ESPN vs. ETHS- Let the Games Begin!

I am comparing the website of ESPN  to my high school's sports website.  The ESPN website looks more official, because the type is bolder, crisper, and cleaner.  The menu bar is also easier to use because the option are lined up near the top of the page.  The text easily guides the reader to where they want to go.  The stories are also organized well and they fit the space on the page well.  The website has a good mix of text and pictures, and the website overall looks very professional.  It's also nice because the page is not overtaken by advertisements, so the information is easy to focus on.  Sometime advertisements can be distracting, but this page looks clean and sharp. 

The sports website for my high school is not up to par with the ESPN website.  It's organized pretty well, but it doesn't look as clean as the ESPN website.  There are advertisements on both sides of the page, so the text is in a block down the middle of the page.  The site has a menu bar which viewers can scroll through to find the particular sport they're looking for.  There are also team pictures that flash at the top of the page, and there are updates of upcoming events.  Below that information are the "Wildkit Announcements", which are stories written about the teams and their sporting events.  For a high school website, it's a good website.  The information is well presented so it's easy for one to find what they're looking for.  The text and the pictures flow well together.  Although the high school website may not be as high caliber of a website as ESPN, it still serves its purpose.  

National vs. Local

For this blog piece, I’m comparing the websites of a national TV news station and a local TV station.

CNN’s homepage (cnn.com) has lots of options on it. The different options appeal to many different demographics, which is key. There are lots of graphics and nearly 30 stories I can link to. The page also has a really nice layout and the design makes it not feel cluttered; it is very simple and user friendly.

Newschannel21’s homepage (newschannel21.com) is not nearly as wonderful as CNN’s, as it feels very cluttered and has several ads that distract the reader from the news. Although I love the color blue, this homepage is so saturated in it that it is just way too busy. Also, the website displays two different names – Newschannel21 and KTVZ. The site also displays the name “z21”, which is what the news channel was called three years ago before it was changed to Newschannel21. But anyway, the page has too many graphics and I feel that it detracts from the page overall.

When you go to an article on CNN, you immediately see the headline of the story and a few story highlights. The highlights are a great feature because you can just get the facts and go. On the pages with articles, CNN also has a list of the 10 most viewed stories at any given time, which is nice because the average reader will probably only read what others feel is important. These attributes make the page more user friendly.

Even on the pages with stories in them, Newschannel21’s pages are saturated with ads. The page layout is very simple and not impressive. But, I do really like that at the bottom of each story; you have the option to rate the story and comment about it. I find that it is usually very interesting what locals have to say about hometown issues.

It is difficult to compare the content of the two websites as the both have a very different niche in the news world. Newschannel21 is great when I want to see highlights of my sister’s last soccer game or when I feel the need to catch up on news at home. But CNN is great for getting information about world and national events.

Overall, CNN is the better website because of it’s layout and user friendly options and Newschannel21 would be better off if they made their website simpler and more logical.

Hometown News...

I took a look at the websites of papers that my hometown people usually look to for news...

The Rolla Daily News is the paper from where I was born and raised, Rolla, Missouri. At first glance I couldn't tell whether or not I liked it, it is boring, but I could tell it was at least organized, and I'm not gonna lie - it is better than I expected from them...

The homepage is a lot like other papers, with featured articles, a picture or two, ads along the right... I didn't like the advertisement on the left column, it distracted me, and it moved, which was just irritating. I liked the tabs for different topics along the top, and that the weather was always there too. By the weather there was a search bar, which was convenient. If I were them I would make sure to put the title way bigger, instead of having it small and putting an election advertisement next to it. It was very obvious that it was a site for a smaller town, with articles about PCRMC, the highway control, Dollar General, and the Rolla Marching Band.

STLtoday is much more technologically advanced than Rolla's. I liked the layout much better, with a rotating section of featured articles accompanied by big pictures to catch your attention near the top. There are scattered ads, but they don't annoy me like the ones from Rolla's site, and the name of the site is more prominent. There is a similar bar with the different subjects, but here there is a drop down menu when you run your mouse over it to narrow down your interests. There is more information on the site as well, with some local stories, but with more state and national news too. Another thing that I like a lot from this site is that there is more reader input - there are featured photos, a 'most popular' articles section, and you can comment on articles if you are a member. And this one isn't so boring...

For me, I don't mind either of them, I would prefer STLtoday, but it is nice to get more localized news from Rolla's. It works well to get a combination of both, which is what my family always did, but I wouldn't say either of them are bad, just different.

ABQ Journal vs. NY Times

When I was at home, I got basically all of my news from The Albuquerque Journal (abqjournal.com) and local TV stations.  Every once in a while I would visit The New York Times' website (nytimes.com) for a different perspective.  

The Albuquerque Journal website does have some advertisements, but on the first frame of the homepage you see the ABQjournal Video section, Albuquerque weather, a search box and hot search topics, as well as tabs to different sections of the paper.  A little bit below that they have the ABQNews Seeker and an ABQ Arrest Map and a picture of the front page of the paper with a link to the eJournal login on the left side bar.  The layout is simple with three columns and boxes separating the sections within the columns.  The content is very recent, with crime information last updated at 1:17 PM MST.  The main story is about Tony Hillerman who died on Sunday night.  This story is both local and national news because Hillerman taught journalism at the University of New Mexico for more than 20 years and lived in New Mexico for more than half a century.  Although the majority of the news is from the Albuquerque Metro Area and New Mexico in general, they do have national and international news.  

