Netflix, Do or Don't By Rob and Lyndsey

If you’re one of the few college students that has a little more free time than you’re used to, and you can’t afford a TV or cable, then Netflix is a good alternative.  Whether you are taking a study break or find it easier to fall asleep while watching TV, Netflix can help you through it and make it as enjoyable as possible.

            Netflix began as a DVD-by-mail service and still offers that option with DVD rental plans, but it is known today as a website that allows you to watch your favorite TV shows, movies, and dramas anytime of day for only a small fee of $7.99 a month. Making it a nice way to cut that pricey cable bill.  You are able to watch these shows on your laptop, smartphone, tablet or even your gaming consule. If you would like to stream Netflix simultaneously on two screens your monthly rate goes up a dollar and so on for every HD screen added. And less popularly, Netflix has a limited streaming plan costing only $4.99 a month with so many restrictions; allotting only two hours of streaming per month. But for you first time users there is a one month free trial option and after that month you can decide if you would like to continue or not. If for some reason you decide Netflix is not for you make sure to cancel your account because after the one month trial your regular monthly service begins and you start to get billed.

After signing up for an account, a whole world of shows and movies await you.  On the home page, you will find a bountiful collection of the top shows seen on Netflix.  These shows can be categorized by genre, new releases, and things that would interest you, based on what you watched prior.  If your having trouble locating your favorite show on the home page, Netflix also offers a search feature that allows you to enter a few key words to help direct you to the show that you are wanting to watch. If you are getting Netflix for your kids, but don’t want them to watch any inappropriate shows, you can change the settings to restrict them to shows more suited for children of their age.

            Netflix features many popular shows such as Breaking Bad and Family Guy, as well as some of its own original series like Bojack Horseman.  It also features blockbuster movies such as The Avengers and classics such as Pulp Fiction.  The huge variety of shows and movies can leave you watching for hours.  Since there are no commercials, you can become absorbed in the shows and end up watching whole seasons of shows at a single sitting. This can of course be bad if you have an assignment due soon and are spending all of your time watching Breaking Bad.  Felling like watching a little stand up comedy?  Netflix also offers special stand up comedy show from famous comedians like Louis C.K and Kevin Heart.

            Netflix also offers a ratings system to help evaluate the movies and shows that you watch.  Giving positive ratings allow Netflix to see what you like watching and will result in suggestions suited to your favorite kind of TV shows and movies.  Similarly, giving bad rating will result in shows similar to that not being suggested to you, so you don’t have to see shows like the one you didn’t like.  This is also useful in determining what is going to be suggested from the start of your time on Netflix.  You can rate movies and shows without even watching them.  By doing this, you can cut out the stuff you don’t like and add the ones that you do.  If your not into anime shows, you can give a couple negative ratings and you will never see them on your feed again.  If you love action movies, give a good rating to the movie like Jack Reacher and Shooter for more action packed movies.  Another awesome advantage of the ratings system is that it helps introduce you to shows and movies you have never even heard of before.  You may not know the movie Snowpiecer, but if you love Chris Evans and give some of his movies good reviews, you are bound to stumble upon it. 

            After you have finished a series on Netflix, it will recommend a couple of new shows for you to watch that are related to the show that you just finished.  This is a cool feature, especially after you watch all of your favorite shows and run out of shows to watch.  These recommendations will keep you from paying eight dollars a month for an app to take up space on your device, as well as broaden the horizon of shows that you can  watch.

With all of these features to keep you roped into shows, it is pretty apparent that the only way to successfully watch Netflix and be successful in college is moderation.  Moderation is key in preventing you from falling behind in your classes.  If you can’t properly moderate, you will most likely end up spending hours watching Netflix and getting no studying done.  One way to prevent this is to watch only one episode at a time, during your study break.  After the episode is over, immediately go back to studying for an hour or so before your next break.  That is the best way to not get pulled in by the gravity of Netflix. It is also one of the best ways to study for classes and exams.

Some of the other down sides to Netflix is after a certain period of time, series can be taken down, without warning, and therefore, will not be available for your binge- watching moods. Likewise, new movies are added rarely and when they do add movies they’re older or not current. You also shouldn’t plan on keeping up with your shows currently airing on live TV.  Netflix does not have nearly as much current TV as Hulu Plus, but in their defense Netflix’s list has grown considerably over these last two years.   Instead of making every episode available after they air, Netflix waits until a full season of the show aired, before putting it up to watch.  There are also bothersome buffering issues that make watching quite irritating.

