Too often, government and commercial Web designers squander their efforts on feeble newsroom pages with little more than a few press releases and a contact to telephone during business hours. In contrast, Commerce's newsroom has a library of releases buttressed by the text of many executive speeches and selected congressional testimony, as well as audio sound bites and news reports that can be redistributed on television, radio and the Internet. The scheduled items simultaneously and automatically appear on the home page, in the news archive and in cross-references on related pages. Commerce publishes its news in such a way that other Web sites running script-capable Web servers with Microsoft Active Server Pages or Java can import the news in real time to post on their sites. The site has several next-generation design elements that make it more than just another billboard in cyberspace.
Visitors can manipulate some data with interactive tools.
Library of Commerce forms can be filled out online or downloaded in Adobe Portable Document Format copies. There also are links to Office of Personnel Management and General Services Administration forms pages. From the helpful and extensive links page, visitors can click on Commerce Internet services. One surprising omission on the site is the dearth of advanced e-commerce technologies. 3-D imaging and animation, video chatrooms and Web site personalization tools that anticipate the needs of repeat visitors.