My favorite Alaska websites

If you're interested in my favorite Alaska websites, I'm starting a list on my new Mat-Su Valley Programming website. Appropriately enough, the list is named My favorite Alaska websites. You might be surprised to see NASA and the Challenger shuttle referenced on that list; I know I was surprised when I first discovered them.

While that list shows the Alaska websites that I visit on a regular basis, I've also started a second list of the best Alaska website designs. That list is pretty short right now, and after looking at over 200 Alaska websites yesterday, I'm afraid it's going to stay short for a while. Having a great-looking, great-designed website in Alaska doesn't seem to be a high priority, possibly because the cost is too high for most people.

(Small businesses don't make a lot of money, and it can be hard for people to dedicate money to building a great website. But personally, I think a website is a reflection on the owner and the business, it's often the first impression of how people see you, and it may make tourists choose some other site instead of yours, so I don't subscribe to that theory. Even if people have a Mac, they can create a decent-looking site with iWeb, even if it's not interactive, and most of these sites are not.)

In other news, I met one of the business people behind Radio Free Palmer a few days ago, and I look forward to learning more about their efforts. The short story for today is that they plan to have a new radio station online by July, and since they're not beholden to trying to make a profit, they can be much more open about their content. I'll try to write more about them in the future.