Vanguard Awards Logo
Manufacturer Web sites range from ordinary to awesome, but who has the time to weed through them to find the good ones?
For the first time, BUILDING PRODUCTS and our Web site, ebuild.com, have done it for you.
Our inaugural Vanguard Best of the Web Awards competition singles out Web sites that will wow you with their stunning designs, thorough product information, dedicated sections for building pros, and clever animation.
The 2007 competition unearthed 14 whiz-bang Web sites, including four that our judges have deemed the best of the best. These sites display content without clutter and feature creativity that creates no extra work for the viewer. They're easy to navigate, are understandable at a glance, and include technical information about product specs and installation that is clear enough to save a building pro from having to call for help.
BUILDING PRODUCTS and ebuild asked manufacturers to submit Web sites of particular interest to building pros. Our judges spent hours clicking from page to page to determine how easy they are to navigate and how useful they are to pros. In the end, our pro judges, who possess various levels of technical savvy, bestowed Vanguard Best of the Web Awards on the sites they found most valuable to building pros and the ones they would be most likely to return to.
Indeed, one judge shied away from sites that would 'make me call the rep immediately so I do not have to use [them] anymore, 'comparing one to 'an overstuffed file cabinet that someone needs to clean out.
Another cautioned manufacturers against creating sites that are 'efficient but not inspiring.'
Large, quality photos and graphics--but not so many as to clutter the site--lend to viewer appeal, advised the judges. And the fewer mouse clicks it takes to access needed information, the better.
The judges made their selections based on the sites entered in the competition, not from all manufacturer Web sites. There are many other sites worthy of this award, so let us know about your favorites. E-mail Katy Tomasulo at ktomasulo@hanleywood.com.
--BUILDING PRODUCTS
The Vanguard Judges:
Anne Fougeron
Fougeron Architecture
San Francisco
Jorma Lankinen
Jorma Lankinen General Contractors
Marquette, Mich.
Nancy Lidard
Lidco Construction
Baltimore
Our Vanguard judges singled out four manufacturers' Web sites that stand out among all of the Vanguard entrants and deserve special recognition for 'best in class.'
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
Designed to appeal equally to the consumer and the building professional, Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center Web site uses modern, clean text and imagery to show off the manufacturer's energy-efficient products. 'It's an excellent resource,' commented one judge.
Bosch Home Appliances-Best Overall
• Integrity Windows and Doors
Judges gave the Integrity Windows and Doors Web site kudos for its easy navigation, aided by good drop-down menus and a clean look. A design with 'no cutesy graphics' and the use of 'funny, informative' videos cinched the award. 'Any site that is this easy to use, makes me laugh, and educates me is tops!' raved one judge.
Integrity-Best Overall
• Southern Pine Council
Packed with online courses and information for a variety of building professionals, Southern Pine Council's Web site 'includes or links to basically everything you always wanted to know about lumber,' noted one judge. Furthermore, 'This Web site provides so much information on one site without unnecessary content.'
Souther Pine-Best Overall
• Thermador
One judge got 'sucked in' by Thermador's Web site and 'didn't want to leave.' An elegant design couples with an abundance of content relevant to both consumers and building professionals. Videos, photos, and drawings of products, one judge noted, make finding answers easy and enjoyable.
Thermador-Best Overall
Judges surfed each Web site to see how easy it was to get the information they wanted. Sites that offer keyword searches, easy-to-read text, and an easy-to-find navigation bar fared better than those that contain broken links or require multiple clicks to get to builder information.
Best in Class
• Hilti
This simple, well-organized Web site allowed one judge to get directly to the information she wanted without jumping from section to section.
Hilti-Best Navigation
• Thermador
Thermador's site is 'completely logical on every level,' one judge said, noting that everything on the site is clearly labeled. 'There is nothing a viewer can't find within a few clicks.'
Thermador-Best Navigation
Honorable Mention
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
• Crown Heritage Stairs
• Fiberweb
• Integrity Windows and Doors
• Jeld-Wen
• NuCedar Mills
• Southern Pine Council
Web sites that feature a clean design, user-friendly color scheme, and easy-to-read font types and sizes were winners with our judges. Clutter cost some entrants their shot at a Vanguard Award.
Best in Class
• Crown Heritage Stairs
Crown Heritage Stairs' Web site makes it 'easy to see' what the manufacturer's products are about, said one judge. The site constantly changes the product photos on its home page, using 'good flow' and 'good photos,' she noted.
Crown Heritage Stairs-Best Design
• Thermador
'Stunning!' is how one judge described Thermador's Web site. The design, he noted, is 'elegant, stylish, sophisticated, and downright beautiful. The site is a perfect reflection of an exclusive, classy product line.'
