How We Ranked the Portals
To reach our scores, we ranked each portal on a set of five features
and six content areas. Each category was arbitrarily picked (we looked for the best
weather information, but we didn't rank horoscope information), although we ended up
with a good representation of all that the portals have to offer. We placed a numerical
ranking on each category from 0 to 3. A zero ranking signified that the site did not
have anything to offer in that area. A 3 ranking meant that it is very good in that area.
A 2 meant that its offering is sufficient but nothing special and a 1 ranking meant that
the site does it, but does a lousy job at it. Again, the operative word here is subjective.
This survey has more to do with our own fickle tastes than with any scientific analysis.
But remember that it is fickle tastes that would cause someone to defect to another portal.
| Features |
| Portal |
Features
Score |
Search |
Personalization |
Chat |
Email |
Instant
Messaging |
| Excite |
2.0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Yahoo! |
2.0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Netcenter |
1.8 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| AOL.com |
1.6 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Lycos |
1.4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Snap! |
1.4 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Alta Vista |
1.2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| MSN.com |
1.2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Infoseek |
1.0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Content |
| Portal |
Content
Score |
News |
Finance |
Health |
Real
Estate |
Games |
Weather |
| Yahoo! |
2.5 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
| Excite |
2.3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
| Netcenter |
1.8 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
| MSN.com |
1.7 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
| Lycos |
1.3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
| Infoseek |
1.3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
| Snap! |
1.2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| AOL.com |
1.0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Alta Vista |
0.8 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
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