If you’re watching Netflix on your smartphone, be careful about making sure that you are connected to Wi-Fi, especially on servers that are frequently going down.  If the Wi-Fi goes down, the streaming resorts to using the data plan on your phone.  If this goes unnoticed, it could significantly increase your data usage and if you do not have unlimited data, this could lead to costly fees if you go over the amount covered by your plan. 

On the other hand, with the DVD service they no longer are available on Saturdays, so when you renew your services on Friday it is not sent out until Tuesday. With that your billing is exactly 30 days from the moment you place your order so they are using your money for five days while you have nothing. Also, some people have experienced with using this DVD service their DVD’s are usually cracked or broken. So from what I’ve gathered my advice to you would be to not use this outdated DVD rental service.

Contrastingly, Netflix is also good just to use for background noise.  If you find yourself searching the web at night while your roommate is out it might get a little lonely.  Turning on Netflix and listening to a show is a nice way to make sitting in your room less lonely and helps make you feel comfortable, especially if this is your first time away from home and living on your own.  It’s also good if you’re on the grind writing an essay or doing homework.  The background noise helps make you more comfortable and lets you think a little clearer.  Background noise makes you feel like someone’s with you, even when they aren’t. Netflix is also a perfect way to get family or friends together for a movie night, serving as a great way to entertain. Moreover, it has exceptional documentaries making research for projects or just for fun readily disposable at your convenience. Furthermore, they have proven themselves ready to take risks with new concepts like their collaboration with Google on Chromecast, making themselves one to compete with by giving people more ways to access their product. This kind of risk taking proves to the costumers that they will stop at nothing to keep their product number one rated and us, the consumers, satisfied.

Taking all that was said into account Netflix remains a bargain paying only $8 a month. Like any other product there are some obvious cons, but the good outweighs the bad. It is a wise investment if you are looking to stop making those daunting trips to the video rental stores. With that I think it is safe to say that Netflix is a do, offering the best quality streaming.  

Khan Academy Review

I am a freshman in college, and I’m not exactly Albert Einstein, so naturally I have been confused and challenged when it comes to my academics, especially science and math. So, you have no idea how much easier my school life became after I discovered Khan Academy. I was practically failing math due to me being left behind because I could not figure out how to get past expected value. Then I checked out Khan Academy and breezed past the math sections I needed to get caught up on.It is a website created to help students who don’t have time or money for a tutor learn what they need to learn to succeed. I don’t want other college students making the same mistakes I have made, so I’m here to review this website to help students determine if the Khan Academy website is for them, which I say, it is.

When you first arrive on the site, It automatically tells you that it is free for everyone. It is also used by teachers and even parents, this in order to help expand the minds of the students who are seeking online tutoring.  You can connect to this site by signing in with social media sties, such as Facebook and Gmail. However if you do not look closely, you made be led to believe that you have to sign up to use it. Except you don’t need to, you just have to find the subjects tab on the top left corner and you can learn any subject in math, science and history from Kindergarden to College. This is one problem I have with the site, I have never liked the idea of having to sign up for something to use it, so it for other people like me, It could easily detract them from using the the site, thinking they have to sign up to use it. Another problem the site has, is that it doesn’t cover any English subjects. However, the amount of detail they teach in math and science completely makes up for it and is really only a nitpick.

It is very easy to find the specific subject you want to learn and only takes a couple seconds. For example, when I was looking for the expected value lesson, I just had to go to math, select probability and statistics, click Random variables, and I saw Expected value right there. Then it teaches you through questions and if you get stuck, you just ask for a hint and then it will provide a tiny hint. You can keep clicking the hint button until it fully explains how to do the problem. If you can figure out and answer, you can have it check your answer to tell you if you got it right or if you still need help. The format is very helpful to use. It let’s you attempt to figure out the problem yourself and but if you get stuck, you can be told how to do it, step by step, with visuals and pictures. You can go into several different specific subjects within each section, so you do not have to worry about not finding the specific math that you are stuck on. It the exact same thing when you look at the science section. this type of tutoring is one of the most simple and useful forms of help I’ve ever seen from a learning website. Most websites I have gone to for help on, automatically just give you the answers without showing how to solve the problem. So, for a website to act almost like an actual teacher is quite impressive.

Again, I want to say that it is a flaw that there are no english subjects. I can understand if the website developers felt that english is not something that needed to be tutored for, but I would have like a section about how to write a proper essay and what MLA format is. Also, I think a grammar and spelling section could be very helpful for students. This lack of English content does disappoint me.

