When first looking at the site the user can see that the site is not fancy at all with the plain layout and no spectacular banner other than the banner that shows the title. The basic layout is a red and white color scheme which isn’t that appealing but it is not what matters.

The first thing that the user sees after the title is the top news of the day followed by the other news of the day right next to it. Whats not usually seen on many sites is the top sports right below the top news which is different for a change because its not usually seen in that format.

There is a little video section that are provided by the AP. It’s nothing fancy but is expected by me from a little news site that is dedicated to Rochester. Everything is separated in the side panel nicely but has a long way to go to catch up to not the elite but the descent websites.

The site provides no polls, surveys or commenting on the stories which makes it a very non interactive site. The news it carries is displayed very well but as far as everything else goes the site needs some major improvement in many parts.

I believe the site is meant for only Rochester residents who may be old style not liking alot of flash and style just a plain layout. I personally like it for the news but thats as far as the positives go the little community site needs for flash to appeal to the younger generation and mor interactivity.

The site when first looking at it is compromised of a blue and white layout that catches your eye from the second that you look at it. Across the top the user can see the toolbar on the top that consits of news, multimedia, team, fans, and much more. The thing that is well put together is that each heading has a different subcategory that the user can choose from when highlighting the main tabs. This keeps the site neat and saves space in my opinion. Here is how it looks.

On the left side of the page will be the top 3 stories of the day with pictures that scroll like a slideshow. Next to it will be the remainding stories that actually have little symbols next to them if they have video or if it is a blog. Below the stories the user can find a site for the Dallas cheerleaders and a site leading to the Cowboys fan store.

When clicking on a story the user is able to comment on every story that they click on and read other peoples comments on the story. Though the user has to sign up to leave comments it is all free for the user to sign up and be able to leave comments. Another thing that the user can do is email the author of the article which promotes its interactivity of the site.

Here is how the comments look

The page I would say is intented for the younger around ages 30 and below and for those really into the Cowboys. The site has a bright and inviting color scheme and also includes plenty for a user to do and games for the user to play that is football affilliated.

There are plenty of pictures to look at that are seperated in there own section and also a video section that the user can browse and look at. These can be found under the Multimedia tab at the top ofthe page.

Overall I would say this site gets a very good rating for their layout and content that they provide.

Partner to NBC this news site gives the user the news that they are craving for. When first looking at the site the noticeable peacock symbol can be seen at the top with msnbc in big letters and a very colorful background. That is pretty much where the fancy designs end as the rest of the site has a white background and blue lettering.

At the top below the logo the user can always see when the top story was updated last as it shows it in the top left corner. As seen below its politics on the left, top stories in the middle, and US news on the right as shown below.

The top stories of the day would be the ongoing Swine Flu Disease and the NY flyover. One interesting thing that I don’t see on other sites that I see here is that next to the stories there is a marker that tells the user if the story was updated or not. A little video camera icon is also shown to tell the user that there is a video attached to the story making it easy to know what each story holds.

The news is seperated into categories that can be found in a column on the left while the videos have there own section in the middle of the page. When clicking on the videos the user can find that the videos are divided into categories and they can also find top videos, most viewed, and weird videos. The only annoyance is before the video plays an advertisement comes up.

The site is extremely interactive as it gives the user plenty to do. When you click on a story at the bottom the user can choose to discuss the story, rate the story, instant message the story, or email. Along with those features the site also offers quizzes, crosswords, comics, and much more.

Seeing that this is a world news site the audience that it is meant for varies from 30′s and up as the site has fun things to do but not really fancy in the way that they bring there news. Every section has big font with grey highlights to distiquish the start of a new section and every section has its top news story standing out from the other news as seen below.

Overall the site is pretty well layed out and well presented when it comes to delivering news. The layout is nice and simple and the user can find what they are looking for and interact easily through the way msnbc is presented.

The websites color scheme follows the theme that football is an American sport and has the dominant colors of red, white, and blue. Though an attractive color scheme the news that is on the page is very informative and is the main reason that I keep going back to the site.

Looking at the unity of the site when a user accesses it the first thing that they can see is the color scheme between sections and words stay the same without any outrageous colors. The alignment of the sections is neatly placed and the grid layout works perfectly with headlines about each new section to show separation. A mixture of blue or black text on white make up the whole site.

As it pertains to the contrast of the site I believe that a fairly good job is done as they don’t use a different color to distinguish everything but rather the same consistent color but just different font size to show the start of a new section. Looking at the site the user can pretty much find a picture next to the beginning of every new article.

The important news really does stand out as it is bolded and put by itself not floating away but rather its own little space so the reader can see the most important thing that’s going on at the time. Just look at this example below.

Above the most important things on the page can be seen bolded and in bigger print like the Lions pursuing Stafford. The picture of Stafford on the right hand side next to the story is just like the pictures to the left with the story talking about the upcoming NFL draft this weekend.

As i said before as far as consistency goes this site treats all there pages the same no matter what story you click on you will see the same exact layout. Here are two different stories in which you can see the layouts are very consistent.

Taking a look at the two about pictures anyone can see the consistency in the site when they post stories. The reporters picture in the top left and then a usual picture of video that can be looked at or watched before reading the story. Text size is the same and both have black on white background text.

I believe that this site follows the principles or creating a good website very well. By avoiding doing crazy things with the way the page is put together and layed out makes this site a very easy and manageable site for any football fan or regular user to enjoy.

From the simple layout to the symbolic eye symbol cbsnews.comis one of the premeir news sites. When first clicking on the web page one can see that there is no flashy banners or crazy colors but rather the name and straight to the news as seen below.

The first interesting highlight that the site provides is that if you tune in at the specified times you can watch the news as it goes on right on your computer. Under it the user can find the top headline story which at this time happen to be the Med Student Arrested in Craiglist Murder. Next to the headline story the user can then find the rest of the days stories.

