Canadian Museum of Nature Web Analysis Essay Example for Free

Canadian Museum of Nature Web Analysis Essay The Canadian Museum of Nature’s website is an average piece of work that gathers audience from both English and French speaking individuals. The museum’s Web presence is elegant and simple to use, clearly separating the English segment from the French segment to allow easier navigation throughout the site, which, considering the size and diversity of the system it represents, makes you wonder how the designers and creators managed to pull it off in such a simple way. Rhetorical Design The Canadian Museum of Nature’s website is intended to promote the museum’s products and services on offer at the museum among English speaking and French speaking tourists. Almost anyone visiting this website is most likely looking for information about a certain service or item relating to natural history and tourism, so it is safe to state that the primary audience for this website are nature lovers and tourists wishing to visit Canada or local Canadians looking for a place just to have a good time enjoying the marvels of nature. However, there is something for everyone in this website. Even for those who don’t intend to visit the museum but want to win something, there’s a photo contest section on the home page that might serve to draw more traffic to the site. This enhances the possibility of attracting more members to join in the course of the museum. The website also has links that connect to 5 of their other websites, basically to diversify and exert their web and market presence in the field of nature. The context of the website explores the versatility of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Internal organization and products and services offered by the museum. Information on the home page is divided into eleven primary categories: Calendar of activities, visitor information, teacher zone, about the museum, renewal, exhibitions, polar year, collections, research, library and products services. The site also has quick links on shopping, becoming a member, donating to the cause, staff, press room and there is also a link for visitors to post comments and questions to the staff. All these information is carefully and strategically placed on the page to allow for easy navigation and still leaves a lot of space on the site. Congested sites tend to be an eye sore to the readers, but as for this one, no one has to worry about having to go through dozens of information to get to what you’re looking for. Interface Design The entire website is filled with photos of animals and artifacts of natural history which blends in very well with the overall theme of the website. Each page contains at least three amazing photos that keep the visitor glued to the website, even if just for the photos. Actually, come to think of it, the website contains very little text, it is only the overall design and beautiful photos that keep visitors busy on the site since there’s nothing much to read from the website. The home page contains very clear navigational links on the left hand side of the page to other sections of the website with its interface being simple, consistent and functional. However, due to the limited amount of information on the website, the interface does not provide sufficient feedback and does not have a real time visitor – support staff dialog system. Visitors have to leave a message on the contact us section and wait for an unknown amount of time for a feedback. All pages contain site navigation links. Site Design Text on the website is aligned to the left side of the screen, which is very effective for both the new and ordinary users of the site. The design of the site reflects the basic hierarchical organization of the Canadian Museum of Nature. From the home page, links to other major divisions can be easily accessed from the left hand corner; with each major hyperlink having a page that directs the user to other major sub-divisions; which leads the user to the exact information that can best satisfy the user’s specific need. The information on the pages, although minimal, gives a clear understanding of the basic intention of the site owners. The home page contains links to virtually everything someone would be looking for within the website. On the top right hand corner of the site, there’s an appropriately placed site index which is very helpful in the navigation of the website. The site relies heavily on indexes as it is virtually impossible to find what you looking for without linking to a page that contains the sort of information that will be of help to the visitor. Page Design The web pages in this site are designed for users with 15 inch monitors. Since navigation throughout the site relies heavily on the site index and table of contents, the pages reveal a consistent visual hierarchy. The designers of this site rely on museum’s logo on each page as a header to constantly remind the user that they are still on the site, although the site could use the inclusion of a table on the calendar of activities segment to help the reader cut to the chase and find the exact thing he’s looking for instead of browsing through the links. Typography Only three font types have been used throughout the website, in order to make it neat at professional-like, with Verdana being the outstanding one. Coupled with a white background and text that are aligned to the left side of the page, the pages are full of life and bring out the message in a rather natural and easy way. Editorial Style The text in this site is brief and exact to the point even though it doesn’t cover entirely everything a visitor would most likely want to know about. The site does not use titles or subtitles as it contains functional links that act as titles. Graphics Multimedia The website is fairly simple and does not contain a lot of graphics – only nature photos, which are significant in building the theme of the site and absolutely no audio, video, animation or multimedia of any sort and therefore it makes it easy for the pages to load faster, even with slower internet connectivity. Overall Impression To sum it up, the website has a fairly simple design. The fact that only three font types have been used in the entire site makes it easy to read through without straining . It is most likely to attract twice as much attention and traffic since it is written in two languages with clear and large enough text. Also, it appeals to its audience due to the fact that it has incorporated exquisite photos of what’s on offer at the museum and there’s also the constant use of the color green, which is a symbol of nature. The green color is likely to blend in with the visitor’s impression of the museum. What I liked most about this website is its simple yet comprehensive design and the fact that it is written for a much more broader audience i. e. the English and French. However, the website is too shallow and doesn’t have enough information for visitors. This makes new visitors to the site dig deeper than the site in order to find information that’s featured in the website. On a general point of view, the website can be rated â€Å"Average†.