By Casey Muller
The four seperate sections of the Oscars webpage reveal some good
thought on the part of the webpage designers. They clearly understand
who their target audiences are, and tailored different parts of the
site to different groups.
The first section is the most straightforward: the list of current
nominees. This is clearly the information that will attract the vast
majority of viewers to the site, and therefore is listed first and
well designed. The nominees are presented on one easy to read page,
with more information about each person and movie. The pages are also
littered with cross-references to other parts of the site, hoping
to
keep visitors surfing for longer.
The most natural thing to do when reading the list of nominees is
to
try to pick the correct winners, so naturally the second major section
of the site includes that. This is the fun and games section, and
the
primary attraction is a competition to pick the correct actors and
flicks. The prize is one that would make any Oscar afficionado
interested: a DVD player and the Academy "Best-Picture"
video
library. Of course, entering the contest of necessity involved giving
your email address, and therefore provides the website with that all
important contact info. The fun and games section also includes trivia
games, food recipes, etc.
Then there are those that look at the list of nominees and think
about
the actual people involved, and what an event the award ceremony will
be. For them there is the style portion of the webpage. The style
section contains descriptions of what various stars wore in the last
several years. Again there are sidebars that attempt to lure you to
the quiz games or other parts of the site.
Finally there is the historical section of the site. This section
contains a history of the Academy itself as well as information about
previous winners. The Oscar Legacy area also includes interesting
facts and statistics about Oscar winners, as well as the trophies
themselves and anything else the designers could come up with.
Overall this is a very useful webpage with a good sense of what its
audience is looking for. It is easy to use, informative, and very
well
executed.