Looking closely at the stories the user can see little icons telling them if there is video for the story or comments and how many comments there are. To the far left the user can see the row of categories listed with subcategories just by pushing the plus sign to show more.

The user can see how interactive the site is from this section as the site not only lets the user comment on stories and read other peoples comments but the user can play games and do puzzles along with signing up for newsletters, mobile services, and accessing current blogs.

The video and photo section is nicely layed out as they have there own section under the news and headlines and has scrollbars that easily lets the user go to more pictures. Not only is there news photos but the site everyday always have new photos of the day.

To give the user an idea of what others who visit the site look at the most there is a most viewed section not only for news but also photos and video too. The photos and videos are split by different sections such as U.S., World, Entertainment, and more.

Going lower down the page to the far right the user can find CBS radio news that they can listen to at the assigned time and a stock tracker for those who have stocks. From the editors picks down to the more in depth section of the news categories there is plenty to do on cbsnews.com.

For those done with the site can easily go to one of the many cbsnews broadcast links that is provided at the bottom from news to other things. CBS being around as long as it has most likely have their site appeal to the older generation who grew up on CBS in which i would say age ranges of late 30′s and up.

The site is pretty good with content and has plenty for a user to look at and do which makes cbsnews.com in my opinion one of the great sites for news and information when needed.

Most of the news in my opinion that many find on blogs are true because the news come from actual newsites. What the user reads can be the truth or not which is one of the cons with blogging. It’s hard to tell who is the author of the blog as it can be an 85 year old man to a 10 year old kid.

There are different types of blogs when a user is looking for a legit site. There are the ones that will contain the news and the occasional author opinion and then there is the blogs that is purely opinion with no substance or news source to back it up.

Blogging has become a part of society I have to admit since it delivers the news to the user without someone actually having to go to a newssite where the news is reported as its seen but on a blog news is not given straightforward but rather with a usual twist and those are the positives of blogging.

The negatives on the other hand has to be credibility issues of certain blogs. Like i said before anyone can blog so it’s hard to tell which blog is actually legit. Just everything else on the internet it is hard to tell what is real and what is fake because anyone can make up stories and call them real.

These are the positives and negatives of bloggers and blogging and overall judgement will be the deciding factor in which blogs people choose to look at when they choose their blogs.

The color scheme of the website takes on many colors rather than sticking to a one or two color scheme. I believe the age range from looking at the site is about 20-45 with all of the different content that is available for each age range. The first thing that the user focuses their eyes on when opening this site is the big white letters with the bright blue background.

Under the enlarged title there is a navigation bar that allows the user to go from news and opinion all the way to photos and media so there is no searching for what you want. Another cool feature is the search box that if you know exactly what your looking for just type it in and your there.

There are also tabs that are available called carfind, homefind, and jobfind for those who are looking for those types of things. The current temperature is displayed for the Boston area along with how recently the site has been updated all at the top before the user even gets to the story section. Here is a screen grab showing the layout.

When getting to the news section from left to right the user can find local coverage. the beloved Boston Celtics coverage and more than in the middle is the main story followed by the recent headlines to the right which are updated plenty of times in an hour.

The coolest feature that I like and see about the recent headlines is that they show how long ago each headline was either posted or updated so the user knows if the story is up to the minute. Going further down the page the user can find more local news, politics, and even movie news.

The site is very interactive as it allows the user to comment on each story and rate each story the only negative is the you must sign in before leaving a comment. There is also a part of the page that allows the user to take a poll and blogs split up into news, sports, and lifestyle that the user can read and comment on.

Towards the bottom of the page you can find the news and opinion section which is especially made for people who want to see the news and what comment were written about them. Sports, Business, Entertainment all have their own respective sections that makes it very easy to navigate.

With a today in pictures section the the video section there is plenty to keep you interested in this site. After going through all that the site has to offer and the user would like to see what others look at when they are browsing all they have to do is go this special section pictured below which shows top rated, hot topics, most rated and more.

This site after a careful review is a very good site to look at for those who want a lot to do and especially for those that are in the local community of Boston.

MLB.com is a great site to find news on all the major league teams and what is going on in the major league in general. Looking at the site the first thing that can be seen on the top left other than the american red, white and blue color scheme is that the user gets the choice to have the site in four other languages (Taiwan, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish). From there the user can see the recent headlines in a slide-show format. Across the top is the tabs that contain scores, standings, team stats, team sites, player profiles, buy tickets and much more as seen below.

On the left side of the headlines there is the scoreboard for the day that updates regularly and has a link that takes the user to game wrap ups or to see the games while they are happening. To the right side of the slide-show headlines the user can find other headlines. There is also a little scroll box located underneath the headlines where the user can customize the page to their liking and get headlines only to their selected team.

The site is very interactive as the user is able to comment on every story that they click on and read other comments that other fans have left.You can also sign up for fantasy baseball which is free and enjoy the fun of drafting players and controlling your own league.

One very interesting perk to the site is the fact that one can use mlb.com to watch games if they aren’t close to a television. There are two packages available with one going for $110 and the other $80 the user can from a laptop or desktop where available watch a game live.

The site really brings attention to itself with the videos that it provides. I  would have to say that almost all the articles provide video that are usually player interviews or highlights from the games. Continuing how interactive the site is at the bottom the user can create there own blogs and interact with others and there is even a message board section that the user can view and add things to and to top it off a photo gallery section.

Overall this is one of those top sites when it comes to baseball because of all the ways that a fan can have fun and interact on the site. Being able to go to your teams site from this page or just staying on the page and reading news stories, blogging, or just watching videos the user has plenty to do when it comes to mlb.com.