However, I have found that Khan Academy supplies information about college and how to apply for colleges, and how to figure out the Financial Aid. So, this slightly makes up for the lack of English sections. I really like this idea, especially when I myself, had trouble figuring out the college process when I was a senior in high school. So, it is very nice that other potential college students do not have to worry about this when applying for college. There’s also a test preparation section that I really like. There is the simple test preparation sections like the SAT, but Khan Academy also teaches more complex test, like the test to become a registered nurse. It is interesting how it seems that Khan Academy definitely tries to help anyone and everyone, no matter where they are in their lives.

Here my final thoughts on Khan Academy. It is a very helpful website that I think is one of the best tutoring sites I have ever seen. The math, science, and history lessons are very detailed and does it’s best to teach people how to solve these certain sections. While it’s subjects are vey wide-range, from economics to how to apply for college, It severely lacks an English section. The test preparation section is also very unique, where it not only helps with Standard test that everyone has to take, like the SAT’s, but it also helps with A wide-range of different test, like the NCLEX-RN, which is the test you take to become a registered nurse. I believe that not only should every college student know about this site, but every type of student should know and use this site very often.

College Majors 101 by: Nyazia Bauer & Lauren Becker

College Majors 101 is a website aimed at juniors and seniors in high school wishing to pursue an academic career beyond primary education. It presents updated information on various majors and also gives information on what it will take academically to achieve that major. This is particularly helpful when deciding whether or not one would wish to choose a specific college for their different major programs, being as this is the basis for many student’s decision upon choosing a college to attend. At Arizona State, a “major map” option is given to students who wish to see a sample of classes for their time spent at ASU and what classes will keep them on track to graduate in four years and complete the basic major requirements. However, not all schools offer this program so it is difficult to see what exactly a student is getting into before they start college in their selected major. The website also offers scholarship opportunities as well as an array of “recruitment” opportunities where a student will be able to create a profile and have others look them up in order to see if they are best suited to receive an academic scholarship or financial aid.

The website seems to run at a quick pace and it is easily navigable through the various tabs presented at the top of the website. These tabs are links to the different services that are offered through the website and other outside sources such as direct college and university links. Each time the website offers a new feature or is updated in any way this is proudly announced in the form of a banner at the top of the web page. This gives the consumers the impression that the creator cares immensely about meeting the concerns of its viewers and about fixing any technical bugs that may come their way. This is especially important as the website seeks to not only sell their product by the use of advertisements, but they also care deeply about their consumers and wish to give them the best experience that they can while going through this process.

There are five specific fields that are shown and on the bottom of those fields are majors given. For example when on the webpage, the five fields shown are: Life Science Medical, Art/Design Performance, Liberal Arts, Engineering/Technology, and Pre-Professional. With the five fields an example of a sub field would be Nursing under Life Science Medical and once clicked on, it takes the user to another page and gives you a small intro about the major.

“Nursing is by one of the most stable and rewarding of all medical careers. Good nurses are always in high demand, and according to most salary websites make a salary range from $45,000–$85,000 per year on average. The training is difficult, but when you are done you will have a career that will be in demand anywhere in the country. Male nurses are the fastest growing segment in this field and the image of nursing as a women’s’ only field will change dramatically in the near future. Nursing is not for the weak or timid. Dedication is a must.” Under the motivational introduction there are multiple little buttons selections that have more information on them. The buttons say: 1. Learn More About Nursing, 2. Student Associations, 3. Accredited Schools, 4. Get Recruited, 5. Employers Within Nursing, 6. Nursing Publications, 7. Nursing News, and 8. Student Competitions. For example, by clicking on the “Employers Within Nursing” button, it takes you to small list of employers and their descriptions. One of the employers listed is Jasco Uniform and their website is provided. Also, in the description it states that Jasco is one of the main supplier in supplying medical gear. Other employers that are listed are NursingJobs.org, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Med Hunters, Legal Nurse Consulting, Nurse-Recruiter.com, and Thompson Top Hospitals. NursingJobs.org and it allows for students who are interested and dedicated to the work in the nursing field can look for their dream job within the area or look around in advance for possible openings in the future. Another interesting aspect of one of employers listed was the Thompson Top Hospitals because it provides information on the hospitals that hire the most nurses and that allows for  more job openings in the highly competitive field of nursing. The page also shows a few featured Nursing Programs such as, The University of Toledo, Northern Illinois University, University of Massachusetts-Boston, and a few others that were featured.

The opportunities for students is almost endless with this website. A major opportunity that is at the hands of those that choose to take it is the Student Competitions offered through CollegeMajors101.com. The student competitions are actual college level competitions that take place in each major. They are very important to view for three reasons as stated by the website: “1. They give you a better understanding of the actual nature of the major, and what the actual level of college work is..., 2. They tell a side of the story that you will not currently find in the “Rankings” with regards to the actual quality of a school’s program..., 3. Expand your college search options by seeing who actually won them, competed, and did well…” Looking through the previous winners, it was interesting to see who they were and what they competed in.

