Thursday 20 January 2011

research into existing websites

Home page
     1- site ID the company logo, tells the audience what is
      2- banner add, normally a graphic or animated advert that endorses a product.
      3-shopping cart
      4-navigation section, normally about the company. Helps people find their way around the site.
     5-main or tier navigation, the persistent navigation throughout the site stays the same on each page.
6- search bar, helps people navigate the site- they are advised when the site has 20 or more pages
7-sub section or tier two navigation for a particular part of the site
8-local navigation
9- page name, tells the user hat page they are on
10-contents area, the main contents of the site
11- footer, may contain a disclaimer or contact details or links back to the min section.
 Web pages are like any other document and are made up of five essential parts: images, headlines, body content, navigation, and credits. Most Web pages contain at least three of these elements and many contain all five.
Images
Images are a visual element of almost every Web page. They draw the eye and help direct readers to specific parts of the page. In fact, most high quality Web pages have several high quality images to both decorate and inform the page.
Headlines
After images, headlines or titles are the next most prominent element on most Web pages. Most Web designers use some form of typography to create headlines that are larger and more prominent than the surrounding text.
Body Content
Body content is the text that makes up the majority of your Web page. Content is why people come to your Web page and the layout of that content can help them read it more effectively. Using items like paragraphs and page widths can make a Web page easier to read, while elements like lists and links make the text easier to skim. All of these parts fit together to create page content that your readers will comprehend and enjoy.
Navigation
Most Web pages are not stand-alone pages, they are part of a larger structure - the website. So navigation plays a crucial role for most Web pages to keep customers on the site and reading other pages. But Web pages can also have internal navigation, especially long pages with lots of content. Navigation helps your readers stay oriented and make it possible for them to find their way around the page and the site as a whole.
Credits
Credits on a Web page are the informational elements of a page that aren't content or navigation, but provide details about the page. They include things like: the publication date, copyright information, privacy policy links, and other information about the designers, writers, or owners of the Web page. Most Web pages include this information at the bottom, but you can also include it in a sidebar, or even at the top if it fits with your design



 
this webpage is a homepage for a student newspaper.
The bright colour of pink is used high connotes youth as it is a bright colour
As well as this silver is used to make the webpage look sleek
Instead of square box outs slightly curved ones are used to make it look less formal
The main or tier navigation section is in the conventional place along the top of the page, this is where most users would expect to find it making the site easy to navigation
The secondary navigation section run vertically on down the left hand side of the page this is less conventional as it would normally be just below the main one.
Toward the top there is a section where users can log into the website, this would appeal to young people as it is similar to social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter and MySpace.
The date it written in the top right hand corner
The font is serif and is relatively simple but it stands out as on the white background the text is written in black and when the background is purple white is used.
The navigation bars let the users know what other pages are included in the website, these include news, fashion, sport and entertainment. In the questionnaire I carried out these were all pages that the target audience said they would like to see on the website.
www.studentnewspaper.org

This WebPages main navigation bar also includes pages that would be of interest to young people such as film and music
It has large images this is key to catching the eye of the  user.
The site ID is in the top left hand corner in a larger typeface so the user instantly know what site they are visiting
Has a search bar for easy navigation of the site
The simple white background makes the red text stand out and catch the eye of the person visiting the site
Important and featured information is written in a later typeface so it sand out as the user may have come after seeing the story in the paper and is wanting more information of the matter
Unconventionally at the top of the page above the ID and main navigation there is an mp3 player and link saying “hot news” this is an interesting way of appealing to a younger market.
www.studenttimes.org
 
The site ID is written in a large typeface at the top left corner of the page. It uses serif and san serif font which is unconventional as it is normally one or the other as one connotes  formality and the other informality this web page could possible be in the middle.
Again, a simple white background is used  which makes the bright text on top stand out
There are two images that take up the majority of the top half of the page, these stand out and would catch the eye of the user
The main navigation section includes links to entertainment and sports pages.... These are all things students would be interested in
There is a search bar and date in the top right corner which are useful things that the user may expect to see on the home page
There are adverts down the right hand side.
Red and grey box outs are used to highlight key information to the images
www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage
A recognisable logo is placed in the top left to give the site an identity.
Interestingly there are no navigation section running across the top of the page instead they are down the right hand side of the webpage.
A search box is in the top right hand corner for easy navigation of the site
A variety of images that relate to stories are used
There is clearly a main story on the webpage as it has the largest image and typeface for the headline. This would possibly be the same lead story on the newspaper front page.
Adverts are used on this homepage which are aimed at the audience of the site- in this case the adverts are for food shopping which would interest middle class men and women who typically read the sun
Box outs are once again used to make certain stories and information stand out on the page. Unlike the student papers the main body
www.thestar.co.uk
 
The newspapers logo is written in the top left of the page to give it an ID
The image to text ratio is about half and half, for every image there is a small paragraph  explaining it
There is only four links on the main navigation bar making it look like a simple website
Despite this there is still a search bar for easy navigation
Mainly black and white texts are uses the colour is injected by the pictures
There is a large advert that takes up one third of the page
There is a log in section, showing that the user can log into the website and possible receive even more information
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news
This website homepage mirrors an article from the newspaper it is made for as the main body of text is written in five slim columns making it look formal and structured
The logo is in the centre of the webpage at the top which is unconventional as it is normally seen on the left.
A san serif font is used which adds to the formality
There is a lot of text on this page with some images that relate to the them.
The main article has the largest image and the typography of the font has changed as it is bigger.
The majority of the page is in black and white which relates to the idea of a traditional paper. The colour is added through the images and the box outs used toward the bottom of the page


The metro newspaper uses a lot of colour to crab the eye of the user
A large percentage of the page is advertising as it is a free newspaper adverts is where they get there revenue from
Lots of large images are used to draw in the reader eye.
There is not to much text, just the key details about the articles to find out more the user has to to click on the links in  the navigation sections.

second page
making the second page I have a good idea of the sort of page it would be as through research for my newspaper pages, poster and home page I have come to understand my target audience.
When researching I found that not many newspaper website had pages on entertainment as it was not relevant to the audience. They had pages on life and and showbiz which have a human interest angle but I decide to focus in on this and put it on one page- entertainment
As my paper is for young people I felt this was a page that captured the audience this is clearly shown through the fact that the student newspaper/ magazine websites had  entertainment pages clearly showing that this is what young people are interested in



when looking for Entertainment pages on existing newspaper websites I did not find any- they were entitled Arts and ents, lifestyle, life and showbiz.In my website I wanted to include all these different aspects and design my second page around this. By calling it Entertainment I was able to put together all of these features into one place meaning it was easy to navigate.I am going to put the entertainment page as my second page as in my primary audience research i found that these aspects were the things that young people are interested in.

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