Analysis
Audience
- Both sites were equal as far as the audience evaluation goes. Both MSNBC.com and CNN.com made it very clear who the intended users were and what those intended users wanted to accomplish. Skills required to navigate the sites were not high level and that is a good fit for sites that are likely to be visited by an older group of users.
Navigation
- In my opinion the CNN site was much better designed in terms of navigation and functionality. It was a big turn off when the MSNBC drop down menus didn’t function properly in the Safari browser. Additionally the link sections of the MSNBC site seemed a little bit on the disorganized side. On the other hand the CNN site was simplistic yet easy to navigate, which I liked a lot.
Visual Design
- The visual design of each site was significantly different. The CNN site was very basic, no colors, or "heavy graphics". This is a good attribute, for quick downloading, especially on mobile devices that may not have a fast internet connection. The MSNBC site was a little more elaborate, with a high graphics header bar. This could slow downloading times, but on the plus side, the high graphics header bar, really "popped" out at you and reminded you that you were still at MSNBC.com.