As a frequent online researcher, what I value most about a website, besides being able to move around it easily, is quick access to helpful information. This allows me to blunder around, conduct rudimentary multi-word searches, but still have a good chance of running across something unusual, interesting and useful.
Perhaps because of this ease of movement, however, many websites and how they're used force them to remain a largely superficial media. I know that I and many other web surfers often flash across numerous sites, but don't delve deeply into any one of them. This can be a mistake if you let www.controlglobal.com go by too fast, and neglect to explore its many nooks and crannies. Oh sure, I'm prejudiced, but there aren't more than a couple dozen sites that I routinely spend lots of time with, and my own wouldn't be one of them if it didn't give me what I need. And, of course, it does.
For example, from the "Jobs" tab, our Control Connection career resource has 1,855 job listings, a resume posting area with 243 resumes and other related functions. Whether you're looking for a job or seeking new staffers, these are excellent resources.
Likewise, from the "Community" tab, our wiki-based Directory of Lost Companies includes a listing of approximately 425 companies. In a sort-of corporate family tree, the directory charts initial names, which firms acquired them, who they bought, what they're known as now and other useful details. This is another helpful tool for remembering if Danaher bought Tyco or the other way around, what happened to Siebe, or what combination of "industry," "process," "control," "operations" or "management" is now at the end of a particular firm's name.
Going even more granular, our Product Resource Center contains close to 1,500 product listings and is accessible via the "Product Info" tab. These are searchable by name, manufacturer or product category. Personally, this makes it easier for me to verify who builds products in which area, track when and if specific devices became available and generally trace the genealogy of product lines and solutions.
Finally, from the "topics" tab, you can access the online resource center for our quarterly Industrial Networking magazine, which details the recent evolution of the fieldbus protocols, Ethernet, wireless and related cabling, cordsets, switches and other components. The center presently has 241 articles, 73 whitepapers, 130 news items and 385 product listings.
Of course, it may seem like diving deeper into one website will take more time than flitting between a bunch of different ones. However, I've found that spending more time exploring a focused site like www.controlglobal.com is far more efficient than skimming the surface of hundreds of others.
