Each month RECORD reviews building product related web sites and blogs that might be of interest to our readership. We visit each site, kick the tires a bit, and share what it is about and how it functions. Please let us know if there is a site you've found particularly useful, well-designed, or easy to navigate. — Rita Catinella Orrell
 

www.gunlocke.com
The new Web site for casegoods and seating specialist Gunlocke manages to make an enormous amount of information simple and accessible. Its clean and uncluttered pages present product descriptions, pricing, and technical specs in Cap and Excel, 2D and 3D AutoCAD drawings, furniture symbols, finish choices, lead times, warranties, and downloadable images and brochures. Special sections provide important information tailored to the specific needs of dealers, designers, and government sales.

 

www.amtico.com
Amtico has launched a new Web site to showcase its high-end flooring designs. The company’s three major sites, Amtico Home, Business, and International, are kept separate with links providing access between them.  Also available are links to the Stratica Web site, with information about Amtico’s line of sustainable flooring. Images of flooring designs in real bathrooms, hallways, kitchens, and living rooms are attractive, but with small and inconspicuous links, the site is awkward to navigate.

 

www.marazzitile.com
Marazzi’s newest showroom is open all day, every day at their redesigned Web site. Specifying a product can be stressful, but navigating this site is a breeze thanks to impressively intuitive organization, cool colors, and bold forms. The new SpecWizard, located under specifications in the technology section of the site (arcat.com/specwizard/09300amt/index.htm), has been developed by Marazzi with ARCAT to make writing a Marazzi spec as simple as possible.

     

www.lightingecosystem.com
To promote its innovative EcoSystem fluorescent dimming solution, Lutron came up with an interactive multimedia Web site, which uses people instead of paragraphs to explain the product. The video components are unobtrusive and can be paused at any time to explore further information through navigational links that never leave the page. Simulated 24-hour office lighting videos during explanatory speeches make the message clear and simple.