The Howler is the school website for R.B. Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina. For my critique, I chose to focus on four components: content, layout, navigation and multimedia.
First, the content seems to be specific to student life at the high school as well as the community; this is exactly the sort of content a high school website should focus on. There is a plethora of articles ranging from topics such as sports and school fundraisers. The website has an available section for commentary and archives, which makes it more credible. Glen High School recognizes content as the most important factor of any website, for it states in their mission statement, “The Howler exists to entertain, to influence, and to inform the student body of Glen High School through unbiased and innovative content.” Most articles and features are written by student staff writers, yet some are written by guest reporters. Who are these guest reporters? What credibility do they have in writing a story? I would suggest all articles be written by students in order to avoid bias. In addition, some of the tabs at the top do not contain any content on the page. This is true for the “Class of 2014” page and the “Reviews” page. Content must be put on these pages, or else the pages need to be taken off the website.
Second, the layout is neat and clean. The website’s colors are white, navy and orange- the colors of the school. Making the website the school’s colors was a good decision because it shows school pride. There is a lot of information on most pages, yet not so much to make the pages cluttered. The stories are also well organized within each section. I dislike how there are only four stories featured on the home page. There is enough room to add more content, without making it cluttered. The home page is the first impression of the website, so it must look the best.
Third, navigation around the site is very easy. There are tabs at the top of the page underneath the header to guide you in which type of content you wish to view. The newest content is always at the top of the page, and one doesn’t have to scroll much to get the content they’re looking for. There is a search bar in the top right hand corner of the header, so you are able to search for content. In addition, the archives make it possible to find content of years past. There are also tags at the end of each story. These tag words are clickable, and take you to other content on the website with that particular name or place. There are many different ways to navigate through the site, which is a great, useful feature.
Finally, There is little multimedia on the website. There are pictures for most articles, but no video. Videos would provide a much better understanding of the content. I understand videos could not be taken for each article, but it could greatly enhance a story when videotaping is possible. I find the pictures to be boring; maybe the colors could be enhanced? The quality is amateur. In the top left hand side, above the header, there are icons for Facebook, Twitter and email. However, when clicking on these icons, it only takes you to the social media’s homepage. It is not possible to share a story online from the website without copying and pasting the URL of the article. Fixing these issues would greatly enhance the website’s capabilities and look. I believe the website’s multimedia needs the most work on the website.
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