Nick.com
Encyclopedia
Nick.com is a website owned and developed by Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon is a US cable TV channel.Nickelodeon may also refer to:-In television:*Spinoffs of the Nickelodeon channel:** Nickelodeon Magazine, a children's magazine.** Nickelodeon Universe, an amusement park....

, launched in October 1995. The website serves mainly as an online portal for Nickelodeon content, and offers online game
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...

s, message boards, and individual websites for each show it has broadcast.

Nick.com has received positive critical reaction, receiving various awards including a Webby in 2003. Positive praise has also been received because of the steps taken by the website to protect user privacy.

History

Nick.com was launched by Nickelodeon in October 1995. Initially the website was available only using America Online's internet service. The website was later available to all internet service providers and became a strong promotional tool for Nickelodeon. The website's popularity grew and in March 1999, Nick.com became the highest rated website for children aged six to fourteen years old. Nickelodeon used the website in conjunction with television programmes which increased traffic. Nick.com also maintained a high level of respect for user privacy during the growth of the website.

In January 2000, develepers started discussing expansion of Nick.com to make it an even more desirable website for children to visit. Mike Skagerlind, the website's general manager at the time said "But we felt strongly that it could be a lot more. We basically wanted it to be the main place that kids go to on the Web." On June 4, 2000, the website redesign began. The interface was revamped and to make it more appealing to children and the most significant development was the use of Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

 for animated graphics and buttons.

In 2001, Nickelodeon partnered with Networks Inc. to provide broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...

 video games for rent from Nick.com. The move was a further step in the multimedia direction that the developers wanted to take the website. Skagerlind indicated that over 50% of Nick.com's audience are using a high speed connection which allows them to expand the gaming options on the website. To accompany the broadband content, Nick Video
Nick Video
Nick Video is an online Nickelodeon-branded broadband channel that launched in 2005 as TurboNick. It features up to 15 hours of new programming every week and includes advertising.-History:...

 was created. Initially it was a popup panel which showcased broadband content on Nick.com. Turbo Nick was revamped and relaunched on July 1, 2005 as a sister website for Nick.com. The new website expanded on clips and content on Nick.com to provide full length Nickelodeon television shows. The Splat on the website is glossier than on the TV. On September 27, 2009, Nick redid the site when the new logo came into effect. Nick News has been posted on the new site.

Reception

The critical reaction for Nick.com has been mostly positive, with the website winning numerous awards. In 1999 teachers. Nick.com also was awarded a Beacon award in the Education section. The awards reward excellence within the cable industry. The website has received two awards from the Broadcast Designers Association, getting a bronze award in 2001 and a silver in 2002. In 2003 Nick.com received a Judge's Choice Webby
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....

 in the Television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 section of the awards. Nick.com also received positive attention for its privacy policies. In 1999 Nick.com received the first Internet privacy seal from BBBOnline, a subsidiary of CBBB that assesses privacy issues online.

Design

Before 2000, Nick.com's design was mainly images and image map
Image map
In HTML and XHTML , an image map is a list of coordinates relating to a specific image, created in order to hyperlink areas of the image to various destinations . For example, a map of the world may have each country hyperlinked to further information about that country...

s allowing navigation through the website. Then, in June 2000, the website was expanded and redesigned with Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

-animated buttons and advertisements. Nick.com's design has changed repeatedly since then, with the website's current design making use of sidebar
Sidebar
Sidebar may refer to:* Sidebar * Sidebar * Sidebar , a type of graphical user interface element** Windows Sidebar, in Windows Vista...

s, web banner
Web banner
A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser...

s, and Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

.

The Club

The Club is a service provided by Nickelodeon on Nick.com. It is a virtual community that uses isometric 3D graphics. It allows the user to play games, watch video clips and explore locations based on Nickelodeon television shows. The service was launched January 30, 2007 as . Nicktropolis. The service was replaced by The Club on May 19, 2010.

Nick Video

Nick Video is a part of Nick.com that provides streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...

 videos of full or partial Nickelodeon episodes. Originally launched as TurboNick, showcasing broadband content such as video clips and games. The United States service was revamped in 2009 to Nick Video; unlike TurboNick, Nick Video focuses only on programs on Nick's schedule.

TurboNick UK does not offer the same ability to watch entire episodes, but offers short clips from Nickelodeon TV shows instead.

New Game of the Week

On January 6, 2006, Nickelodeon launched New Game of the Week, which is a service that showcases an Adobe Flash game based on Nickelodeon content. The first New Game of the Week was Jimmy-Timmy: Co-Pilot Chaos, based on The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Jimmy Neutron
and Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...

. When the service was launched, Nick.com had over 228 million game plays in the same fiscal quarter, which was partially attributed to New Game of the Week. A new game is showcased every Friday. The New Game of the week of the year has had many wins on their SpongeBob
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...

 games, such as Bikini Bottom Bust Up, Dunces and Dragons, The Attack Of The Lava King, and more.

Nick Arcade

Nick arcade is a series of games you can download on nick.com. After playing once you can buy the game you tried.

Nickelodeon finally closed Nick Arcade on February 28, 2011 because they've completed making games.

Nick Arcade games can be found on its sister website, Shockwave.com.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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