ABB: Overall Rating 89%
www.abb.com
One would expect a lot from a leader in industrial controls and systems, and this site delivers. The homepages kicks things off with the usual, prominent anchor image, news, search, and the familiar tabbed format, and also offers not one, not two or three, but also a dozen different paths to products under Our Offerings. This section includes products A-Z, a product guide, approaches via industry, and also access via several, popular product topics. Organization, especially for a company offering so many products, is excellent. It takes a few clicks to get to product data, but this is to be expected with such a product range—and the next levels make sense. Each product area, at minimum, includes overviews, brochures, certifications where applicable, and manuals. Cookie crumb links enable quick, multi-jump backtracking. While we found no easily accessible whitepapers, heading in through industry links leads to a very broad selection of application papers/case studies. Most documents are in PDF form. Specific contact information is offered by product, a big plus compared to being connected to a first-level telephone operator/gatekeeper. The only areas in which the site falls short include the lack of product configurators, and online purchasing for less expensive, off-the-shelf products.
- Site delivers almost everything you’d expect from an industry leader
- On a site of this enormity, PDF-based content is understandably used instead of also replicating pages in html for convenience.
- A Document Library is offered in some areas, such as Drives. Very useful, but could be more prominently positioned.
- Where applicable, some areas include related software. Grouping drivers, apps, and updates in one area would be a help, however, for users who come to this site for that purpose.
- Conveniences such as rating and emailing pages are included; nice touch.