theflatlander.com

TYPE: riding

theflatlander.com is a site that is dedicated to flatland (duh). It has updated the site's design since its initial release, and it's definitely an improvement — I wasn't a fan of the original "page full o' buttons" design. It now has a familiar-to-the-web global navbar along the left, which helps you get to the different areas of the site (if the blinking ads don't cause epileptic seizures).

The most important thing about a web site is the content and how often it's updated. If you've surfed the web for riding sites, you know that they're often abandoned, and sometimes the content is pretty crappy. (Who wants to look at pictures of some kid's new GT? Maybe some people, but not me...) theflatlander.com has plenty of good stuff: rider interviews, scene reports, photos and video clips. Many of the photos and scene reports are contributed from flatlanders around the world; this results in frequent updates, but the quality of the photos and stories varies.

Other content includes a links page (of course), flatland video reviews, and some stories. There's also a Rider Finder, where you can post your location and contact information to find riders near you. The tricks section is a link to BMXTRIX.com, which has the best how-to's I've seen on the web.

My main problems with theflatlander.com is with the linking. The front page, for example, has thumbnail pictures saying "new photos added", but clicking them doesn't take you to the photo. Instead, it takes you to the main Photos page, and you have to hunt for the photo you wanted to see. Same goes with the scene reports: it gives you the first sentence or two of the report and has a "more" link, but the link takes you to the main Scenes page instead of the rest of the report you want to read. Also, a search engine would really be beneficial on a site this size (and growing), since it would allow you to easily find all the info, photos and interviews about a rider that theflatlander.com has to offer.

(Update: it seems that a lot of the linking issues I described above have been resolved.)

» theflatlander.com

Uploaded February 2000