The paper is aimed at reviewing the Scottsdale Fighting Artichokes website obtained from http://www.gochokes.com/ . The review is meant to highlight or identify the strengths and limitations of the website as part of a criteria-specific review.
The website is attractive and eye-catching owing to its appealing blend of green and brown background color and theme. The site employs animations of sports icons of the school with advertisements about different upcoming games. Other than advertisements, the site shows past results of matches in various games. The content of the website is inclusive of various sports available and is sponsored by the Scottsdale school such as Fall sports, Winter sports, and spring sports. On this accord, the theme, different sports icons, and the layout of the homepage create an intimate, good first impression.
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The site makes use of texts adequately which makes it easier to read. In addition, the site uses the medium font for its texts with its headings being slightly bolder than the subsequent texts fundamentally providing visual hierarchy. To this end, there are no ridiculously large text boxes used, only medium ones such as the ‘DONATE’ text box. The content of the site such as the mid-section which honors best players and performers is impressive and creates curiosity to see who attained the achievement and why. The animated sports icons at the top of the page steal away one’s attention just as much as how the animated advertisements of upcoming games and matches below the icons do.
The design of the website is well constructed and conceived. The contents of the site such as the different sports available are all externally linked which redirect one to further description of the sport clicked. The design does not crowd content; everything has its place and space such as the information about the site and its sponsors at the bottom of the page. Moreover, the structure supports the content in the sense that every content has its designated space; at the top is the logo, different sports icons, and advertisements of upcoming games, the middle is designated to honoring sports achievers as well as the recent sports news. On the left are the various sports available at Scottsdale with a recruitment tab. To the left are the upcoming events as well as a donation tab. Finally, at the bottom of the page is information about the site, its sponsors, and location. The design is sane and reflects common sense since everything is well structured.
Due to its simple, sane design, and layout in terms of structure and content, the website is extremely user-friendly. Every content regarding sports and the site itself is categorized under a heading which is easy to read and understand. All one needs to do is scroll to an area of interest and click on it to be redirected to the page of interest. In effect, as part of its strengths, every web page has a home tab that can be clicked upon to redirect the user back to the homepage. Almost all the website’s web pages make use of persistent navigation except the ‘Mission and Vision’ as well as the ‘Facility Rental’ pages which are pdf. As such, for the other tabs, regardless of which one an individual click, the navigation layout at the top and on the sides remains the same. Apart from the above-mentioned pages, the rest of the web pages adhere to a consistent and clear navigation scheme that relates one tab to the other.
In essence, as part of the strengths of the website, all of its web pages provide valuable information in relation to the school or the sports offered. For instance, the ‘Recruit Me’ page provides information regarding the sports offered by the college, and those that are not offered but of interest to the recruits are to be checked in a recruitment checklist. Also, other web pages such as ‘Football’ provide valuable information regarding the sport such as the season of interest, winning streak for the team, recent team results, as well as upcoming schedule and much more information that is materialistic to a reader or recruit. The website fulfills the information duty through pages such as ‘Mission and Vision’ which inform on the college’s mission and vision statements. This can be observed from the advertisements of upcoming events and games as well as recent headlines. However, as part of its limitations, the site is not educative on any aspect of the sports. Regarding entertainment, the site has the ‘Watch/Listen Live’ web page that gives live commentary and stream of sports events as they happen.
Judging from the variety of sports offered by the Scottsdale Community College and their subsequent information as well as the significant achievements, the college creates a fundamental positive impression. Moreover, the recruitment web page provides a list of all the achievements attained by various sports teams in the college edifying their competency in sports. Ultimately, looking at the results past and present of the various sports such as football, one gets a good impression of the college and their greatness in sports.
The website is particularly effective in achieving and fulfilling the public relations of the college through platforms such as the social media. Elaborately, the website includes social media platforms such as Twitter and RSS feeds that create a fan base which furthers the goal of public relations. By publically acknowledging the sponsors such as SIDHelp, NJCAA, and ACCAC, the college fosters and bolsters the public relations with these organizations. In addition, by providing the platform to watch and listen to public events, it creates a rapport with the public that fosters and markets the college. Finally, through updating recent results, upcoming events, and news, the site captures the attention of the public especially the college students and fans of the sports icons thereby bolstering public relations.
Reference
Scottsdale Community College. (2017). Fighting Artichokes Scottsdale. Scottsdale Community college. Web. Retrieved from http://www.gochokes.com/