The ABQ Journal has 4 other editions, The Mountain View Telegraph, The Rio Rancho Journal, The Journal North/Santa Fe and The West Side Journal, that has the majority of the same news but some information that is more relevant to the different parts of New Mexico it is delivered to.

The New York Times website is definitely more focused on national news and has less specifically New York news because their audience is so diverse.  Their website looks very clean, but I think it could use some more color.  The main story is about the presidential election and politics, of course.  I like that you can individualize the website by going to My Times so you can choose what kind of content you would like to see.  

The Tony Hillerman article that was #1 on the ABQ Journal website is #4 on NY Times, showing that the different audiences want a different kind of news.  I really like both websites, but overall, being an Albuquerque native, I am more interested in the news on ABQ Journal because it seems more relevant to me, even though NY Times is easier to navigate and is less cluttered.

Blogs are just better.

When it comes to news and information updates there's no better way, in my opinion, than a blog. Blogs are easily updated daily and can easily adjust to breaking news stories. 

Engadget is a prime example of a blog that uses simplicity to get technology news out quickly, with a little personal flair to it as well. Its design is clean and simple, using blues, grays, and whites, which is also easy on the eye's. It header is crisp and if your a nerd very clever. It keeps its adds to the side which make's it very easy to avoid having to look at them. It updates relevant technology news. The site steers clear of a lot of rumors that don't have a whole lot of clear sources behind them and posts a lot of interesting stories about technology.  The best feature of the site is its story layout. It has the most recent post on the top of the page and all you have to do is scroll down. Most of the time all you have to do is read the blurb underneath the picture to understand the topic of discussion. 

The Drudge Report is a very popular blog, frequented many times a day. I however, can't stand the layout. When I visit the page to see what the major news stories of the day are, I find it very hard to find anything. There is no continuity to how the posts are laid out. On one side of the page the topics can range from the economy to something about the environment. There is no blurb telling what the story is about. All there is is a headline, giving very little information. I do however like the large headline at the top of the page. It usually has a very important topic and is usually of great interest. However, it is still just a headline sometimes followed by a picture. Not a whole lot of information and I usually lose interest in the article very quickly.

I think that one day blogs and RSS feeds will play a much larger roll in getting information out to the public. Americans like things quickly and immediately. Even the iPhone and its access to a fully functioning web browser isn't as fast as push email or an RSS feed sent directly to your phone. Getting the news out in a simpler format may be the best way to go for us fast paced Americans.

Local vs. National?

So for my blog I decided to see how a local news site would stand up to a national news website, let's say Fox News' site. So for my local news I decided I'd go with Fox 2 News' site, which is the local affiliate of Fox in my hometown of St. Louis (cheap plug). Before I compared the two I thought the sites would be similar, with Fox two being an affiliate of Fox. I found out that I was mistaken, when I looked at both sites.

First, we have my local station Fox 2. When you first open the page your eyes are drawn to the picture of the top news story on the left side of the page. Underneath that story summary are other selections for top news stories. As you scroll down you'll find more news stories and links that have to do with St. Louis and some global news. At the top of the page is a number of buttons; each of which will take you to a different type of news (weather, entertainment, etc). Along with all this there are some adds on the bottom of the page and on the right side. While the site is laid out very nicely, it feels a bit cluttered, as if they we're trying to cram a much news as they could on one page. 

Now we move on to Fox News' site. This one really surprised me. Now I'm no fan of Fox News, and visiting the site didn't help much. The first thing you see is, again, the picture of the main story, dead center of the site. To the left is a number of links to the other stories. However, they are just that, links. There are no pictures, no flashy icons, just a link to the story. As I scrolled down I found that the layout wasn't bad. It had different sections for all the different kinds of news as you might expect. It didn't help the main problem of the whole site to me though, that being that the website was terrible boring.

Overall I actually liked my local news site a lot better than the national. It was more colorful and was laid out a bit better despite being cluttered. In the end, I think I'd go to the local website than the national for my news.

St. Louis Post Dispatch vs. Columbia Tribune

The St. Louis Post Dispatch's website (STLtoday.com) is fairly appealing. It is a little boring with its lack of color, but it is an informational website and fulfills its job well.  The site is well organized and not too cluttered. It has a search box at the top along with list of topics.  I like how the topics stretch horizontally across the screen, but when you move the cursor over them, a drop down box comes and it is a little annoying.  Under the topics is a box that changes pictures between a few hot stories.  To the right of the picture is a box with two tabs, Top headlines and Columns and blogs.  As you scroll down the page, there are more specific stories.  They take the topics from the top of the page and have a little section on each listing top stories, including videos from select stories.  I am most pleased with the fact that the page is not being consumed by ad after ad.  Overall, I like this website a lot.  It is easy to find what you need and looks appealing because it is not overdone.

The Columbia Tribune has no search box at the top and basically consists of four columns.  The first is a navigational list of topics, and the second is of a picture with a ton of top local news stories following.  The third is a long list of AP top stories, and the fourth is today's front page, most visited stories, and Election 2008 information.  In my opinion, this website has way too much information on one page.  It looks very crammed and does not pull out top stories, there are just too many there.  It think the best thing about this website is that the advertisements are not intruding on the information.  They are off to the right or at the bottom of the page.

From evaluating these websites, I have found that the St. Louis Post Dispatch definitely has a better website in comparison to the Columbia Tribune, but when looking for some local Columbia news, this website is the place to go.  It has a lot of information and you can find just about anything that you are looking for.  The St. Louis Post Dispatch is more attractive to viewers and easier to navigate, but they both have information, from local to nation news, so I would say that they both serve their purpose of bringing the news to the people just fine.