I’m always pleasantly suprised by sites that step beyond mere categorical definition of their content and create interfaces that relate to situations in the users life.
Kijiji, for example, is a classified ad service here in Germany. The site includes a wonderful browse function based on ‘Lebensphasen’ - life phases. The menu items on the right are Birth, Wedding, Moving, Retirement, and Hard times. On the ‘Moving’ page above there is a list of things someone moving would be interested in, and the page is filled with pictures, facts, stories, and tidbits related to moving, and setting up a new home.
In fact, much of the content on the page is advertising, and most of the links will take you to a regular classified listing. This simple and pleasant entry-point to the information is quite refreshing, however; especially when compared to the standard (read, overwhelming) listings of ads based on category.
