Please evaluate and critique www.Roanoke.com, which is the Web site of the Roanoke Times newspaper. Roanoke produces some of the best multimedia content in the country. It was also highly praised for its coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.
In your critique, please pay special attention to its multimedia content. What projects did you like? What did you hate? Where could the Web site improve?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I did some background research on Roanoke Times and found out that their print paper ranked first in Scarborough’s Ranker Report for percentage of adults reading the paper in that paper’s coverage area. This is an impressive feat, so I figured the paper must be doing something right for its Virginia readership.
ReplyDeleteThough the color and variety are a bit lacking, the layout works fairly well in its simplicity. All the section pages have the same layout as the home page, so the viewer doesn’t have to worry about adapting to inconsistencies. The site index is also at the bottom of every page, making navigation easy.
In particular, I thought their Community section was great. There is an interactive map where you can select the county (which sometimes directs you to their affiliate site newrivervalley.com. below the map, the top headlines for each county is available as hypertext links.
The business section was a bit sparse in its content, which really surprised me considering the poor economy. I figured there would be a lot more content about it, but even the additional links at the bottom of the page were links to AP.
Roanoke has 16 different official blogs and they even link to community bloggers on their page (the number of these is actually twice as great). This led me to further believe that the paper must really be dedicated and involved with the community if they devote previous space on their page to them.
One thing I noticed is that there is little multimedia on the site. I think if Roanoke chose to integrate more video and slideshows to their site (instead of just putting them in separate sections), they could really take it to a more sophisticated level.
For a regional state paper, Roanoke.com’s coverage is varied. If I was from Southwest Virginia, I would probably go to their site for local coverage and events.
At first glance, I have to say that I am quite impressed with the website. It looks very well organized, placing each category in its own spot on the page making it very easy to navigate. it is a simple design, which gives it a very clean professional look.
ReplyDeleteI really like how when you run the mouse over the specific topics it switches to a preview of the top stories and within it you can click for more stories under that title. It allows one to look at the stories offered without having to navigate away from the home page.
The thing that really sets this website apart from many of the others is the amazing number of blogs that the site offers. There are blogs ranging from the weather to local music, which give the readers a large assortment of topics to comment on. The Roanoke is truly taking to the digital journalism and starting to make a great transfer despite having a great print addition as well.
The one thing i didn't really like was the lack of content of the topics pages after you click on them. It brings you to the page and it merely lists the story topics. It gives no lead into what that story is about and there are absolutely no pictures.
Overall, I really liked the website. I feel it needs a bit more pictures and more content to support the the story titles, but other then that it looks good. The main thing is that the site is easy to navigate and is simple, yet professional, which makes for a user friendly news website.
On very first glance, I really like the layout. Very user-friendly and the quality of the photographs pop out with the transitional grey background. This website suprises me because I was expecting a small town newspaper, but the overall quality is very prodessional. According to wikipedia the Roanoke Times has a yearly circulation of 97,000, which uis pretty impressive considering it is the fourth largest city in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteOn the layout, the tab browsing without actaully clicking on the tab and just brushing over it, is a nice touch. It makes it easier for the reader to browse without having to wait for a page to load, taking him or her to a new page.
The coverage is very broad, with news from around the world, indepth oscar coverage, but then a community tab that allows the reader to, "Mouse over the different localities on the map to visit the community page."
The only critique I really have is the placement of the advertisements in the center of the page. When scanning a site, my eyes tend to focus on the center of the page, because that is usually where the bulk of the information is, however, here there are ads for weight loss tracking and AT&T wireless packages.
Under the multimedia column, the publication offers a guide to the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke. I took the interactive tour, but my question is whether the newssite created this or it is actually a creation of the museum.
Overall, I am really impressed with the site due to its level of professionalism in a smaller population and its overall coverage of a broad variety of topics, but still possessing the ability to connect with local readers.
I often disagree with the don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover mindset, and, rather, in most cases think the ‘cover’ is very important. In this case, the ‘cover’ would be the very first page I see when I open up the page, and with Roanoke.com, I did not know what to look at! It was overwhelming, but not in the same way the NYTimes.com was overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteHere’s why: In another journalism class we learned that in print, the reader’s eyes go to a picture first—there is usually one picture quite a bit bigger than the others. On the Web, I think surprisingly, the viewer’s eyes go to a headline first, again, usually one that is larger than the rest or set aside.
On Roanoke.com, there was not an element—picture or headline—that stood out among the rest. Thus, my eyes literally did not know where to go! I don’t think I read a single headline in the first thirty seconds looking at the page, which, in the fast-paced Internet realm, is not good.
