This is Hull and East Riding
Design
Initial Reaction
The web site looks good and by the amount of items in the navigation, it looks like there is a lot of content.
Aesthetics
The web site uses mainly white and blue which work well together. They make the web site look clean and attractive.
Legibility
The text is clear and has good contrast with the background. The headings have less contrast with the background as they are blue, but they are still readable.
Layout
The layout is split into three columns with navigation on the left, then the content, then links to jobs on the right. The layout works well.
Presentation
The web site looks good and everything works well together. It does not match the style and colours of the newspaper it is related to.
Navigation
Mouse Clicks
You can get to most articles in four clicks or less.
Scrolling
The main content and navigation are above the fold, so not very much scrolling is required.
Where are you?
The category you are in is highlighted clearly in the left navigation.
Search
The search box is displayed underneath the navigation on the left. It allows you to search by keywords and limit your search to a range of dates.
Consistency
The navigation is consistent throughout the site.
Content
Home Page
The home page displays the main stories,a long with links to news videos and other features on the web site.
Updates
The web site is updated regularly. There is a ticker at the top of every page showing the latest news.
Quality
All news articles on the web site are written by the same people who write for the newspaper and a lot of content is shared between the two. The newspaper has a good reputation, so the information is seen to be reliable.
Images
Most articles has related images in them. However, they were very small.
Syndication
The web site provides e-mail news alerts only.
Functionality
Interactivity
There is no interactive content, but news articles allow comments to be added to them.
Browser Compatibility
The web site looks and behaves the same in the three major browsers; Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera
Resolution Compatibility
The web site is designed for a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and will not expand past 800 pixels wide leaving a lot of white space on either side of the content in larger screen resolutions.
Errors
I did not encounter any errors whilst using the web site.
Accessibility
The web site failed validation of CSS, HTML, and an automated accessibility test. However, the site is still usable for the three types of colour blindness I checked for.
Conclusion
The web site looks good, uses colours which work well together and has a layout which works well. It is well organised, and you can always tell where you are, however you have to do a bit more clicking than other web sites. The content is updated regularly and is from a reliable source; they only provide one way to syndicate their content. The web site works in all the major browsers and in lot's of different resolutions, but they don't do very well in terms of accessibility.
The This is Hull and East Riding web site achieved an overall rating of 73%
