Rhetorical Analysis of Electronic Web-site

Catbytes
Audience: The main audience is the student body. While this is not a student newspaper, it is a publication of the school.

The site purpose is to inform and entertain about happenings around the local area. It has events that would be found in any happenings column in a normal student publication. They do have some neat stuff though.

The context is purely seen as a forum for students. There are things on the site such as exotic bar listings, which while it would be fun to see professors there, spending their hard-earned cash on a twenty seven dollar mojito, I'll have to guess that this site is mainly read by students as well.

The interface itself isn't all bad. The design of the site is clear and generally easy to use. It is divided into categories that are easy to find by a handy-dandy little bar on the left hand side of the screen. The design itself probably wont win any awards anytime soon, but I think that simplicity works for it. The design works well enough, and it puts more emphasis on the actual articles the people wrote rather than flash effects and shenanigans. Also, apparently there is a correct way to spell shenanigans. Who knew? There is a problem with contacting the people via internet. I personally couldn't find how to contact everybody, although they do have people like this working there.

The site layout is fairly effective in, like I said earlier, it is simple. The simplicity works for it. The main page is sort of like the teaser. It has articles from a few of the different areas. The areas themselves are listed, like I said, to the right side. The only thing I saw that was a little weird was that the first time you click on the page and scroll over the navigation bars they sort of disappeared on you. A little confusing but the problem rectified itself after a second or two. Crazy kids. From what we saw with Gina, I think this page could be a little difficult at first for those with disabilities, if only because of the non-stamped pictures and odd placement of the navigation bars as compared to the articles themselves.

There is a grid layout. Standard operating procedure, I guess. The thing that got me about the site was actually the colors. The site was well put together in the fact that the colors aren't garish and my eyes didn't once try to jump out of my skull upon seeing anything in the page. It falls a little short on flash, but the content is solid enough to make up for it. While the whole page isn't always used, due to the colors there is very little actual white space. It sort of feels like you're reading something on a desk, actually. huh.
The type is standard and legible. The page itself has a feel of actually being edited, not just by students. Now I personally didn't find any tyops, but thats not to say that there aren't any. I may just be a clumsy reader.

The page does very little with graphics, sticking more to the stories rather than flashy photos. They probably could have done with a little more pizzazz, but the overall effect is still there. The photos are limited to one or two article related pics. maybe. if you're lucky.

There is a very little mulit-media element to the site. The graphics they do have load quickly, but they are few and far between. The computers at the acc lab are hella fast anyway, so it could be just them. I dont think so, though. Its a pretty straight-forward site.

Overall:
I liked the site. It had stuff I was interested in reading and a bunch of the staff members, well lets just say they were aesthetically pleasing. The color and font make it easy to read and the articles are easy to find.

I didn't care for the fact that, while yes, it did seem a little classier than the horrendous Jesus website, it could have used a little flair. At first glance it may not catch your attention like it should. which is a shame because this site does have a lot, at least for those around the Chico State area, to offer.

All in all, I would rate this site at above average, but not excellent. Like I said, I like pizzazz. Just not the kind that makes my brain hemorrhage.