I know from class that Roanoke is recognized for their multi-media and after watching one video I found on the home screen I definitely see why. The quality of the video was amazing!! It was much better than any videos I have seen on the Internet; it was like watching a TV screen.
It was difficult to locate the multimedia page (I think there should be a link on the top banner, but I could only find one at the bottom of the page, after passing a ton of white space). However, when I did get to the page, the multimedia was really cool. I looked at a graphic/photo gallery about a museum that had all kinds of components, including a virtual tour. It was really impressive.
All in all, I found the site really difficult to navigate. (On the homepage slideshow, you just scroll over, instead of click, the topics. When I clicked, I ended up at pages I didn’t want to be at. During the multimedia tour of the museum, there wasn’t an easy ‘back’ option, and I ended up starting over multiple times.) As difficult as it was to navigate though, I found it equally as impressive as far as content goes. I wouldn’t go to Roanoke.com for breaking news, but I would absolutely check it out for the more detailed features after the event, the multimedia coverage, etc. I just can’t believe how clear the videos are!!
When I first take a look at Roanoke.com, I am impressed by how professional it looks, but also a bit overwhelmed by all of the different things going on, even just above the fold. There is a lot of blue links going on and I think that maybe it would be better if they were just left black to make everything a but more uniform.
ReplyDeleteThe photos on the site really pop and look super professional unlike those that we have seen on some other websites (I'm talking about you, drudgereport.com). However, below the fold I don't like how the ads and photos mix together, it can be a little be confusing and I always feel like ads and photos should be kept separate; or at least ads should not be mixed in with content but rather on the sidebars or masthead area of the website.
It took me a couple minutes to actually find the multimedia section of the site because of the amount of stuff that is on the page. However, once I found it, I was impressed with what I saw. I looked at the Tubman Art Museum package that they have done and I really like all of the photos. They are very clear and very well done. Along with this, I like how they have picked out certain parts of the museum and allow you to click on them and then it will tell you a bit more about the piece you are looking at.
Over all, I definitely agree that they deserved an award for their multimedia but as far as their site layout is concerned, I find it pretty difficult to navigate around. I think that if they were you have a more simple, clean cut layout their users would be able to access their wonderful and interesting multimedia packages easier and be able to enjoy them with less hassle.
After looking at Roanoke.com I am impressed with how it is designed at organized plus the content of the web site is great if you are living in Virginia. First, the design of the web site is at times cluttered in certain spots but all in all it is a well designed site. For example there is a well defined blocked section on the left hand side of the start up page that lists all the latest blog entries and their topics. For an online journalism class the ability for a site to put readers onto their daily blog entries is a key factor in a successful site. Secondly there is a well designed set of tabs running across the top of the start up page which gives the viewer a good idea of what this site covers on a daily basis. Directly below this set of tabs is he multimedia section of web page and this a represented by a photo that changes as you scroll over certain areas of news coverage for example news, sports, entertainment, video, and shopping. On the start up page there is definitely advertising but there is a reasonable amount. And the places that do have advertisements are not closely located to links to parts of the site which makes it much easier for viewers to navigate the site.
ReplyDeleteThe multimedia on this site is one of if not the best quality of the site. There is a long list of videos that can be watched. Once I clicked on the video section of the site I was brought to a page similar to the start up page except fort the fact that it was less cluttered with links to other parts of the site. There was a box that held the actual video and to the right of that was a list of recent videos that have been added to the site. The video was clear and it loaded very quickly when I watched it on my laptop.
Once again, my initial reaction to roanoke's homepage is there is a lot going on here. The fine print, multiple categories, stories, boxes, and links presented are a little overwhelming. However, the site has a very professional look to it. The design is impressive, but the layout seems "messy." Nonetheless, the site has a credible appearance. Furthermore, the photos add a nice touch to the layout of the homepage (there are not too many which can be distracting at times).
ReplyDeleteI clicked on the "video" section and took a look the numerous clips the site has to offer. The videos are very professional in the way the are shot. The images seem to be in a high definition. I am not too familiar with video recording, but I was impressed on how they reported a particular story. In addition, the video player is smooth and rather than opening in a separate window it streams right on the page itself.
Moreover, the videos have a personal touch to them. The interviews and dialogue among those involved in some of the videos give the viewer a sort of "fly on the wall" perspective. Instead of being reported at by an on-site correspondent, the viewer can just observe off of the natural events taking place in the video. I'm sure some people would rather have a voice over narrative to the stories, but I prefer this natural style. I also enjoy the video stories that the site chooses to report on, such as "Patrolling the ski slopes" and "Life on the other side of the mat." They seem to center on everyday people and events rather than celebrities.