This website seems to put immense effort into matching a person with their perfect fit college as they take into account each person’s uniqueness. They understand that certain career paths are not for everybody and they truly seem like they want to set each customer/client up for success. On the homepage there are various videos that you can watch where different students give their testimonies on the website as well as offer information on where they attend school, what degree program their in, and what their future goals are with that program. This is an excellent way to get future students excited to go to school and excited to research more about colleges as they envision what their future careers have in store for them.

College 101 gives a list of accredited universities that offer specific major programs. Upon selecting a major, the website will direct the viewer to that major’s page where they will be able to read information on the requirements to get into certain programs that will enable the student to continue down that career path. They also list between six and ten “featured universities” where the student has access to that universities page by just clicking on the name of it. The website then provides the student’s with information and recent news about that career field as well as a list of current employers accepting people with degrees in that specific major. Upon request, a person will be able to access the website’s “Get Recruited” feature where they are sent to a resume style page. This then asks questions such as, “What’s your current GPA?” and “What educational background do you hold?”. This process should take about fifteen minutes to complete; and with one flip of the wrist your profile will be submitted for hundreds of employers to access your information. This opportunity really is unique in that students literally put zero effort into creating a resume so that employers will contact THEM about work opportunities. This website is free, easily accessible, and extremely useful.

This website not only aids future students but also faculty as it offers guidance counselors a way to easily get students involved and prompts them to take action in building their future careers. This website offers an array of informational videos for students who are already exploring their majors. It gives professional people real publications on their career of choice. It offers personal growth and development for those already practicing their career by providing industrial information to further develop specific companies.

Upon first glance, this website is excellently crafted. It is interesting to look at, easy to navigate and extremely useful. Not often will one find a website that is interesting but also purposeful and informational. The style used is one that is reflective on the creator’s knowledge of it’s audience and the practicality of it’s users. It is evident that whoever created this has a strong skill set and knowledge of consumers, advertising, and the publications made through the internet. Numerous times have the website provided clear instructions in accomplishing certain tasks as well as display their interest in truly helping students and faculty on their journeys through education. This website takes the stress off of choosing a college which is one of the most important and expensive endeavors that a person will decide to pursue in their life. This is taken into great consideration as all individuals should have the resources available to them to be successful in the real world. The only thing that will be difficult is deciding which incredible program to choose from and how to narrow down each of the incredible options available.

A True Student's Tool: By Tamim and Jaon - my.asu.edu

A True Student’s Tool

My.ASU is a useful website for college students because it allows them to keep track of their work, and also is a great source of information for events directly related to them. My.ASU keeps track of students grades and progress through classes and that helps them organize what they must do to pass in their classes. The university also holds many events that are beneficial to students and the My.ASU website is the simplest and most easily accessible way to gain additional information into these events. However My.ASU is not without flaw, the format of the website is to casual to capture the attention of students for a prolonged period of time and also has some technical issues which can aggravate students.

To begin, My ASU is a great tool for a student looking to keep track with their progress.  It can get hectic figuring out what classes are left to complete a major.  Thankfully, My ASU delivers in that it has a section in the bottom left corner of the homepage dedicated to keeping on track with a student’s major.  This includes the implementation of a DARS report.  This is a degree audit report that shows a student where they stand in terms of progressing towards their degree.  This is done through the use of a green label that reads “on track”.  If the label is red, it means that the student is “off track,” and has to make changes to be back “on track” towards his degree.  The DARS also dives into a student’s GPA and course history.  It is similar to a track record.  In addition to the DARS, My ASU implements a solid platform where students can check their grades.  It is extremely helpful and easy to use.  This helps someone keep track of their work performance very easily.  All in all, My ASU is a strong tool for a students to track their progress.

My ASU is also a very good informational source for students, especially students that are new to the college environment. The university offers a whole variety of different events that can be beneficial towards their students such as social events and tutoring help.Students  who need more information to go to these events almost always look up information online, because that is the most readily accessible data base that is currently in place. In that sense, My ASU is the simplest and most efficient means by which a student can gain more information into these events. My ASU also has information which can be directly helpful to students such as locations to classes, or information about possible organizations where he or she can be more sociable or get a head start into their career. My ASU also holds a tremendous information on how a student can receive scholarships, get internships, and even additional information on their major and degree which may help them get to where they want to be faster and easier. Overall the website is the best source of information for aspiring students, especially those that are new to ASU, or any other university.

