Website Analysis

The first site I analyzed was National Geographic Kids. I believe the purpose of the site is to be a resource of things for kids to do related to science. The reason I think this is because right across the top of the site is a list of tabs of things for kids to do, such as play games and watch videos. The targeted audience for this site is kids. The name of the site implies this, but there are lots of kid friendly aspects of this site that proves that. There is even a quiz down the side of every page asking kids to vote on things like their favorite animal. There are also specific pages for parent resources and information on the site for parents. Yellow is the main color accent on the page, which makes sense for National Geographic. The most important information on the page is found in the top navigation bar, which is definitely above the fold. They also have a revolving banner featuring top stories to pull kids in. Farther down the page are kid friendly advertisements, popular activities on the site, and fun facts. Everything is very well laid out and easy to access. I think the site would be easy for kids to navigate.

The second site I analyzed was Pinterest. This is not specifically an educational website, but it has quite a large teacher population using it daily. I personally have an entire account on Pinterest dedicated to teaching ideas (as opposed to my personal account I use for crafts, recipes, etc.) The sites major purpose in general is the sharing and keeping of ideas. If you find a great pumpkin pie recipe you can save it for later and share it with friends. If you find a fantastic classroom blog you can save it and share it with other teachers, some whom you know personally and some you do not. Pinterest’s about page states that it is a tool for collecting and organizing things you love. I found an info-graphic on Pinterest about Pinterest’s users. It states that 80% of Pinterest users are women, 50% of Pinterest users have children, and the most popular age group on Pinterest is 25-34 years old. I think their site definitely reflects that. The most important thing the teachers I interviewed for another assignment this week said about websites they frequent, was that they had to be well organized and easy to navigate.  Pinterest is definitely easy to navigate. It has a very simple design and good navigation tools. The thing about Pinterest, is that the content is user created. So the site attracts more people interested in that same content.