Overall, I am pleased with the roanoke website, particularly its multimedia characteristics and video section. I would definitely return to this site for video reports. However, I don't think I would use as my primary source for stories or breaking news because I still have my favorable sites such as CNN.
The home page for www.Roanoke.com did not reflect the quality journalistic work that the media outlet has been known for.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Elle when she said that she didn't know what to look at when she first entered the site.
Nothing stood out to me. I had so many choices and the website did nothing to attract me to click on any one thing in particular. I resulted to just looking at the sections like 'Latest Blog Entries' and 'Latest Feature Stories'. Once in the selected section, the layout became much more clear and attractive. There was a main photograph, a large and bold headline, some other graphics, and a short excerpt from the article.
In regards to the multimedia, the confusion from the main page made it hard to find. I wasn't sure if 'multimedia' meant the videos or if it incorporated other aspects. Either way, i found the 'multimedia' section near the bottom of the main page.
The videos were great. I thought that for a community based outlet, their content was compelling. In addition to their videos, they had some really fun interactive graphics. The one in particular that stood out was the interactive graphic for the new Taubman Art Museum that was just constructed.
I was really impressed by how detailed it got, especially with the imbedded videos and the option to tour the outside and inside of the museum. The video of Roanoke’s “Hottest Bartender” was somewhat cheesy and the sound fluctuated a little during the video, but overall it added to that community feel that the outlet does so well.
All in all, not bad for a medium sized city paper. I think that if I could add something to the multimedia section it would be in terms of content. Although they do a phenomenal job at covering local stories, I think that if they branched out to do some national or even global videos and graphics that it would enhance the website tremendously.
I agree that the front page of the Roanoke website is a little overwhelming. They would do themselves a favor by having a big anchoring photograph or headline to draw attention to the most important story, because your eye does kind of dart all over the page waiting for something to make it settle. There were a lot of links to stories on the front page, too, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do prefer the websites we've critiqued that offer a deck so that you know what a story is about beyond its headline.
ReplyDeleteI really like the community focus of this website that is apparent not only in the headlines, but also in the blogs and the (beautiful!) multimedia. There are a whole lot of blogs and the site even lets community members contribute to blogs, which I think is very cool. As other people have already commented, this site has a pretty big reader base, and I can see why. If I lived in Roanoke or even just in Virginia, I think this website would be really important to me.
Now how about all that multimedia! It was a little bit difficult to find, and I think it would be better if it was featured on the front page or mixed in with some of the headlines, but I can definitely understand why this site is nationally recognized for its multimedia. The videos loaded fast and had clear pictures. The shooting and the editing is extremely professional. The videos I watched, although much shorter, reminded me a lot about the videojournalism examples we saw in class a couple weeks ago. I especially liked how the videos were so closely related to the community. I saw one about the hottest bartender (which WAS a little cheesy!), and one about safety patrol people who work on ski slopes, and one about a referee, one about the new congressman representing the Roanoke area, and one about this man who sells Obama merchandise. They were all really great videos and they had local focus that made them even better by adding a human dimension.
I think that my favorite multimedia piece was in the Virginia Tech one year anniversary section. There was a giant google map with icons on it linking to stories that happened on that part of the map on the one year anniversary. If you click the icon, the story pops up and you can read it. This was true for videos, too. It was really interactive, and the fact that it was on a map made it even better because you knew where it was in relation to other stories and videos you watched...very cool, and very interesting.
All in all, this site needs a little clean up in terms of the design, but it has a great community focus and really high quality multimedia.
From my first look at this Web site, I really liked it. They had a lot
ReplyDeleteof interesting features right away. The weather was the first thing
you saw, followed by breaking news and a list of stories to "check
out" - community stories about local businesses that would really
appeal to the everyday reader. The latest features in news, photos and
the "datasphere" - a database of different news articles on a variety
of topics, so that those who were only interested in Community News or
Education or Public Safety (hey, my beat!) could go and get stories
solely from those departments.
One of my favorite features was the Community Portal page - giving
readers a chance to look at stories, photos, blogs and radio clips in
one of six different community areas -a great touch, and a really
localized feature. I wish this was used more at larger newspapers.
The community blogs, news and message boards where readers could sound
off were also great, interactive ways to get the community involved in
the newspaper.
I thought the Roanoke Times' coverage was well thought out. I liked
how news articles were linked directly to blogs on the same page - it
made the site seem very organized. The "top read" stories was also a
good feature, but I wish it had been a little bigger so that I caught
it on the different pages more often.
If I was a resident of the area, I would visit this site for my news.