News Website Critique

a) Do the news items reflect immediacy? 

Yes, they do. The Santa Barbara fires are a very important story right now, and it is given the most attention ontheir the home page.

b) Does the site try to help readers save time? 

No. The site takes time to navigate through. The type is in small font, and there is a lot of it on the page. You really have to focus and physically get close to the screen to find what you want out of all of the rest of the stuff they have displayed.

c) Is it quick and easy to get information? 

Check above.

d) Does it provide both visual and verbal information? 

Yes, although most of the pictures are quite small. It would have been nice to have some bigger ones! There was also quite a bit of text covering the page!

e) Do the stories contain lists and bullets to make them easier to scan? 

Yes, there are lists and bullets, although the bullets are hard to distinguish since they are not physically separated from the bullets above and below them. 

f) Are the stories broken into "chunks"? 

Yes, some stories are broken into chunks. On the right hand side of the screen there are links to several stories, all with a small chunk of catchy information to get the reader to pursue the story.

g) Do stories provide hyperlinks to additional information? 

YES! For example in an article titled, "South Bay voters approving school tax measures", there is a link provided to help readers to get a better understanding of the material. 

http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_12303561?nclick_check=1

h) Are there opportunities for readers to "talk back"? 

Yes, there is a designated area on the bottom of each article for people to make comments as they see put. Not many people appear to be taking advantage of this, however. 

i) Does the site use multimedia to enhance understanding and add appeal?

There are no videos on the site, but there are quite a lot of photos!