Moving on, a key feature of My ASU is its simplistic feeling.  The website is very easy to use overall.  There are not too many sections, and the font is nice and easy to read as well.  Whether it is checking grades, emailing an instructor, or even signing up for a course, My ASU makes it hassle free.  Sometimes, websites can get clustered with irritating and irrelevant information.  My ASU stays away from that with big buttons, bright text, and an easy to use vibe to it.  For example, if you want check all your grades, all you have to do is click on the blackboard link, and then click on my grades.  It is literally a two step process.  Simplicity its truly key when it comes to a website, and ASU nailed it.

An important part of a student’s year is registration for classes.  Registering for classes can be a very stressful time for any student.  However, it is necessary as you need a schedule if you wish to attend school!  Thankfully, My ASU makes this process a breeze.  First of all, they open up registration at different times for students in different majors.  For example, engineers might be first to register while business students might be last.  This creates a fair advantage for all and prevents the website from crashing.  Also, the registration is operated on a first come, first serve, basis.  This prevents any cheating or hacking to go on.  This is why My ASU helps all students register for classes in a fair manner.  Now, the actual registration process is a walk in the park.  To register for a class, all one must do is add the class to their shopping cart.  Then, you checkout just as if you were purchasing something online.  It is literally that easy and simple!  This method will help students as they will spend less time registering and will have more time to focus on other things such as a job.  To be brief, My ASU truly did a marvelous job with their registration system.

Although there are a lot of positive aspects to My ASU, it still has it flaws.  The main flaw of the website is in its flavorless format.  The website, especially after hours of use, can become be very dull and boring to the eye of a college student.  The same maroon and gold colors can become very dry after extended hours of use. It seems as if My ASU is too simple when it comes to the design and format of the website.  A different variety of colors would be appropriate, or even an option to customize the page in order to suit a student’s sense of style or interest.  In addition, My ASU has some minor glitches or more formally technically issues.  Although they are very minor, they still cause problems.  This can include the website not opening a certain page or prompting an error message when a student wants to check their grades.  These glitches are always temporary and go away after an hour or so however to a college student who often times are very agitated from school, can be somewhat detrimental.  Although these flaws exist and are part of what the website is, they are all usually minor and do not have a significant effect on the websites effectiveness toward students.  

Overall the My ASU website is a very efficient tool and website for students to use to their advantage even if it does have minor issues, their dwarfed by the advantages the website offers. The website helps students stay in track in school assisting them in their progress with school work and progression towards their degree through a degree audit report. It helps students gain more knowledge about their school by allowing them to gain more information on school sanctioned events and learning opportunities, and overall it helps students secure themselves in a new educational environment. Information presentation is the main focus of this website and My ASU does its job very well, students should know about this website and how they can use it to their advantage.  It will truly play a major role in a student’s college life as they progress in their major.  

Knowledge at the Tip of Your "Fingers" By Adina

Have you ever sat under the warm sun and wondered how far away the sun is from the earth? Or have you ever wondered the lifespan of an owl? Wolfram Alpha has all your answers! Released on May 18, 2009, Wolfram Alpha was derived from Wolfram’s earlier work Mathematica. Rather than a search engine, it answers questions from a sourced curated data, which means that it gathers its data from a wide variety of academic and commercial websites. The website is also available through your mobile phone. You can purchase it through the app store or Google play.

            Entering the websites homepage you are greeted with a bright green display or orange or blue or gray. You have the option to change the color of the homepage as you please. Dead center is the text box with the company’s logo star and Wolfram alpha in red and orange. This is where you enter your questions or equations. Below the text box there are stickers that illuminate when passed over with a mouse. You can click on the images and it will pop up and tell you want that picture is.

Double click the same image and it will take you to a list of information about that certain picture. In the text box, there are buttons that help you with searches, such as an extended keyboard for special characters, an image input, a data input and a file upload. The text box also gives you the option to look at examples by topic from culture and media to socioeconomic data and if you’re feeling like you want to learn something new, you can click the random button which pulls up a random search from it’s data base. The only thing is that those certain features are only available to people that have subscribed to the pro version but what good is all this fun if the website limits your data.

