Some of the most well known
websites and blogs in the internet today are hosted by Wordpress.com. The ease of use associated with this Content
Management System sees popularity from novice web designers, but for these
sites we get a look at what is truly capable with Wordpress’s features. One such site is CNN.com, a popular news
hosting site and blog that has been the go-to source of worldwide events for
some people for years. I know my whenever
I visit my grandparents CNN is the only thing they ever have on, so for some
people this is a program that they follow regularly and sometimes
constantly. Because of this their
website needs to be easy to navigate, and know how to draw the reader in with the
layout of their news coverage.
I’m going to approach this from my grandparents’ perspective, and analyze why an average CNN viewer such as them could find comfort in the website due to its parallel to the television program. Upon first visiting the site, we are greeted by the signature red and white color theme that is associated with CNN, which is a nice way to introduce a reader to the website. The Home page displays breaking news, which is a great organization tool because that is obviously what readers are going to be looking for most of the time. Aside from Home there are two other pages highlighted in a darker red than the rest of them: TV & Video and Trends. TV & Video is a nice addition because for those who do not wish to read as much they can opt to just watch a segment to keep up in a similar way to them just watching the program. I know this is probably what my grandparents would want to use, and they could easily find it sine it’s right next to the home button. The next page, Trends, features not as popular news stories, but a wide selection. For those who simply want to read any sort of news available this is another great starting point, and an obvious reason why it is bolded with these other two selections.
The rest of the pages are laid out in a similar fashion to a newspaper or a magazine, with pages such as U.S. News, World News, Technology, Health, Politics, Travel, etc. The farther towards the right we look the less serious the stories seem to be, with many of the last pages (like Travel) being slightly unnecessary to the average browser. Still, they include all of these options anyway to offer diversity to the reader, which for a news site Is a smart move. Each one of these tabs gives a description of what kind of information the reader will find on each page simply by hovering over it, which I think is a great addition. There is also a separate list of pages underneath of the main one for hot topics that have been searched recently. Again, this is a way for readers to easily find what they are looking for at a glance.
The Home page’s actual content involves large pictures with summaries of stories underneath rather than just displaying full stories. This is a great way to draw people into the site rather than just being able to read everything at a glance. This also prompts browsers of the site to actually explore the rest of the site as well, a way to get people to learn without even realizing it. A glance leads to an exploration through this sight, and I think that is a very important quality to have in a webpage. At a glance the material should be interesting and easy to navigate, but on the inside is where you can sort of persuade your reader into browsing the site further.
I’m going to approach this from my grandparents’ perspective, and analyze why an average CNN viewer such as them could find comfort in the website due to its parallel to the television program. Upon first visiting the site, we are greeted by the signature red and white color theme that is associated with CNN, which is a nice way to introduce a reader to the website. The Home page displays breaking news, which is a great organization tool because that is obviously what readers are going to be looking for most of the time. Aside from Home there are two other pages highlighted in a darker red than the rest of them: TV & Video and Trends. TV & Video is a nice addition because for those who do not wish to read as much they can opt to just watch a segment to keep up in a similar way to them just watching the program. I know this is probably what my grandparents would want to use, and they could easily find it sine it’s right next to the home button. The next page, Trends, features not as popular news stories, but a wide selection. For those who simply want to read any sort of news available this is another great starting point, and an obvious reason why it is bolded with these other two selections.
The rest of the pages are laid out in a similar fashion to a newspaper or a magazine, with pages such as U.S. News, World News, Technology, Health, Politics, Travel, etc. The farther towards the right we look the less serious the stories seem to be, with many of the last pages (like Travel) being slightly unnecessary to the average browser. Still, they include all of these options anyway to offer diversity to the reader, which for a news site Is a smart move. Each one of these tabs gives a description of what kind of information the reader will find on each page simply by hovering over it, which I think is a great addition. There is also a separate list of pages underneath of the main one for hot topics that have been searched recently. Again, this is a way for readers to easily find what they are looking for at a glance.
The Home page’s actual content involves large pictures with summaries of stories underneath rather than just displaying full stories. This is a great way to draw people into the site rather than just being able to read everything at a glance. This also prompts browsers of the site to actually explore the rest of the site as well, a way to get people to learn without even realizing it. A glance leads to an exploration through this sight, and I think that is a very important quality to have in a webpage. At a glance the material should be interesting and easy to navigate, but on the inside is where you can sort of persuade your reader into browsing the site further.
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