By Charisse Massay
Grand Times is a weekly online magazine for seniors. They define
themselves as "controversial, entertaining and informative. Grand
Times celebrates life's opportunities and examines life's challenges."
The website is simple; on the homepage, there are weekly features
as well as regular sections. The weekly features are key articles
on issues that affect the older community such as an overactive bladder
(how to recognize it and go about treating it) and a recent Supreme
Court ruling that negated Washington state's law protecting grandparents'
rights to see their grandchildren. There was also a "Classics"
link that led to an archive of old features grouped by category.
The regular links included 'Marketplace' where users can compare online
prices and search for products in categories such as 'Computer Stuff'
(which included sections on 'creating your own website' and 'getting
to know your computer'), 'Kitchen' and 'Health'. There was one section
entitled 'Gift Ideas: Grandchildren' that included products suited
for children under the age of six. It seems to me that grandparents
would have the most difficulty searching for gifts for their teenage
grandchildren; teenage focused gifts included two inspirational books
that I thought was very scant.
Other regular links were 'Grand Travel' with commentary about certain
locations and travel resources. There was one article that caught
my eye, 'The Evergreen Way: Bed and Breakfast for $10 a Day.' The
bed-and-breakfast club is an exchange for people over 50. I was happy
that this was included in the travel section, it seems like an excellent
program. There was also a section for World War II Veterans to contact
war buddies and access other helpful websites. There was a brief profile
of a veteran named Samuel Albert Halpern whose family is trying to
contact old friends of his. I'm not certain why Grand Times decided
to spotlight this particular man but it is an excellent opportunity
for his family. The last few links included a 'Guest book' where users
could give feedback, 'About Grand Times' with advertising and contact
information, 'Other Websites' (links to sites for seniors) and a 'Site
Search.' Unfortunately for this last one, I was not sure of what to
search for but it seemed to work well.
Overall, the site had excellent content. It was arranged in a very
basic manner, with no frills or distracting items. There were three
small blinking ads on each page (all pertaining to seniors) but that
was about it. I found a lot of the print in the articles to be about
12 point, except for categories within the smaller links which were
in a large font. I would have liked to see an option that allowed
the user to change the font size. Other than that, grandtimes.com
seems like an excellent springboard site for the senior who is just
starting off on the internet.