Targeted Audience:- The majority are adults in the US, or those with interests in the US
- Specifically these are individuals seeking news or other cultural programming produced by NPR and its affiliates.
The content is very usable because of the variety of access points to it. Check out the left hand column marked "Services" shows hyper linked text that list the different ways to access information at NPR.
How the website content supports the radio coverage is very important. Several times throughout the day FM/AM listeners are directed to visuals on the website. Listeners can go online to find out more about these stories that are generally found in the Features box. Featured stories are refreshed automatically with images in the Features box that works like a slide show. The navigation "back button" works if you navigate away from the homepage which is nice. :)
The content provided everyday at NPR.org can be extremely useful because of the variety and quality of coverage that is posted to the NPR website.
There is a lot of information on the web page both text and graphic based. Because this is primarily a news site the content changes throughout the day depending on world events. The integration of news and cultural stories may be frustrating to a one-purpose user. Also, the different sizes of text boxes conveys a air of importance to some stories. These may be content or design based decisions, it is unclear which sometimes.
Consistency of Design: The look of the homepage
The homepage uses a vertical column design that always requires scrolling, but doesn't require a flash media player or fancy add-ins. The site hyperlink colors and logo are complementary to one another (reds, blues, grey, black and white) and are static. The font choice is also readable (black sans serif lettering on a white background). Overall NPR has chosen a conservative design choice that fits a business-like demeanor.
*note: conservative meaning a traditional business style is conveyed.
Ease of Navigation:
Navigating away from the homepage the same design elements are kept. Different programs all use the same template, text color and font to make the site consistent and thus easy-to-use .
Above is a screen shot of what I don't like about NPR's homepage navigation. Under programs the are fourteen radio programs list in a drop down menu, the last entry is "More Programs A-Z".- I don't like all programming they've chosen to highlight here.
(But that is just my opinion) - I don't like that once I choose "More Programs A-Z" that the page retrieved has no entry box with which you could que-up shows, by just typing in a word in the show's title.
- Drawback: You either have to remember the first word in the title or wade through the exhaustive list.
- This could be improved with a function that recognizes and searches stored information while you type, like with text messaging or phone book functions on cell phones.
- The homepage could advertise further customization options so that users would get the information they're interested in on the homepage every time.
- Drawback: may require a log-in page and who wants to remember another password!
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