HowStuffWorks
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{{Infobox_Website |websitename = HowStuffWorks.com |screenshot = Image:Howwikiswork.PNG |commercial = no |type = Informational |reg = none |owner = Marshall Brain |author = various }} HowStuffWorks is a website created by Marshall Brain. It is dedicated to explaining the way many things work. The website in its early days focused mostly on science and machines, ranging from submarines to common household gadgets and appliances. Content since then has expanded to a larger array of topics, ranging from "How Black Holes Work" to "How Verbal Self-Defense Works" to even "How St. Patrick's Day Works." The site has an article dedicated to "How Wikis Work" and one dedicated to explaining "How the HowStuffWorks Book Works". The site uses photos, diagrams, video and animation to explain even complex terminology and mechanisms in lucid terms. New content is added daily.
There have been four HowStuffWorks books: two hardcover, illustrated coffee table books, called "HowStuffWorks" and "More HowStuffWorks," and two unillustrated paperbacks, "How Much Does the Earth Weigh?" and "What If?". HowStuffWorks puts out an educational magazine called "HowStuffWorks Express" for middle school students. The company has also put out a series of HowStuffWorks trivia "LidRock" discs -- CD-ROMs sold on fountain drink lids at Regal Theaters.
Sections
| Auto | Computer |
| Electronics | Health |
| Entertainment | People |
| Science | Travel |
| Home | Money |
Awards
The site has garnered a lot of popularity and has received numerous awards. In the past, HowStuffWorks has been featured in annual "best of the Web" lists in Time, PC Magazine, Scientific American, Popular Science and Forbes. It has also been a Webbie nominee.
History
In 1998, former North Carolina State University professor Marshall Brain started the site as a hobby. In 1999, Brain began raising venture capital and formed a corporation, HowStuffWorks Inc.
During the summer of 2000, the site went through a major redesign.
In March of 2002, HowStuffWorks was sold [1] to The Convex Group [2] and the headquarters moved from Cary, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia. The Convex Group is an Atlanta based investment and media company founded by Jeff Arnold, founder and former CEO of WebMD.
On August 15, 2003, the popular HowStuffWorks Forums shut down [3]. The community has since survived in an unaffiliated website at [4]
Stuffo (which is dedicated to video games and movies) became www.stuffo.com instead of a section of HowStuffWorks in July of 2005. Stuffo is still owned by HowStuffWorks, although it appears that they have stopped updating it.
In December 2005, HowStuffWorks announced a partnership with Publications International (PIL), a book publisher known largely for reference books, car books, review books, cook books and children's books. HowStuffWorks announced it would take over PIL's ConsumerGuide and Mobil Travel Guide review Web sites and draw on PIL's library of 10,000 nonfiction books to create new articles for HowStuffWorks.com.
External links
- HowStuffWorks
- Stuffo, previously a section of HowStuffWorks
- How What Why Forums, an unaffilated website which has retained the user base of the now-shut-down HowStuffWorks forum.