The Echo newspaper website is very open which makes it easy to navigate, there's the navigation bar at the top of the page, below the newspapers logo, this has been done so the viewers can see it as soon as they open the website. All the top and most interesting stories are on the front page, however not the full story, there is only a brief summary of what the story is about or the first sentence, this has been done so the website can fit as many stories on the home page as possible, then the viewers click on the heading of the story to be re-directed to the full story. There are alot of pictures aswell to represent the different stories within the website, these draw the viewers attention to those particular stories and have been used very well as they don't reveal the whole story in the picture. The consistency of the website is very good, all the headings are in the same colour and font, as well as the summary. The layout is quite neat, because of the white background there doesn't seem to be much of a layout as such but from a design point of view you can see it, they have three columns. None of the colours are sore on the eye which has been done deliberately as is a big factor that I will need to take into account as well. I feel the website doesn't look as professional as the others I have looked at as so, overall I think it is an OK website.
The Times
The Times newspaper webite, I think, is the most professional looking, this may be because they have a much bigger audience and thus have more money to spend on their designs. The layout is very neat which makes the navigation very easy, the navigation bar is at the top, below the website logo, which is in the same position as the Echo website so so far this looks to be a recurring design feature. Additionally the headings of each story snippet that the website has on the homepage is also in blue which is also the same as the Echo website, I find this unusual as it is neither of the websites house colours, however in both cases it works very well and is easy on the eye. The Times have also just used their headings and a snippets of text on their homepage and not one full story which must be typical of newspaper websites, which does make sense. There are also alot of small square pictures which are related to the stories on the homepage.
the ONION
I have chosen to analysis The Onion's website as it is a parody newspaper website and so I need to see if they challenge any of the typical newspaper website conventions, and in that case I would need to adapt to those.
However from looking at the website, it looks very similar to the others that I had looked at, the layout is very similar, in columns with a bigger picture and story at the top to draw in the audience. The headings are also in blue which has been the same as the above to websites I have analysed, the little snippets of text to summarise each story under the headings, all the font and colour is consistent throughout the website which I think is very important to the design and so even though The Onion is a parody website/newspaper it is still done in a professional way with a good clear layout and navigation system which has been the same in the other websites.
METRO
The Metro newspaper website, I think, is the most attractive compared to the other three I have analysed. All the text is in black which makes it look professional but there are lines of colour everywhere, seperating stories and highlighting some features, coloured borders which combined with the colour gradient background and navigation bar it makes it look very appealing and 'fun'. The website has also used columns to layout their stories with a bigger picture and main story at the top of the page which is an recurring feature, as well as the logo and navigation bar position.
From analysing all four websites I have now got a much clearer idea of how a newspaper website should look, they are all very similar and so I will now create some designs of how my website should look.
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