Entry 1: CNN.com Review

I went to CNN.com over the span of a few days to see if there were any differences to their site from day to day and to see if stories were listed differently depending on the day. There’s a lot I like about the site. I think the company has put together a very user-friendly, accessible webpage. There are a few things that I don’t like about the site, but the majority of my comments are positive about the site.
Overall, I think that the main page is laid out very well. I like that one story is placed with prominence on the right side of the page with pictures and links to the full story, another story that relates to the original story, and some video content. However, I don’t like the way they list the other stories they feature prominently on the top of their home page, under “Latest News: Top Stories”. All that is listed is the title of the article, but nothing else. I couldn’t figure out what many of the stories were about, and if I should even bother clicking on them to find out. I prefer what they do on other sites, when they list at least the lead to the story or a single sentence summary to entice a reader to click on the link for the story. I do like how they list the most popular stories on a tab that is shown behind the one for “Top Stories,” but again, the list of the stories’ headlines are very sparse and don’t really lead to any idea of what the article is really about.
At the very top of the page, the site lists all of their sections, along with some of their most popular shows, which makes it that much easier for someone to navigate through their site. If they see something on “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” they can go to the site and immediately find the show’s page at the top of the home page. Also, if they’re only looking for stories that deal with a specific topic, like “Analysis” of the day’s politics, they can find that directly at the top of the home page. The easier it makes a user find the information they’re looking for, the better the chance the person will return to the site for other information they need.
One of the best things I think CNN did with their site was to prominently feature a developing area of news coverage: participatory journalism. Just under the featured story on the left side of the page, the site gives readers the ability to participate in their coverage, called i Reports. The small box features a red font color and a bold headline to draw attention to it. This section gives the user the ability to send their pictures and video, and even comment on CNN’s coverage. One of the best features, I think, of their i Reports is the section called “Editor’s Notes” under the section heading “Sound Off: Your Comments” on the i Report section’s main page. It gives readers the ability to comment, and then get a response from an editor. I think that too many times people give their opinions about coverage or stories, but never even find out if the site or newspaper even got their comments, let alone see if anything has been done about it. I believe that this leads to people not bothering to send in their comments about something they read or saw because there’s no return on their efforts. This site is the first I’ve seen with so many opportunities for the readers/ users to participate in their own news coverage, and feel like their opinions are being heard.
The main page also displays a list of stories that are featured in the different sections’ main pages. They are listed closer to the bottom of the page, but a great short-cut if you’re looking for something specific, but know only what subject matter the story deals with, like a story on a development in space technology would be found under the “Science and Space” section. Also listed with the stories under each stories are buttons that let the user choose what kind of content they want to find. A user can find videos under almost every section heading, while for other sections, they could be linked to an outside site that can give them more coverage of that particular topic area. Under the business section, there are links to CNNMoney.com, and under “Technology,” a user can link to the “Fortune” magazine site and the “Business 2.0” site. It says to me that it is more important to give people the information they need, even if it means sending them elsewhere. Four of these sites, “Time,” “Entertainment Weekly,” “Sports Illustrated,” and “CNNMoney” are listed at the bottom of the page, with all of the stories that are prominently featured on their home pages.
A final thing I really like about the home page is that you can perform a search specifically on CNN.com or over the entire internet, all from the two boxes on the page. These search boxes are conveniently located at the very top and very bottom of the page.
One of the things I like the most was the way that the individual stories were laid out. I was most impressed by both the “Story Highlights” and additional materials that are listed on the page with the story. The “Story Highlights” box is prominent at the top of the page, before the beginning of the story in a red, bold box, and gives a reader three of the most major pieces of information to the story. Also, along the right side of the page, usually underneath the story’s accompanying photo, is a vertical group of boxes that list “Advertiser Links,” “Video,” and “Related” stories. In the “Video” box, that isn’t listed with all stories, but most, a user can also search for videos or browse through CNN’s collection of videos from a link in the border of the box. I really like this feature of the site. They group all, or at least most, of the information that a user might need to fully understand the story, the facts, and the story’s connection to any related archival stories. They also do this within some of the stories. One story, “Questions remain in whale shark death,” had a lot of accompanying information and other items that helped a user understand all the facts of the story. In the “Story Highlights” box at the top of the page listed four sentences total, with the first two marked as “New” in bold print which helps those who have been following the story get to the newest information without having to go through all of the old. There is a link to a video of an interview with an official at the aquarium the shark, Ralph, lived, listed under “Videos” on the left column of the page. Underneath the video box, in the related materials box, are two interactive guides, one a guide to whale sharks in general, and another to the Georgia Aquarium where Ralph lived. Also, there are three links to other stories that have something to do with the major parts of the original story. I really liked seeing that within the story, when they wrote about whale sharks in general, they put a link in parentheses right after the last sentence in the paragraph that said, “Learn more about whale sharks,” and then again in the following paragraph, when they wrote about the necropsy (an animal autopsy), they put in a link that lead to a video titled, “Watch how the aquarium will learn from Ralph.”
The biggest thing that I didn’t like about the site is that some pages seemed to be overlooked and some of the boxes they put in on the sections’ homepages for features within the site had nothing to do with the section at all. The page for the weird news of the day, “Offbeat,” was very sparse and had only a few items on it. When I clicked onto the section’s main page, the only items were stacked against the left side of the page. The largest section of the page was at the bottom, when they list past dates and the stories that were “offbeat” on those days, but the top of the page was seriously lacking in content. Also, while I was exploring the site, I went to the International page, where I found a box that said, “Your Emails: What the Dems should do; for the first time in 12 years, the Democrats are in control of both houses of the U.S. Congress.” First, I’m not sure what the point of the box is. Where does this link lead me? What is the point of clicking on it? Will it be a page where I’m able to send an email saying what I think they should do, or should I write about what I think about the Democrats being in charge? There needs to be a bit more of an explanation about why someone should click on the link and what makes it more important than other content. Also, it seems to be in the wrong place. I know that many people across the world are probably watching our country’s politics closely, but I doubt many people care enough or are knowledgeable enough to feel they should write something. I would think this would belong on the U.S. section page. At the very least, put it on both of the pages, since it wasn’t on the U.S. page at all, only on the international page. If I were an international reader, I think I would be somewhat disappointed. They have the ability to change the language the site appears in, but there are only four languages listed: Arabic, Japanese, Korean, and Turkish. Why isn’t Spanish listed? What about Italian, French, Russian, or German? Does the site expect people from countries besides the ones where those four are the main language spoken to know English well enough to be able to read it in English? I don’t understand why more languages wouldn’t be listed. I like the ability to change it to suit the user’s linguistic needs, but they really need to expand the available languages to include the majority of the world.
Overall, I really like CNN.com. I think it is a great site with a lot to offer any user. It is a one-stop-shop for information about breaking news, and also a place to find out how this story fits into the overall general scheme of the topic and how it fits into a user’s life. I think they have some really great ideas with the way they organize both the main page and each section’s page. They all lend themselves to usability and to making reading news online a lot easier for everyone. There are a few things I don’t like, and it sometimes seem like they are more an American news provider than an International one, but overall, the site is a good one and definitely one I would use again for any future research into a news story.