            Once upon opening the extended keyboard I see that I only have 4 options to choice from, all the rest of characters are blocked off. The characters consist of pi, the degree symbol, infinity, the square root, Greek letters, arrows, and finally the female and male sex symbols. I don’t necessarily need to use the other characters but it would be nice to see what this website truly has to offer. After opening the entire side buttons, I see that I can’t access any of the extra features unless I subscribe to Wolfram Alpha Pro. Looking further into going pro, I see that a small monthly fee is required to “go pro.” As a student, I can acquire it for $3.75 for others the price raises to $5.49 a month. It’s a small price to pay for an entire network of data but as a college student I don’t want to pay for something I don’t need. I can search the distance from Earth to the sun (which is 91.59 million miles apart) and the lifespan of an owl (60 to 70 years) quite perfectly without a problem. Upon searching, the website lets you share the information you are looking at with anyone through an email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I can also share certain information from the results. It also gives me the opportunity to download the information, enlarge pictures, customize and save images, copy the plain text and enable the interactive portion of the data. But you already know that those features are for the pro subscribers. The website doesn’t always have an answer once you search for something more complex it gives you of no result. I understand that asking this answer engine a theoretical question will pull up no result because that’s a search engines job but if I want to know the price of rice in China it brings to a page that says no result. This makes me wonder what else is limited on this website.

            Wolfram Alpha also offers a calculate option. You type in your equation and it gives you everything to know about that certain equation but without Wolfram Alpha Pro I am confined to the simplified version of the information. If I were subscribed, I would get richer results with colored and customizable graphs.  I tried to see if this website could help me with my math homework but I was limited to the type of equation I could type in the text box. Anything more complex than an equation like y=mx+b was done and over with because the website doesn’t offer the option of a full mathematical keyboard, even if I subscribed. This website couldn’t help me with my homework but it can help me practice math. Wolfram Alpha has a new problem generator that lets you practice unlimited math problems and shows step-by-step solutions. There is a free trial you can use but once your trial is over once again if you don’t “go pro” than this feature isn’t available to you.

            Wolfram Alpha gives you the option to make a free account with them. With this you can favorite information and look back at your history. You can also set your visual preferences such as result width, font size, location, and history settings. You can also get a free interactive personal analytics report from your Facebook data with Wolfram Alpha. Once you have an account you have the option to make your own widgets and apps through Wolfram Alpha. It’s a great feature for developers and app designers but as an Anthropology major it have no use for it.

            I came to terms that this website could be of great use for college students. It’s a quick and easy way to find reliable information instead of searching through a library for the same data but honestly I rather scroll though 15 pages in Google or read an entire book than pay 45 dollars a year for something that I possibly only going to use to help me on one assignment. This website can’t answer questions that require a narrative answer but only fact-based questions. So, think twice when picking an engine to search from.

Student Rate by Jaclyn Juarez and Rebekah Caraher

Student Rate

Next time you are buying textbooks, shopping online, or simply looking for the best bargains on popular items, consider checking out studentrate.com for the finest student discounts and deals around. Unique in its appearance and style, studentrate.com provides some of the best advice on everything college has to offer. College can be a difficult time for most students. The transition into adulthood and responsibility comes fast; however with websites such as this one, that transition can be made a little more smoothly. Student Rate demonstrates how crucial it is to budget and save as much money as possible throughout your duration in college. No one wants to graduate college with a significant amount of debt which is the case for most students. Due to websites such as this one, students can save a notable amount of money that could be put towards essential items in the future. No other website compares to the functionality, style, and overall efficiency of Student Rate. Likewise, no other website has so much to offer in one place, making it one of the most popular among college students today.  

One of the most unique features of Student Rate is the layout of the website. The variety of captivating fonts, familiar name brands, and dazzling colors truly add flare to the website and make it visually appealing to its targeted audience. Not only that, but it’s simplicity to navigate around the website increases the likelihood of usage for quick needs . With the click of a button you can browse everything from cyber monday deals to the latest promotions and trends. College students tend to have a small attention span when it comes to the speed of technology and the time it takes to travel around the website. They will not wait more than a few seconds before they start to become impatient. One of the most impressive parts of Student Rate is that there is minimal to no lagging when transitioning to different links and pages. Within 3 seconds you are taken to the next destination making online shopping considerably more manageable and less time consuming. Online shopping has become very popular in today’s age, especially among students in college. There is simply not enough time to hit the mall when there are projects, a considerable amount of work, and other obligations taking up most of the time of the college student. Being able to purchase the latest fashions with a click of a mouse and have them delivered to a nearby location is simply much more efficient. Yet the most impressive part of the website can be accredited to the design and color scheme of the pages. The multiple pictures of couture models posing next to their familiar brand names truly captivates the user and makes everything so nicely organized, thought out, and well put together.

