Critique El Nacional

El NACIONAL

Introduction to the website

 

El Nacional, is one of the most read newspaper in Venezuela, besides had been the first editorial corporation which launched a web portal in the country, specifically in 1995. It aim is to provide the most diverse information addressed to intellectual target reporting educational, political, and entertainments issues.

 

The portal show not just the link to the newspaper also connects to the different kind of medias that the company has, such as two magazines EME and Todo en Domingo and another paper, Primera Pagina. For this reason, the web has so much information.

 

The website www.el-nacional.com it is probably the best news website which can show the journalistic style in Venezuela.

First Impressions

El Nacional shows being a respectful and fresh news site where the user will find what they can read on the printer version in a digital edition. The colour, structure and organization really help to scam the information faster than others webs.

• The site has two main colours. The banner is dark blue with a white background where the stories are published. The election of white for the bottom of the site helps enormously the reading and searching. The titles of each story are written in light blue.
• The site is divided into four columns. On the left one are the most important news of the day. On the second column we can find the stories divided according their categories, such as politics, economics, entertainment and sports. This tool provides to the user an easy way to find what they want to read with just one click. The third column shows a news update called “Minute to minute”. This is an option where the users have the opportunity to give an opinion over a specific topic answering a poll. This section involves the reader directly with homepage doing it more friedly. Last column is the space for animated advertisements with moving text and images. For me, too many.
• The most distracting factor on El Nacional is that they want to show so many links and pictures trying to sell and communicate all the medias that El Nacional represents. As was said above, El Nacional is a media corporation which involves many communications media in the country. Two magazines and two papers. Each media have their own portal web but they are linking it among them. Probably, this is the main reason because the web has many links and different kind of information. But even like this, for me, still is the most serious and respectful news web in the country. Easy way to find the information required and has a completely fresh style.
• The website is considered a Web 2.0 having published features like video and multimedia.
• The web site’s name is on the top left hand corner, such as Jakob Nielsen`s rules suggest.

Content

·         The font used is not Verdana and has different size among whole website.

·         Each article has at least three sub headings which is very useful to explain the new in a easy way, but the content of each subheading does not have a balance. Many have much more words than others in the same article. Visually is a problem.

·         There are tags in some articles.

·         Each paragraph contains one idea, but many of them are too long. That happens because the journalists do not write with a different style used it to write for a print media. Many copy for the web the exactly information published on the printer paper.

·         The journalist style demonstrates follow the inverted pyramid pattern.

·         No use of bullet points.

·         Use bold text.

·         Each story has a link which connects it to the background of the news. Also has links in boxes with past related features.

·         The website has videos and pictures.

·         Visitors can leave comments.

·         Many articles are without links to any other websites.

 

Writing

• The Jacob Nielsen´s F pattern is not follow it
• The information is taken as it was published in the printer newspaper and pasted it on online sans any change.
• The first sentence is not highlighted.
• Each article has subheadings.
• None of the articles has hyperlinks.
• Sentences are too long, but this is the Spanish style.

Navigation

• The banner “Home” navigator is located on the top of the web conversely as BBC which uses the left hand navigator. Nevertheless, for me, this top navigator is very clear and helpful.
• It has 8 categories which each one has various sub-categories as well. This helps to tell the users where to go to find what they are looking for.
• Also the page has sub navigator located in the middle of the web, as second column. This is one of the worst mistakes that I can attribute it. Actually, was in several minutes later of navigating the web that I realized that this second column is not just a column. It’s the main navigator, with 5 categories like economics, politics, entertainment, international and sports. Very confused.  
• The ‘Search’ option is located at the top left hand of the page.
• On the top of the page the reader can find the link “Digital Edition” which connects the user with the newspaper print version but in a digital edition.

Conclusion

El Nacional needs make the most of the opportunity that they have being one of the biggest selling newspapers in the country. The already have good reputation, but is necessary that journalists learn how to write for a website and understand what the users expect when they visit a portal web.    

 

‘Green’ plans for London

Tory Mayor Boris Johnson seems to take seriously the environmental issue, and has planned several strategies to make London a ‘green’ capital.

The ongoing plans for the 2012 London Olympics were born under the sustainability star, marking the difference with the latest Beijing’s pompous style.

From one side because of the climate change, that just few years ago was not taken as a real issue by politicians, from the other as a consequence of the global economic downturn.

As to say, to kill two birds with one stone.

The hope is to use the Games to revive East London and leave residents with a usable new infrastructure, and environmental concerns are a top priority at every phase of the preparations.

The Games are supposed to be a zero-waste event by keeping all materials out of landfills.

Recycling is a key element of the strategy.

Reducing carbon emissions

Moreover the Mayor has recently confirmed the target of reducing carbon emissions by 2025 set by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone.

London is responsible for 8 per cent of the CO₂ UK’s total emissions.

Given London’s forecast economic and population growth, this would increase to 15 per cent by 2025 if action is not taken.

The effects of the climate change are already visible: wetter winters, drier summers, floodings, overheating.

In response to these threats the Mayor is preparing London’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.

Part of the plan is the Green Homes Programme, an information service that will help Londoners to cut climate change emissions through a telephone advice service and a free website.

Johnson is also opposing to the plans for a bigger Heathrow airport.

“I hope you will all join me in deprecating this government’s plans to build a third runway, which would drive a coach and horses through our attempts to reduce C02 emissions,” he told John Biggs, the deputy leader of the Labour assembly group, as reported by the Guardian.

Cycling London

An idea that will positively affect Londoners’ everyday life, such as the millions of tourists that visit the capital everyday, will be the planned bike hire scheme, originally suggested by the former major Key Livingstone and quickly adopted by the new mayor.

Johnson said: “I have long held the view that a cyclised city is a civilised city, but if we are to get more Londoners on to two wheels rather than four we need to provide the facilities to help them do so.”

Let’s hope that all this will become true.

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