By Roseanne Meier
October 15, 2009
What is IMDb?
IMDb offers movie lovers and curious occasional moviegoers a database to search through plentiful information about various movies. There are many features, nooks, and crannies to wander through on this website. IMDb boasts about its 57 million users each month. Users can upload films and their information to the database, but the user must provide evidence that it passes the eligibility requirements. There is a long list of requirements in the FAQ section.
What should I expect?
The purpose of IMDb.com is informational and for entertainment. The main reason why users visit this website is to learn about movies. If users are more familiar with the site and want to go beyond the basics of just typing in their movie of choice in the search bar, there are also other options on the menu bar. The menu bar has options including; now playing, movie/TV news, my movies, DVD and Blu-ray, and show times and tickets. This website is primarily great for finding all sorts of information about a movie, and users will stumble upon interesting facts that they were not searching for.
History
In 1989 IMDB was just recognized as two lists in an independent project group. One list included attractive actresses and the movies they appeared in and the other was a list of movie ratings. These lists were combined and by 1992 it had expanded to web with biographies and plot summaries. Today IMDB has a vast amount of features.
Key Features
Some of these key features listed on the homepage of the website include but are not limited to, trailers, news desk, photos, now playing, coming soon, TV listings, quote of the day, trivia, goofs, quotes, and the hit list. The hit list feature is a list of external links, updated daily that are added by users. Something interesting about the hit list feature is that it actually guides the user away from getting their information from the IMDB website. Movie lovers may return everyday to the website just to see the poll of the day feature. A great feature of IMDb is video capability. Trailers are available for most movies, as well as other short videos about the film.
Who does this site attract?
The audience for this website is broad, ranging from movie lovers to someone who just wants a couple details about a film they are interested in. The feeling and design of the web page would be that of a young adult to adulthood. When looking at the home page it invites feelings of going to the movies because of the popcorn flavored menu bar and ticket stub logo. Young kids could still easily use this website even though it may not be as interactive as they would be hoping. Still, the audience is of all ages because of the wide array of films on the site. The oldest movie in the database is from 1888 and users can find these array of movies by searching through movies by year. However, the movie selection is scarce when you start searching in the 1800’s. The website highlights the most recent and upcoming flicks, which might attract the younger crowd.
Getting around the website
The functionality of IMDB is poor to adequate. There is so much information packed on the site that it may seem difficult to navigate around. The sidebars do not stick out at all, and all the links seem to be bundled together throughout the page. The web page is divided into three columns, but your eye is never guided in any particular way.
However, the usability can be fairly easy because of the search bar and because the site will most likely have the information you are looking for.
Why IMDb.com?
You may wonder how IMDB relates to other websites that have movie information. When comparing the movie Titanic on IMDB and Wikipedia I felt a very noticeable difference between the two. Wikipedia is very text heavy and goes into a lot of depth about the historical characters, production, and filming. All of this information is crammed on one page. It also has a long, but helpful list of links where you can go to find articles and other information about the movie.
On the other hand, the main page on IMDB outlines the features of the movies and provides links to delve deeper. The plot summary of the movie, details almost every movement of the characters in the plot. The usability of IMDb is much easier, giving the user a brief outline of the information of the movie, and allowing the user to click on links to get more information.
Both sites have room for comments, but the comments on Wikipedia are not a forum for general discussion about the topic. Whereas IMDB allows the user to create an account and discuss their opinions about the movie in a forum.
The screenshot on the left is displaying information from IMDb about the movie Titanic. Whereas the screen shot on the right is a bunch of unattractive text about the movie Titanic from Wikipedia. What site would you rather visit?
4 out of 5 stars
The website can be a haven for movie lovers because of the wealth of information. But because there is so much information links seem a little disorganized on the home page. I give IMDb 4 out of 5 stars because there is a little bit of the feature film to finish.
Screen shots courtesy of imdb.com
References
“Titanic (1997).” Internet Movie Database (IMDb). 2009. IMDb.com, Inc. 5 Oct. 2009
Internet Movie Database (IMDb). 2009. IMDb.com, Inc. 5 Oct. 2009
“Titanic (1997 Film).” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 12 Oct. 2009. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 5 Oct. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_%28movie%29>.
No comments:
Post a Comment