This website, dedicated to help college students with everything they need for success, is visually appealing in organization throughout it’s entirety. A bar at the top of the site contains links that may allow students to narrow down what they’re looking for, labelling their items categorizations such as “Deals”, “Fashion”, “Textbooks”, “Trending”, and many more. The high amount of organization continues in the categories as well. For example, when the deals tab is clicked, a long list with multiple pages of the site’s sales and deals appears, but on the right hand side of the screen, there are deal categories that may be selected to help students find what they need for cheap prices. The last thing a college student may want during a stressful time in their academic career would be to not be able to find what they are looking for. Many people in today’s society are more likely to leave a website that does not show what they are looking for within the first few pages, but Student Rate’s organization encourages visitors to stay and find what they are looking for in the shortest amount of time possible. The simple layout of the website alongside the helpful and convenient organization methods prove studentrate.com as a must have favorite amongst college students.

Not only is studentrate.com visually appealing, it also serves to find students the best deals on a wide variety of college necessities. For instance, if you were to click on the textbook tab on the main menu and input the name or ISBN for the book, a list of results will appear, showing you the cheapest option for the purchase or rental of that book. In common speculation, textbooks can be very expensive, especially for a college student on a budget. Features such as this one ensure that the student is shown all materials necessary at the lowest price possible. In addition, student rate provides deals for anything from travel, fashion, loan/scholarship advice, and even specific bargains based on your location. The wide variety that Student Rate has to offer covers many items in demand of the college lifestyle, adding to convenience of having everything needed in one place. There is little that Student Rate does not include in their website making it one of the best options for students on a budget.

A very unique feature that sets studentrate.com from the rest is its ability to easily share on other social media sites. For example, if someone was to find something they liked and wanted to show others for a second opinion, a tab on the bottom allows for that person to share the link on websites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter. Allowing the user to post links to their friends and family also ensures that these unbeatable deals are being shared with people outside of the range of college. Therefore, the user not only saves money themselves but also shares those deals with others so that they too can save their hard earned money. To articulate just how useful this website is to the lives of college student, lifehack.org rated it #1 in its ability to “improve the skills of time management, planning, brainstorming, writing, socializing, and many other aspects in a student’s life.” Student rate simply continues to supply college students with reliable information and daily deals they simply can’t ignore.

Upon the entry of college, one usually struggles for a short period of time. Not only are you living alone for the first time in your life, but you also don’t have anyone nagging on you to finish assignments, go to class, or even maintain a healthy sleeping schedule. Many college freshmen use this freedom and run wild with it. The “poor college student” cliche is no longer a myth because they are the ones living it. This is why the lessons in budgeting that Student Rate teaches are so crucial. No one wants to make the mistake of overspending and running out of money too quickly yet many end up paying for it later. Student Rate thrives to help these students develop these necessary skills of budgeting from the very beginning. Another aspect that holds high importance in a college student’s life is the ability to find what they need within a relatively quick amount of time. With the growing amount as well as use of technology, where many schools are highly involved in electronic copies of work, having a website to turn to for any materials needed is important for success. Not only does Student Rate offer academic help, like great prices on textbooks, they help with college living as well, like fashion and travel. Just like the title of the website mentions, they contain the best possible rates on anything and everything vital to student success. Student Rate offers everything a student may need in a visually appealing and organized wide variety of merchandise making it one of the best choices for a college student for whatever they may need.

YouTube by Jacob and Mikey

YouTube is a website that allows people to upload, view, and share videos. You could find your favorite music, video tutorials of any task you're looking for available, a variety of different types of entertainment waiting to be chosen, and so much more all available right at your fingertips. Most of the content on YouTube is uploaded by normal individuals like you and I, yet however some of the larger companies do have their own pages, in which come with a bit of a price tag. Many of today’s young stars and athletes have actually been discovered by others seeking to exploit their talents as they watch these teen’s videos that they have posted on the website. YouTube is not only a video search engine, but a great way to make yourself known and to spread your name out in the World Wide Web in hopes of your talents being found no matter what your age. A website should be evaluated on five specific criterion: appearance, content, functionality, usability, and appeal to audience.

        Appearance is essential to a good website because it could be the first and only impression a potential user has. If the appearance is horrid and unattractive then that user will most likely not return, however if it looks appealing and inviting to the eyes, then the user is more likely to return. Appearance can be based off of four different subcategories being good use of color, text that is easily read, meaningful graphics, and simplicity. YouTube’s main color scheme is white, red and black, but since a solid white color can be intense and harsh on the retinas of our eyes, they have dulled it down to a very light gray so that the users experience could be more pleasing. A very important part of the appearance is that the text can be easily read. This implies that the text needs to be a color that is far away from the background which in return, makes it easier to read. It also needs to be in a legible font along with a reasonable size as a website would not want comic sans with 40 size font on every single video, and the website would become a mess and turn off more users. Meaningful graphics is one of the few things YouTube does not do perfectly. A recommended amount of graphics per page is around 3-4, YouTube has a lot more than this but they organize it in such a way that it does not make the page look too crowded. The final portion of appearance is simplicity, a successful website will have a simple design as well as an adequate amount of whitespace. This allows people to focus on the content of the website instead of distracting them with animations or overly complex designs throughout the page. YouTube does this incredibly well, they have their videos down in a straight line with a search bar consistently at the top with any other tools you would need to the left. This yields a simplistic layout and makes YouTube’s overall appearance very nice. Appearance is not everything however, just because a website can look good does not mean the content is good.

