There’s something delightful about the simplicity of certain things. Like the 8-count box of Crayola crayons. Or the blue, red, yellow ribbon verdict of a summertime swim race. And it’s nice to get that same satisfaction from an add-on…

There are many ways to rate, rank and review websites, but if you want to know a site’s reputation in a glance, Webutation has a great system.

Billing itself as a “Website Reputation Community against fraud and badware” it collects information from a number of sources to rank sites all over the Web. The group gathers user feedback and customer information, tests sites against spyware and scams, queries Google Safebrowsing, WOT (Web Of Trust), and Website Antivirus, and calls on other resources for a comprehensive survey of the reputation of a given site.

Using it is simple. Here’s what it looks like in your browser:

And here’s a glimpse at all the rankings:

Click on the icon to get some details. Mouse over the “info” superscript for details about a ranking:

From shopping to banking to just gathering information, it’s always helpful to know more about a site’s reputation. Webutation is a simple way to make that info easy and available.

Post from Elise Allen, who has consulted on Mozilla Engagement projects since 2007. See all posts by Elise Allen.