Aus food sites

I've found the site taste.com.au really useful recently. It's well designed and they seem to have thought of it all...


Not only does it aggregate recipes from a whole load of different recipe/food sites, but also:

• Recipe reviews by users
  
• news
• cooking tips
• info about ingredients
• info about specific cuisine types
  
• forums to chat to other foodies
• member login where you can save recipes you like, add your own recipes to your 'folder', save a recipes ingredients to build a shopping list
• Recommends similar / related recipes
  

Certain recipes are grouped to make it easier to browse for specific types like collections of side dishes, turkish food... I particularly enjoyed looking through the barbecue collection and am planning to try the prawn skewers this weekend - yum!
I also looked at cuisine.com.au, I prefer the more subtle look and feel and its groupings and search are simpler and make a bit more sense, but doesn't have the same level of functionality with the member login, user reviews and forums which Taste has.

Love the wine matching tool though!

Asos.com

I love this site - too much for my bank balance!

ASOS (As Seen on Screen) is one of the largest online fashion and beauty As well as its own fashion label ASOS.com for women and men, it also offers a range of products from high street brands (e.g. French Connection), premium brands (e.g. Miu Miu) and independent UK designers.

Search, browse & inspire
ASOS has a wide range of products and does well at helping users find what they want by giving a range of searching options. It has a search function which searches through the whole site and is present on every page.

Users can browse by product type (e.g. trousers, skirts…), or brand, by fashion trend, by magazine article the product was featured in, or by celebrity (e.g. view products in the style of Sienna Miller). Users can also select to only view products which are ‘just in’ or products in the sale. Filters are then available to sort by size, colour, price and celebrity style. These filters (and the filters created whilst browsing can be removed again if wished.

ASOS is good at merchandising and through the site the user sees promotions and inspirational links to help guide them to offers and product sets.


Product details screen
The product display is very detailed giving many angles photographs and a zoom and drag function so the user can see all aspects of the product. ‘Catwalk videos’ are also provided for some products.

Very detailed product info given for sizing, material type, care instructions to help the user make the decision.

The returns and delivery policies are very obvious on the page to reassure the user.

Stylist recommendations of products which might fit with this one are also given at this point to push cross-sell opportunities.


Help
A detailed FAQ section is provided and also a ‘How to shop video’ to show users how to use the site, which is great for first time buyers.

Exodus

We used Exodus to book our holiday, a trekking holiday specialist. We found them to be well priced, good for information before, and on the trek we were well fed and we had our own group 'toilet tent'. Only problem was that our bags got lost between Nairobi and Kilimajaro airport, so we had to start the trek in clothes from a 'hire shop' (small hut with old clothes they'd found left on the mountain), which wasn't nice, but wasn't really their fault either. The company on the Tanzanian side, African Walking Company, didn't really seem to understand our apprehension at walk up to 6000m in someone's old stockings and a t-shirt, which was a bit frustrating. We got them in the end though, and even though we must have spent an extra £150 on the hire clothes and porters to bring the bags up, it was worth it to have my own gear (especially my North Face Greenland down-jacket which I love to bits and I think actually saved me from getting hypothermia several times).

The holiday also included a few days in Zanzibar, which was a lovely place to relax after the walk, but I wouldn't go there again. I think you get better value, beaches and service somewhere like Thailand. Can't complain though as I did get proposed to on the beach!!! :-)

I quite like the Exodus website. You can see other travellers' reviews of that exact trip, and if you sign in can access community forums to meet the other people on the trip before you go. the forums are a bit clunky at the moment but the idea is there. They also have videos of the trip, and Google Earth videos to show you the route which is a nice touch and got me really excited before going!

Only problem I had with it, although you can book online, you can't then manage your booking or go back and check the details easily. I would have liked to have seen a screen with my booking details, showing dates when I had to do things by (pay deposit, get visa etc), and dates for when I could expect things from Exodus (final joining instructions, kit bags etc). This could be integrated with the existing 'my exodus' part which currently is really only useful for accessing the forums. I did mention this to one of the guys there (I do like to give feedback!) and hopefully they will implement that soon.