VICE Magazine
http://www.viceland.com/index_int.php?country=ca
The homepage of the magazine features an RSS feed in two locations: the address window and the righthand corner of the Viceland blog. There are no bookmarking widgets on the homepage, but they do have them within the Articles pages. The icons for the bookmarks are found at the end of the article, which is inconvenient for readers, but at least they are visible in coloured icon-form and stand out to the reader.
The homepage also features a running slideshow of images promoting VBS TV as well as an embedded video of a VBS TV segment. These are placed near the top of the page, which is a smart thing to do because they automatically grab the reader’s attention and lead them to investigate the other mediums (TV) that VICE has to offer.
The VICE blog is also placed strategically on the homepage. It is raised using a background shadow and runs from the top all the way to the bottom and lies right in the middle of the page. It stands out as having the most editorial content on the page, even though a bar at the top leads you to the articles featured in the print edition. This shows a website that is focusing on offering their readers more than what they can find in the print edition and also indicates that their web edition is just as current and cutting edge as the print mag.
ESQUIRE Magazine
www.esquire.com
The homepage for Esquire magazine is quite interactive. The top of the page features a running feed of the “Esquire Rules”, and just below that is a slideshow of contents from that month’s online edition. These items are placed front and centre, so when a viewer goes to the page, it’s content that they are able to use easily and it’s easy to see what the webmasters are trying to show them is the important and most entertaining content.
As far as RSS feeds go, there is one on the homepage’s address window and then one on the left hand column of the page; however, the one in the column does not have an icon and is part of a bulleted list and isn’t easy for users to find.
There is a scrolling bar down the right side of the page, but it’s not as obvious to viewers as it could be. For people scanning the homepage, they wouldn’t notice it or the blog featured within it, as it requires a closer look.
One aspect of the site which was very well done is the features pages and the blog pages. These pages feature RSS icons and bookmarking icons at the top and bottom of the articles, which is helpful to readers as they may want to tag it before they read it if they are too busy at that time, or they might want to tag it after they read it for later reference.
TORONTO LIFE Magazine
www.torontolife.com
Unlike the other two sites, Toronto Life’s web magazine is a little less user friendly in it’s homepage design. There are no slideshows or running feeds like the other two sites, and there is also no RSS icon in the address window. The only RSS icon on the homepage is within a text block called ‘Today in Toronto’, but the reader has to scroll down the page to find it and it gets lost amongst the large usage of red on the page.
One good aspect of the page is that the blog is featured at the top of the page, so readers don’t have to scroll down to find it. Once you go into the blog pages, an RSS icon appears in the address window and on the righhand side of the page. There is also a Google and Yahoo icon further down the right side of the page, showing users exactly what sites they can save the feed to. Bookmarking icons only appear on the bottom of individual articles, which makes it harder for users to locate.
There isn’t much originality or user-friendly material on this site. I think it needs a makeover!
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