1. Which website is the least commercial? Why?
EnterText is the least commercial website because the website is poorly designed, least informative and ill-categorized. There are no options for plugins or feed for YouTube, twitter or Facebook on the website. In short, it is not attractive and exciting enough to draw in crowds.
2. Which website is the most commercial? Why?
Most commercial website is Bill O'Reilly.com. Even if one is unaware of the identity of Bill O'Reilly, one visit to his webpage reveals a deluge of information about him. All the plugins for Facebook page, twitter, Google +, YouTube videos and podcasts are in place making it convenient for the viewers to explore different options. All the latest information relative to O'Reilly, his published books, journals are at the tip of your finger. There is an array of tabs arranged in order helping you to surf through pages and learn more about O'Reilly, watch clips of his TV shows, take membership in his website and buy books online from his store. Snapshots of the headlines in O'Reilly.com are all featured in the homepage so that visitors move around reading from one page to another. The site is really exciting for any visitor to spend time.
3. Which of the websites comes closest to "objectivity"? Why?
Media Matters for America is an extreme left activist organization tied to Democratic Party dedicated to monitoring, censoring and correcting falsified news and information represented by the conservative media. Its objective is to promote the extreme leftist views denouncing the capitalist and right wing activities. The target group for blacklisting by Media Matters includes eminent conservative public executives, well-known television persona, Fox News and Heritage Foundation. The website for media matters is successfully trying to fulfill its objectivity by highlighting any piece of information regarded as misrepresented in its front page. So out of all the websites, I think it comes closest to its objectivity.
4. What are some of the "key" words used? What is the effect?
SEO key words are crucial to the marketing of any website. Knowing how the potential visitors will scout for information in the search engine by typing key words are crucial for any website to cash in on the marketing strategy that the search engine optimization presents. Some of the keywords assigned by Media Matters for America to their pages include economy, immigration, government, healthcare, environment and science which help viewers get a list of pages of their interest and choose the right information. Some of the keywords used by Fora.tv include economy, Steve Jobs, investing, marketing, entrepreneurship, globalization and emerging markets that help visitors looking for information in these domains to get an optimized result.
5. What typeface(s) is (are) used? What is the effect?
Serif typeface has been used in websites like Bill O'Reilly.com and The National Archives for titles and headlines. Rest of the other websites has stuck to using sans serif fonts. Since sans serif fonts are easily readable on-screen and don't lose their visual appeal even when their size is reduced, most of the websites over the internet stick to sans serif fonts. On the other hand, serif typeface is used mainly for titles, subtitles or headlines because they add a nice look to the webpage.
6. How/what images are used? What is the effect?
In all the websites jpg images have been used. Addition of images has added a depth of interest to the stories featured in the webpages besides enhancing the overall appeal.
7. What is the purpose of each website? Who is the intended audience?
Znet is a part of Zcom which is an internet newspaper forum for freelance writers, bloggers, reporters and journalists. Fora.tv is a conference channel that provides video streams from conferences, public forums, university debates and summits. It is intended for intelligent and smart audience. EnterText hosted by Brunel University is an internet journal to bring together scholarly writings in varied disciplines for people interested in sharing and publicizing their scholarly and literary work across the world. Antiwar.com is dedicated to support the purpose of non-interventionism and its target audience includes leftists, libertarians and pacifists who are opposed to the concept of imperialism. Bill O'Reilly.com promotes everything about Bill O'Reilly, a media tycoon and host of 'The Factor'. Its intended audience involves those who are avid fans of Bill O'Reilly and follow him diligently. Michael Moore is an American film maker and a social activist who has many books to his credit. Michael Moore.com features everything about him, his books, his movies and his social and political involvement. This site is intended for Michael Moore fans and followers. National Archives is the official website of The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) which manages and preserves important historical records of USA. It is intended for people holding an interest in visiting the National Archives Building located in different cities across US. Michael Moore Exposed is a part of Moore group of companies. It promotes different Moore business houses like Moore auto dealership, Jennifer Moore collectibles and so on. Its intended audience includes auto buyers. Media Matters for America broadcasts extreme leftist views while condemning the misinformation presented by the conservative media in US. Its intended are those who take a political interest. National UFO Reporting Center is website launched and run by the UFO enthusiasts across the globe. People willing to collect information regarding UFOs are its intended audience.
8. How much time, money, and effort do you think was spent on each website?
Only by looking at the sites it is very difficult to measure how much time, money and effort were spent on each website but considering the amount of features and complexity of the web designs, it seems websites like Bill O'Reilly.com, Michael Moore.com, Media Matters for America and FORA.tv have invested a lot of time, money and effort in building their webpages.
9. Which website most successfully conveys its particular message? Why? How?
I think of all the websites, Antiwar.com has conveyed its message most successfully. Right from the description of mission statement to the future goals, the website very clearly and boldly puts their views capturing news of war to uphold anti-war movement.
10. What is your final, overall impression of each website?
The websites like FORA.tv, Bill O'Reilly.com, Michael Moore.com and Media Matters for America are very professionally designed with plenty of plugin features and feeders for navigation through pages. EnterText, Michael Moore Exposed and National UFO Reporting Center are still in rudimentary stages requiring a lot of effort to be made for capturing audience interests. ZNet, The National Archives and Antiwar.com are well-equipped with tabs and pages organized in right order, but there is a lot of scope for these websites to improve their visual appeal and make the webpages more interesting for the readers.
References:
1. Media Matters for America, http://www.conservapedia.com/Media_Matters_for_America (13th April 2013)
2. 5 Secrets to Selecting Highly-Effective SEO Keywords, Michael Mothner, http://www.inc.com/guide/2010/06/picking-effective-seo-keywords.html (13th April 2013)
3. Serif Fonts vs. Sans Serif Fonts: A Working Case Study, Alyssa Gregory, http://www.sitepoint.com/serif-fonts-vs-sans-serif-fonts-a-working-case-study/ (13th April 2013)
4. Antiwar, http://antiwar.com/ ( 13th April,2013)
5. Bill OReily, http://www.billoreilly.com/ ( 13th April, 2013)
