Response to this Week's Reading

Well, I did the reading and thought- why not try to start a little debate. For the record, aAll responses are my own and have not been received through a hidden radio device (are you following that new George W conspiracy theory online?).

Article #1- Eyetrack III

I originally found it surprising that layout continuity is considered so important on internet news sites. Upon reflection, I realized how much I rely on sites being the same in order to navigate easily. To use an example, the UWO library website has been unchanged for at least the last six years. This year, they changed it entirely...I hate it. I don't care if it looks nicer or is "easier" to navigate based on their testing, I was used to the site appearing one way and now find it very difficult to get used to. I can imagine the same would be true for a site like CNN or CBC.

It is a paradigm shift for many people that internet layout differs from newspaper layout. I think the idea is liberating because you can add so much more content (with links) and make the message so much clearer (with multimedia options). The other hopeful thing for young journalists is the fact that the eyetrack study highlights traits for successful news sites that we are good at: good, short leads; text with solid facts (the 5 Ws); and text written in small paragraphs and short sentences. The secret to a successful news site is not just content but presentation- two things journalists bring to the table at a news site.

Article #2- Reading Online News

This study didn't really surprise me. It makes sense people don't like massive blocks of text and that they don't like blindly clicking links either. It would be interesting to see what happens when other factors are introduced into the study such as dead links, slow loading times, need to download a software update (such as with Macromedia), etc. I think they are ignoring the effects such delays have on people's reading habits and desire to keep clicking through a site.

That's all for now.
Feel free to debate or discuss,
Have a good night,
Don