By Alton Jerome McFarland
Established in 1995, Grand Times (located at www.grandtimes.com)
is a site focused on the wants/needs of seniors. Through category
links and special features the site attempts to provide content that
seniors will find interesting and/or informative. The site's layout
is very simple and senior-friendly. Large, clickable icons lead to
different areas of the site where seniors can do things ranging from
comparison shopping to locating an old war buddy.
In sharp contrast to more familiar teen and family-oriented sites,
Grand Times' website has no eye-candy. The webmasters are careful
to center all material and employ only soft colors and large fonts.
I myself found the site a welcome oasis from the blinking banners
and garish colors sported by most sites today. Rather than cluttering
their page with frames, animations, or any of the other more popular
features of contemporary web design, Grand Times keeps it simple
and stays easy on the eyes. Descriptions next to the few graphical
links, provide a short synopsis of their content provide easy access
to other areas of the page. With its weekly features, shopping tips,
etc., Grand Times is presented as an interactive magazine for
seniors. One could imagine visiting Grand Times once or twice a month
to read the latest articles and special features.
Grand Times also does a good job of utilizing its position
as an internet media site. Rather than limiting itself to articles
and the conventional features of text magazines, Grand Times
tries to use the web to bring together a larger selection of options
for its visitors. The site offers a special section containing links
relevant to seniors and brings together web resources to make the
site more useful than a print magazine could be. For instance, in
the articles that suggest gift ideas, the mentioned products are all
clickable links that send the user directly to the appropriate page
on Amazon.com.
Though not visually impressive, Grand Times is extremely functional.
The site's design and content are well-tailored for its target audience
and provide a relaxing internet experience. While it is perhaps not
the place for seniors looking for more exciting diversions, Grand
Times does a good job of providing relevant information for seniors.