        Content is important because your site must have substance, it cannot just look good, it must have something that the visitor would need or could use. This is yet another thing YouTube does an excellent job of. Since other individuals are posting their videos, they can’t put their own content on their website, however they can organize the videos to whatever extent they want. One portion of the content is short and organized copy. This means that the topics should be clearly labeled and there should not be very long blocks of text. This is because the majority of users have a very short attention spans and need to be hooked in to the website, a large block of text could quickly make someone leave. Since YouTube is a website that does not use much text they really do not have to worry about this, the majority of their content is in the form of videos and they are highly specific to the person that is looking them up. A user could search for whatever they wanted and they would be shown to a video that would be most related to your search. A user that returns to a website in order to see the news will not want to see the same news as there was three weeks ago, they would want the more recent stories due to the fact that the content remains up to date at all times because YouTube is a user based website and new videos are constantly being uploaded at a very fast rate, quite possibly thousands per day. This would mean that there is always new content for the user to look forward to. The website should also be more user friendly in trying to help you find the video you're looking for if you cannot find it yourself. Each video on YouTube pertains to the people that are looking searching for that specific video or related one. The final subcategory of content is probably YouTube’s weakest section. This would be professional and error-free content. As I mentioned earlier, YouTube’s content is entirely user created and those users do not have to be professionals. This means that the videos could be full of errors which could be anything from inaccurate facts and figures to incorrect grammar. This leads to a large amount of trust on behalf of the user watching the video because they must have faith in the video that everything they are saying is correct. For instance, if someone went to look for a video tutorial on how to do a chemistry problem, they do not know if the person in the video is right or not, the user has to put their trust in the man in the video. When you combine all of these traits with the traits from appearance you get a new section entirely.

        Usability is one of the more critical elements of a website, which is often overlooked. Usability is a mix and match between the first two criteria evaluated as well as some new topics that need to be covered. The first of these is fast loading pages, as I mentioned earlier some users have very short attention spans, me being one of them. If my webpage does not load within around 25 seconds I leave the page entirely.  YouTube generally has a very fast loading speed, a large portion of this also depends on the speed of internet the user has. Mine is fast so YouTube loads at a nice speed for me, others might not have the same opportunity as I do for high speed internet. This would lead to a decent amount of buffering on the webpage and it would lose some visitors. Overall YouTube’s loading speeds are within that 25 second time range. When it comes down to it, with any major website, the overall performance and dependability comes with some hefty “kinks” in the network most directly due to the popularity of the site.

The next is minimal scroll. When just thinking about those words a person could think that YouTube has a ton of scroll and would not do well in this section. Well I disagree, while YouTube does have a lot of scroll, generally what you search for you will find within the first 4-5 videos. As an avid user of this webpage I generally do not have to scroll down to find the video I am looking for. Logical navigation is another prominent feature of usability. This implies that the menus should be either at the top of on the side of a page and that there should not be too many of them. On YouTube the menus are on the left hand side and there are a limited amount of them, in addition these few menus get you to all of the places you would need to go on the site. In this category YouTube does flawlessly. An important part of any website would be descriptive link texts, however YouTube is an exception to this. I do not think that a user would need descriptors for a link that says sports videos. All of YouTube’s links are incredibly easy for a user of any age to figure out. The final two parts of usability are different browser compatibility and search engine optimization. These just mean that the website should work with most browsers and the search engine on the website should find the most relatable results to what the user is searching for and YouTube does both of these.

        The world today, is relied on our technological equipment. As, you could see, YouTube 

has a vast majority of purposes for it internet page. People all over the world, create and upload 

videos to their own page. However, YouTube is for all kinds of people. No matter what sparks your 

interest, YouTube has it. Sports, music, comedy, etc., YouTube has a numerous amount of different 

types of videos, for different types of people. What makes YouTube stand out is the level of 

difficulty is takes to use, this site. People from all ages, could use this site, and find enjoyment doing 

so. YouTube is simply a page to find things you enjoy, from childhood memories, to new technical 

advancements. It’s a page to explore the world, from the past to the near future, it brings us in line 

with the world to learn more by simple videos.