Thermador-Best Design
Honorable Mention
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
• Fiberweb
• Hilti
• Integrity Windows and Doors
• Nana Wall Systems
No matter how beautiful a Web site is, it will benefit a building professional only if the pro content is complete, easy to find, and simple to use. Our judges appreciated sites that offer easy-to-download PDFs of catalogs, especially if they segment the information so viewers can save time by downloading only the parts they need.
Best in Class
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
Technical product information is 'extensive' on the Bosch Home Appliances' Green Building Center Web site, commented one judge. The site, devoted to green building, features separate entry points for trade and consumer viewers, but information overlaps and is easy to find in either section.
Bosch-Best Product Info
• MTI Whirlpools
Pro viewers can find all of MTI Whirlpool's manuals and warranties online, next to 'excellent product descriptions' for all of the manufacturer's lines, said one judge. Complicated information is presented in an easy-to-understand format.
MTI-Best Product Info
• Southern Pine Council
From storage ideas to mold issues to pricing, information about lumber abounds on Southern Pine Council's Web site. What the association doesn't cover itself is a mouse-click away from the site's extensive 'links' page, which one judge called 'an excellent resource for many different building professionals.'
Southern Pine Council-Best Product Info
• Thermador
Manuals, service questions, and even safety notices and recalls are easy to find on Thermador's Web site, noted one judge, and all are available for downloading. Each item is enhanced by photos or drawings.
Thermador-Best Product Info
Honorable Mention
• Crown Heritage Stairs
• Jeld-Wen
• Hilti
• Integrity Windows and Doors
• Simpson Strong-Tie
• Whirlpool
• Worthington Millwork
The judges wanted to be able to find contact information--e-mail, telephone, and address--at a glance. Online answers to frequently asked questions can save a pro time, they agreed, but all appreciated having the option to dial a live operator for real-time telephone help.
Best in Class
• Thermador
Thermador's Web site stands head and shoulders above the other applicants when it comes to Best Installation Support. The site contains complete contact information in one place. FAQs include technical and consumer questions--by product category. And one judge was 'wowed' to discover that the Professional series line has its own 800 number.
Thermador FAQ
Honorable Mention
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
• Crown Heritage Stairs
• Hilti
• Integrity Windows and Doors
• Jeld-Wen
• MTI Whirlpools
Judges looked for blogs, message boards, forums, and live chats, but found few among the Vanguard applicants' Web sites. In this category, they registered more complaints than compliments, bemoaning software that refused to open, an overwhelming number of choices, extra-long waits for responses to questions, and business-hours-only availability.
Best in Class
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
The judges' favorite for Best Interactivity is Bosch Home Appliances' Web site, which boasts an energy-savings calculator that can be adjusted for each Bosch appliance. One judge especially liked a feature that allows building professionals to type in a ZIP code and learn of any Energy Star rebates available for each appliance.
Bosch-Best Interactivity
Honorable Mention
• Crown Heritage Stairs
• Integrity Windows and Doors
• Jeld-Wen
Sites that feature a 'professionals-only' section were favorites among our judges, who like some interactivity for and among building professionals and an easy-to-use keyword search for technical information.
Best in Class
• Bosch Home Appliances' Green Resource Center
As soon as viewers open the Bosch Home Appliances Green Resource Center page, they choose 'consumer' or 'trade' and are directed to relevant information. The pro portal is jammed with handy, interactive information about green building rating systems; Bosch's green product offerings; a dealer locator; and an energy-savings calculator for each appliance.
Bosch-Best Pro
• Southern Pine Council
Southern Pine Council's entire site is valuable to professionals, contended one judge, who liked the site's wealth of specs, instructions, drawings, and details for all types of lumber applications.
Southern Pine Council-Best Pro
Honorable Mention
• Crown Heritage
• Fiberweb
• Hilti
• Integrity Windows and Doors
• Jeld-Wen
• Simpson Strong-Tie
• Thermador
Our judges found little in the way of cutting-edge multimedia, like podcasts and videocasts, on the Web sites of Vanguard applicants. They favored sites that use multimedia to add meaning rather than just 'something cool,' and were annoyed by sites that promise whiz-bang presentations that won't open.
Best in Class
• Integrity Windows and Doors
Integrity Windows and Doors' Web site delighted one of our judges with a trio of hilarious 'test' videos that showed how the manufacturer's products perform under conditions like extreme heat or bright sun.
Integrity Windows and Doors Test Videos
• Thermador
Likewise, Thermador's clever video for induction cooktops pairs a clip of a chef demonstrating how they work with animation that shows the cooktop's internal parts. 'Video and graphics are great,' one judge said.
Thermador Induction Cooktop