Kaylee Sparkman Sparkman 1

Writing for the Web 3379

Dr. Andrews

March 10,2017

Website Analysis

I chose to analyze two informational websites that I’ve currently viewed in the past

couple months. I have a huge interest in anything about marine life so I chose to analyze Marine

Bio and WDC (Whales and Dolphin’s Conservation Society). The websites both have very

different designs with many qualities about being a good website. I will analyze the audience for

the websites, their strengths and weaknesses, give my personal opinions, and compare the sites to

the writings of Janice Redish.

Marine Bio’s Audience

For any website, the visitors come to connect with the site and the information presented.

Redish says “people come for information that answers their question or helps them complete

their task” (p.1). For the website, Marine Bio there is a lot of information that be found on the

page. The audience might be students wanting to learn about how global warming is affecting the

oceans, maybe someone who just wants fast facts about marine life in general, or someone who

wants to join the Marine Bio Conversation Society and want to know what they do. There are

many more topics on the page; there main audience is just anyone who wants to know about

marine biology. Crawford Kilian would refer the audience of this website as “readers, who will

actually scroll through long documents, even whole books” (Effective Web Writing).

Marine Bio’s Critique

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The website Marine Bio is an informational website that informs their audience about

marine life, how to get involved, and journals of others to contribute to the website. There are

things that make this a good website and thing that could be better. One of the websites strengths

is there use of headings. For example, shown in Figure 1 outlined in red there are about twelve or

so different tabs that have specific topics on them. This helps the audience get the first “bite” of

context for each section (Redish, p.165). The way the headlines are set up tell you exactly what

is going to be on the certain page, so there is not guessing game which could turn away visitors.

For example, the tab that says “Businesses selling shark fins” that audience will know that this

page of the website will be talking about selling of shark fins and the affects it is having. I think

thee headings are a great way to get people’s attention because it makes them feel like the writers

are looking out for them so they don’t have to go searching for their answers. Another strength

this website has is a great home page. In figure 2, it shows the home page of Marine Bio, it sets

the site’s tone and personality (Redish, p.74). By looking at just the home page you can tell that

the information being given was written with purpose and it can be credited. Not shown in figure

2 but as you scroll down the page there are little paragraphs of important news the site wants to

share. They are using the “bite” method from Redish giving the audience “the big picture” of all

that is on the site (p.84). With the tabs and all the links on the homepage it “helps the visitors

move ahead in their conversation very quickly” (Redish, p.84).

One weakness that the website has is that there is too much information, it doesn’t follow

the “bite, snack, meal” concept very well that Redish talks on about in Letting Go of the Words

on pages 134-135. The “snack is the key message or a summary” (Redish, p.135). If you go to

the actual site, you will be able to scroll down and see how information they give you. As I said

in the paragraph about their audience that the “readers are people who will scroll through long

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documents, even whole books” (Effective Web Writing), that is how it feels when being on their

site. Unless I was doing intense research, I think I would probably only read one page of the site

and then leave just because I want fast facts and something that isn’t going to put me asleep.

That is the only weakness that stands out for this website.

WDC’s Audience

The website WDC (Whales and Dolphins Conservation Society) is an informational

website on how you can help the society by either adopting a whale or donating to the cause.

This is also a great website for an audience who wants to know quick simple facts about eighty

different whales or dolphins. Crawford Kilian would refer the audience of this website as “users

who want information they can apply to their own work… they love "hit and run" retrieval, they

hate to scroll, and no one has ever built a site that they find really sticky” (Effective Web

Writing). The website is simple but it uses “emotion” to connect with their audience which is one

of Redish’s points (p.23). Knowing most of the visitors are very passionate about whales and

dolphins, they’ve made their site simple and emotional, which helps with keeping the

conversation going.

WDC’s Critique

In my last paragraph I talked about WDC is an informational website that informs their

audience fast facts about whales and dolphins but they also give them option to donate or adopt a

whale, even asking them to join the society. This website has strengths and weaknesses just like

any other website. One of their strengths is the design of the website itself. I love that the website

is simple but still effective; you don’t feel like you are drowning in words or information. For

example in figure 3, you can only see the middle of the page but it is very organized and there

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isn’t too much going on. In “A Designer’s Four Lessons on Design”, write Jasper McChesny

would say that the website “constrained itself”, because they have a “color palette with just a few

hues, certain angles, shapes [and] patterns that come up again and again, and a style or mood for

illustrations”. In figure 3, there are red boxes around some of the pictures showing that they use

the same square shape for their home page. You can also clearly tell that the color palette is

basically white and black with a few different colors. When I look at this site I feel relaxed and

intrigued to learn the information provided.

One other strength of the website is their usage of multimedia. I think they give you just

enough visual to not overpower the information. For example, in figure 4, 5, and 6 they all

screenshots of the same page but there are two different pictures and one video. So let’s start

with the pictures, figure 4 shows a picture of the North Atlantic Right Whale; what you don’t

know is that the pictures are like a slide show so you see many different angles of the whale.

This is one way that the website has “chucked their multimedia”, which is also a design strength

(How Chunking Helps Content Processing). Figure 6 shows a map with a lighted up area to

represent where the whales are from. I think this is refreshing because most of the time you don’t

always see on a website. It makes me like that they really thought about what their audience is

looking for. Figure 5 is a video which adds another aspect to the media shown. Redish says

videos are “a great way to make stories come alive” (p.271). Personally I couldn’t agree more,

they capture your attention and make you react and use emotion when you see a video, if that

video has purpose to the information in the website. Multimedia is a great conversation starter

and when used correctly it can have that lasting effect.

One of the weaknesses that this website has is that the audience can feel that the

information provided is not credited since none of the information has links to actual proven

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facts. Although you can get fast facts quickly you hesitated because who knows if this Whale

and Dolphin Conversion Society is just writing this sort of as a blog which can sometimes be

opinions and false information. Also for another weakness that annoys me is the fact that they act

for money or ask you to adopt a whale for money and it’s fifty bucks. I sometimes feel like

things like this are scam but I don’t know for sure. I think informational sites should just give

information and not asked for money on their website but the society go and ask for money in

other ways.

Conclusion

The informational websites Marine Bio and WDC (Whales and Dolphins Conversation

Society) both some strengths and some weaknesses. For the most part they follow the “bite,

snack, meal” concept that is make a website successful (Redish 134-135). I shared my honest

opinions about why I think they make a great website and what they can work on. Jasper

McChesney said in “A Designer’s Four Lesson on Design” that websites will never get to

perfection. He goes on to say that you “can’t emphasize everything, or be everything for every

audience, because perfection doesn’t exist”. I completely agree with these statements, because

my opinions will be completely different than others visiting the website and each website will

have their imperfections.

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Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure

3.

Figure

4.

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Figure 5.

Figure 6.

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Work Cited:

Effective Web Writing. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from

http://people.apache.org/~jim/NewArchitect/webtech/2001/02/kilian/index.html

How Chunking Helps Content Processing. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/chunking/

McChesney, J. (2016, December 28). A designer's four lessons on design. Retrieved

March 10, 2017, from https://blog.prototypr.io/a-designers-four-lessons-on-design-

acd8b9080170#.qzj1k5529

Redish, Janice. “Letting Go of the Words.” Letting Go of the Words, 2nd ed., Morgan

Kaufmann, Waltham, MA, 2014, p. 1, 23, 74, 84, 134-135, 165 & 271.

Welcome to MarineBio. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from http://marinebio.org/