top 10 "2torials" list, keyword search, category index), Learn2 also offers such commercial options as Online Courses and Corporate Training. Still, plenty remains free of charge -- under "Free Learning", visitors are offered "Learnlets," (brief answers to popular questions), the "Learnlines Forum" -- where visitors can post and respond to unique questions -- and the full-length "2torials".
Since Bear Avoidance per se was not available, I chose the equally unlikely -- for me -- "Shop for a Cruise." Again, while there are similarities, (links to related 2torials, link to EXP.com, printer friendly versions) Learn2 presents its material in a different manner, spreading its advice over several pages, each with its own additional tips.
(Note: With eHow's and Learn2's methods of presentation so different, surfers will no doubt gravitate to a favorite approach, and you can make a quick comparison of how the two sites handle the same subject, by sampling eHow's treatment of "How to Tie a Tie"here and Learn2's technique here.) While much of the advice at either of these sites is fairly obvious ("If you spot a bear, change your course to avoid it"), there's also a good deal that is useful and/or entertaining. After all, I never knew how to make Risotto -- or what it was for that matter -- before this week, and if I ever need to learn how to tie a tie, I'll know exactly where to go.
Now if only those Bear Bells arrive before the weekend...
eHow can be found at http://www.ehow.com/home/home.asp. Learn2 can be found at http://www.learn2.com/
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e--Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.