Website Critique

The internet has countless numbers of websites that anyone can access pretty effortlessly. Some websites are more organized, credible, and easier to navigate than others. The choices are endless when it comes to finding a site to provide information one is interested in. Search engines like Yahoo and Google, enable one to find a website based on the information they want. These search engines give the internet user a huge variety of sites to choose where they want to get their information from.

One website I go to frequently is CBS. When you first go to the site, you are bombarded with moving images and colorful ads on the side and top. Although these images are a distraction, they are essential because it is a television website and it wouldn’t attract as many people, minus the images of the television shows. As for the ads, they also are a distraction when you go to the site. However, CBS needs these ads to function for the most part and make money to stay up and running.

The website is very interactive, with videos that users can watch of their favorite shows and forums to join and communicate with others. There is also a “Mobile” section, which one can purchase ringtones and games from TV shows that are sent to their cell phone.

Another function the site offers is “web exclusive” videos, which I think is strength. The main reason I think this website does so well is because it is very interactive and the television shows that are aired by this network are constantly accessible to the public. You can also access news and sports videos that are broadcasted on TV.




In my opinion, the biggest strength this site has is that it offers free viewing of full episodes of all of the most popular shows aired on CBS. I take advantage of this feature and I’m sure it is something that is responsible of the amount of traffic. All in all, CBS.com is easy to navigate and organized to find what you are specifically looking for.

The second website I chose was mediabistro. This is a website that is intended for writers and people in the journalism field. It offers job opportunities, blogs, news feeds, and the top media news of the day. When you first go to the site, you see a huge advertisement at the top of the page. There are also distracting ads on the right side that blink.

This site’s overall web design in my opinion works very well and is organized so one can find what they are looking for with ease. As for the interactive features, there is Mediabistro on Demand, which allows users to watch speeches, tutorials, and panel discussions between writers. I think this is one of the website’s biggest strengths and is an attractive aspect of the site. However, there is a downside to this function. You can only preview the videos and you have to pay to watch the entire video. Even though it’s unfortunate for users, without this mediabistro would most likely not be able to maintain the site.

The final website I chose was the Washingtonpost site. While analyzing it, I couldn’t help but to compare it to the New York Times website. The two are very similar, pertaining to web design, layout, and ad placement. At first glance, there are few images and a lot of bold text and headlines. I don’t think the site needs a lot of images, considering it is a newspaper organization. All of the top stories are the first thing you see and all of the different sections of the Washington Post are available at the top bar. You can click on any category and the stories that are relevant to the specific category come up.

As you scroll down, there are different blogs and photo galleries. At the top right side, there are the most viewed stories of the day. That is a feature that is strength to the website because people often read stories that are the most popular before anything else.

Some, not all, of the top stories of the day also have videos that correspond to the story. The videos are from other major news outlets, such as CNN and CBS news.

The internet serves as an infinite source of information. Some websites are more credible and organized than others. The most successful sites are easy to navigate, have interactive features such as images, video, and blogs, and have a good layout.