e was no advertising, how could a site with valuable content, pay for itself? Unless it was government-sponsored, a private company needs to pay the host, server, and content providers. So few sites could make the grade. Unless, of course, they operated as a membership site. In that case, they would also be free of connections to special groups, as in item 4. Then they would be free to work without repercussions and therefore post information without bias.

One such site exists in the realm of hea

We love to seek out the best. The best car, home, restaurant, and of course, the best mate. There are many places that offer ways to find all these on the net. So it makes sense that there would be dozens of sites that tout they have a list of the best websites available. Some are supposed to be the most useful, interesting, unique, funny, and even underappreciated. They fall into hundreds of categories from family oriented, adult, those for children, organizations, government-supported, commercial, and public. So who truly does offer the best website?

It’s subjective, of course. Just as the Academy Awards, Miss America, or the Pulitzer Prize, is chosen by a committee of qualified judges, the idea of a perfect website would be almost impossible to decide. But there are some criteria that most people would agree upon in determining a front-runner. Here are some:

• It would be easy to use and navigate with a very basic interface.
• It would provide useful information that would serve a broad range of users.
• It would have little or no advertising, especially restricting pop-up or banner ads.
• It would not owe allegiance to special interest groups that advertised on the site.
• It would be quick to access, even with dialup, with a minimum of pictures and objects.
• It would have searchable content and a site map.
• It would offer up-to-date content and perhaps a forum or blog for visitor postings.
• It would fill a void or offer something new or different.
• It would allow email contact and user suggestions for improvement.
• It would link from and to other relevant sites.
• It would carry related articles and news stories updated on a regular basis.

Can you think of sites you frequent that have met all these requirements? Regrettably, most fail in a few areas and that’s a shame. It wouldn’t take much to cover all these while still maintaining a great site. The central problem is with item 3. If there was no advertising, how could a site with valuable content, pay for itself? Unless it was government-sponsored, a private company needs to pay the host, server, and content providers. So few sites could make the grade. Unless, of course, they operated as a membership site. In that case, they would also be free of connections to special groups, as in item 4. Then they would be free to work without repercussions and therefore post information without bias.

One such site exists in the realm of heal

d public. So who truly does offer the best website?

It’s subjective, of course. Just as the Academy Awards, Miss America, or the Pulitzer Prize, is chosen by a committee of qualified judges, the idea of a perfect website would be almost impossible to decide. But there are some criteria that most people would agree upon in determining a front-runner. Here are some:

• It would be easy to use and navigate with a very basic interface.
• It would provide useful information that would serve a broad range of users.
• It would have little or no advertising, especially restricting pop-up or banner ads.
• It would not owe allegiance to special interest groups that advertised on the site.
• It would be quick to access, even with dialup, with a minimum of pictures and objects.
• It would have searchable content and a site map.
• It would offer up-to-date content and perhaps a forum or blog for visitor postings.
• It would fill a void or offer something new or different.
• It would allow email contact and user suggestions for improvement.
• It would link from and to other relevant sites.
• It would carry related articles and news stories updated on a regular basis.

Can you think of sites you frequent that have met all these requirements? Regrettably, most fail in a few areas and that’s a shame. It wouldn’t take much to cover all these while still maintaining a great site. The central problem is with item 3. If there was no advertising, how could a site with valuable content, pay for itself? Unless it was government-sponsored, a private company needs to pay the host, server, and content providers. So few sites could make the grade. Unless, of course, they operated as a membership site. In that case, they would also be free of connections to special groups, as in item 4. Then they would be free to work without repercussions and therefore post information without bias.

One such site exists in the realm of hea

d serve a broad range of users.

It would have little or no advertising, especially restricting pop-up or banner ads.

It would not owe allegiance to special interest groups that advertised on the site.

It would be quick to access, even with dialup, with a minimum of pictures and objects.

It would have searchable content and a site map.

It would offer up-to-date content and perhaps a forum or blog for visitor postings.

It would fill a void or offer something new or different.

It would allow email contact and user suggestions for improvement.

It would link from and to other relevant sites.

It would carry related articles and news stories updated on a regular basis.

Can you think of sites you frequent that have met all these requirements? Regrettably, most fail in a few areas and that’s a shame. It wouldn’t take much to cover all these while still maintaining a great site. The central problem is with item 3. If there was no advertising, how could a site with valuable content, pay for itself? Unless it was government-sponsored, a private company needs to pay the host, server, and content providers. So few sites could make the grade. Unless, of course, they operated as a membership site. In that case, they would also be free of connections to special groups, as in item 4. Then they would be free to work without repercussions and therefore post information without bias.

One such site exists in the realm of hea

ng new or different.

It would allow email contact and user suggestions for improvement.

It would link from and to other relevant sites.

It would carry related articles and news stories updated on a regular basis.

Can you think of sites you frequent that have met all these requirements? Regrettably, most fail in a few areas and that’s a shame. It wouldn’t take much to cover all these while still maintaining a great site. The central problem is with item 3. If there was no advertising, how could a site with valuable content, pay for itself? Unless it was government-sponsored, a private company needs to pay the host, server, and content providers. So few sites could make the grade. Unless, of course, they operated as a membership site. In that case, they would also be free of connections to special groups, as in item 4. Then they would be free to work without repercussions and therefore post information without bias.

One such site exists in the realm of hea

e was no advertising, how could a site with valuable content, pay for itself? Unless it was government-sponsored, a private company needs to pay the host, server, and content providers. So few sites could make the grade. Unless, of course, they operated as a membership site. In that case, they would also be free of connections to special groups, as in item 4. Then they would be free to work without repercussions and therefore post information without bias.

One such site exists in the realm of health information. This site not only provides current health data that is totally searchable, but also drug, vitamin, and alternative health solutions. It offers everything listed in the items above and all for a small membership fee. In addition, for those people living in one of their 50 metro areas, there will be a database of physicians recommended and rated by nurses and patients.

It’s called, www.thenurseschoice.com and certainly worth a look. Is it the perfect health information website? I’ll let you be the judge.