Craigslist Austin

http://austin.craigslist.org/

Intended audience
Anyone looking for products or services such as you might find in local classified listings, and anyone offering products or services.

Usefulness of content
The content is generated by the community, so it varies. I have managed to find a job, sell a couch, and locate an apartment in Baltimore through Craigslist, so I have personally found it extremely useful. Because of the sheer volume of listings, it's difficult to imagine not being able to find what you want, in some fashion.

Consistency of design
The design and labeling of the main page appear very similar to a classified listings index. I'm sure this was an intentional design decision. However, the site design is rather inconsistent:

• Posting pages look nothing like the main page.
• The user home page looks nothing like the main page.
• The posting and user home page look nothing like each other.

However, posting pages for different categories appear similarly, and it's possible to search by major subtopic using the same major subtopics (community, personals, etc.) that appear on the main page.

Ease of navigation

• The initial page is complete information overload. Although Craigslist serves a local community, it devotes a lot of real estate to listing other locations, which clutters the page.
• The search box is located in the left hand navigation bar rather than the upper right hand corner; however, the yellow color on the label makes it easy to find.
• This site is extremely broad and shallow - I imagine that there may be accessibility issues from the 409 links on the first page.
• Although there are breadcrumbs on the posting pages, they don't include the major subtopics (community, personals, etc.), which is a little strange.