28 Jan 2010 Jour3340 Website Design&Elements

Website Design: What Makes a Good News Website JOUR 3340 – Online Journalism January 28, 2010

Today’s Class
Elements of Design
Next Tuesday’s assignment
Blog Post #1
Based on today’s lecture on websites, go to AssignmentEditor.com to find a local newspaper or television website (outside of North Texas). How does this news website meet the criteria? For additional information, read the following links.

Elements of News Website
Headline
Summary
Main story
Breaking news briefs
Links to related stories
Time lines
Short bios on key sources
Photos/graphics
Audio
Still and/or video slide shows
Polls
Games
Discussion forums
Email link to reporter
Database

The Home Page
Web 1.0:
Navigation
on the Left

The Home Page cont.
Web 2.0:
Navigation
at Top
Large Colorful Photo Ad Space

The Home Page cont.
Web 2.0:
Navigation
at Top
Headlines, Blurbs, Links Reader Engagement Interactive Packages – Slide Shows

Elements of Basic Design Traditional v. Web
Traditional
Modular
Balance
Fonts
Headlines, subheads, bylines
Lead story, off lead, display feature
Charts/boxes
Hi-res images
Digital Media
Balance
Simple, clean
Colorful
Headlines
Photos with captions
Interactive graphics
Animation, flash
Low res, fewer pixels

The Home Page
Hooking your audience immediately
Who is your reader? Your viewer?
Why will they/would they come to your website?
What’s the ‘so what’ of your website?
Choosing the right images
Removing distractions
Understand the limits of design
‘ Above the fold’ & ‘below the fold’

Web Design Yesterday & Today
Yesterday
QuarkXpress, Adobe Pagemaker
HTML code
Hyper Text Markup Languague
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
Today
Dreamweaver
Adobe EnDesign
Flash, Shockwave
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get ) Content Management Systems

Basic Elements of Design
Balance:
No obscured elements
Big elements shouldn’t obscure small ones
Dark elements should not obscure light ones (e.g. black background, orange font)
Contrast & Focus
Using white space wisely
http://www.statesman.com/?r=t
http://www.cleveland.com/
Web Journalism, James Glen Stovall, ‘Design on the Web’, Chapter Ten

Basic Elements of Design
Readability
See and read stories on the website
No more than two clicks from HomePage
Simplicity
Avoid lots of complicated graphics, animation
Consistency
Throughout website, particularly on article pages
Variety
Be creative, but not obtrusive
Purpose:
Always ask: What’s the purpose of this website?

“ You have to say, How do I take the same basic information and tell the story in a way that works on a Webpage? You have to take the information and turn it on its head – actually, you have to turn the method of storytelling on its head – then tell the story taking advantage of the new technology. You can’t approach it in the same way if you want o be effective.”
Retha Hill, Director, New Media Innovation Lab
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
Formerly VP Content, BET & executive producer, WashingtonPost.com

Balancing Editorial & Revenue
Editorial
News: Local, Regional, National, Int’l
Sports
Business
Lifestyle
Opinion/Editorials
Revenue
Classifieds
Banners
Advertorials
Paid links
Sponsored content

Organizing the New Website Cont.
Within each story
Byline
Reporter’s email address
Audio, video links
Slideshow: photo and/or video
Related links
Comments section

Organizing the New Website Cont.
Within each section front
Consistency is key
Controlled by content management system, in many cases
Links to other sections
Links to related articles

Format of your Analysis Website Analysis Grid Website Name: Website URL: Content Interactivity Design Functionality Advertising

Analyzing a Website
Content: What’s featured on homepage? Local? National? News? Features?
Interactivity: What’s being used? Links? Slide shows? Video? Comments? Blogs?
Design/Navigation: Is it hard or difficult to find content on site?
Functionality: Is the useful? Informative? immediate
Advertising: How is it integrated? Is it distracting? Banners? Type?

28 Jan 2010 Jour3340 Website Design&Elements

by Neil Foote on Feb 18, 2010

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28 Jan 2010 Jour3340 Website Design&Elements — Presentation Transcript