INTRODUCTION
In this website review, www.pbs.org is being selected and hence the feasibility of its design features will be deliberately discussed. Number of aspects such as the site’s purpose, ease of access protocols and platforms, and user friendliness will be considered and addressed throughout the review. Finally a conclusion will be made to sum up whether this web site is functional or not.
OVERVIEW OF PBS
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is an American private, non-profit media enterprise which is owned and operated by the 349 public television stations of the nation. Having a vision of being one of the leading trusted community resources, PBS uses the influence of non-commercial television, the Internet and other media so as to enhance the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services that can inform, inspire and enjoy. Those services can be accessed globally and according to research it has now been up to almost 99 percent of American digital multimedia households can have the right of entry to PBS services or products and it is expected this figure is going to increase.
OVERVIEW OF PBS WEB SITE (www.pbs.org)
This web site consists of more than 1,300 PBS television programs and specials, as well as its original Web contents and real-time learning explorations. It in fact has more than 175,000 pages of content to discover. Visitors to the site can investigate further into the subjects they most relish — from news to history and the arts to science and technology. PBS.org furthers the public broadcasting commitment to lifelong learning through multiple super sites such as “PBS Kids” and “PBS TeacherSource”.
Figure 1. www.pbs.org -Homepage of Public Broadcasting Service
PBS web site also connects you directly to your local public broadcasting member station through the Station Finder and the opportunity to localize your pbs.org experience with your local member station. Internet users can browse television schedules, explore local content and enjoy the online offerings of more than 300 stations across the country.
By merging online and television media, Pbs.org is pioneering the creation and distribution of interactive programming to advance education, culture and citizenship worldwide.
SECTIONS OF PBS WEB SITE
PBS.org consists of various main sections. Each section is unique and comprises articles, games, links, and reviews. The majority of the links offered are internal links and in which all of the links are relevant and up to date. Each section is examined in the following:
Of all the sections, “PBS Kids” section appears to be the most comprehensive and appealing one. This section actually takes advantage of what multimedia has to offer. When you first enter the site, music begins to play, and animated graphics begin to move. The site contains games, an interactive colouring book, and ideas for arts and crafts projects. It also has links to all the popular children’s shows that are on PBS, for instance Sesame Street, Barney, and Thomas the Tank. Its design is extremely colourful, playful, and intriguing.
Figure 2. http://pbskids.org - PBS Kids web page
Another main part in the PBS web site is called "PBS TeacherSource." It contains articles offering teachers advice on incorporating cable, video, and the Internet into their classrooms and lessons.
Figure 3. http://www.pbs.org/teachersource - PBS TeacherSource web page
Next, that will be the "Indie Scene" section that concerns independent films and videos. It includes film reviews, a schedule of movies, and multiple interviews with filmmakers.
The site has also two different news sections, "Online Newshour" and "News & Views”. The "Online Newshour" section has very up to date objective articles with many photos together with a new section geared towards high school or college students. On the other hand, the "News & Views" section deals with up to date news but in a more subjective way. This section includes opinion articles from a range of people concerning more controversial news issues. Moreover, the section has its own discussion forum where users are able to post and reply to many different topics.
Other main elements of the PBS site consist of Adult Learning, history, science, technology, and arts.
Not just the above services and information provided, PBS.org also joins the electronic retailing business, having its own shopping site named as "ShopPBS." Here users are literally able to make on-line purchases such as DVDs and VHS from the Olympics to the rainforest and also capable to track the order once they have signed up as a member.
Lastly, the web site offers visitors to apply as its PBS members so as to receive a weekly email newsletter called "PBS Previews." The site also offers television listings for PBS. In addition, there is a section where users can view the annual reports of PBS and find out possible opportunities regarding to employment within the company. Apart from that, there is an extensive section where people who may have interests in becoming sponsors in which they can obtain information about the company and statistics of PBS television and Internet viewers.
ASSESSMENT
After giving the descriptions of the various sections of the PBS web site, we are now going to analyse its design features in a deeper sight, which will include a number of aspects such as purpose, ease of access, protocols and platforms and user friendliness and its functionality.
General Design Features
The design of the web site is very bright and appealing to the eye. Its layout is inviting and easy to navigate. Every web page in the site looks like it belongs to the same site; in other words, its design is consistent through all the pages yet having each section has its own main theme colour. For instance, sky blue for “PBS Kids” whereas light green for “PBS TeacherSource” as seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively. There are many graphics including, photographs, illustrations, and animated buttons and GIFs. These graphics are placed in an orderly fashion and do not create a cluttered appearance. Since PBS.org is such a large site and therefore it has its own search engine which assists in navigating throughout the web pages.
Purpose
As PBS understands the e-commerce applications growing rapidly, it therefore uses the power of the Internet to deliver messages to its audiences. By merging online and television media, people can acquire information from PBS whenever and wherever with lesser constraints. Hence the purpose of PBS web site, as prior stated, is to provide as much as quality, educational, or entertaining information, programs as well as services to all ranges of people in order to accomplish its vision – enriching and inspiring the lives of all people globally.
Ease of Access
Navigation is consistent throughout PBS.org. All navigation buttons and bars are easy to understand and use and they provide visitors with a clue as to where they are, what page of the site they are currently on. Adding to this, most PBS sites are designed for screen resolutions of either 800x600 pixels or 640x480 pixels. On either screen, you can easily read fonts and content less at one time without scrolling.
Moreover, links are underlined, so they are instantly clear to browsers. In particular, the PBS homepage already has a photo of the special offer on-line item of the month; this is the reason to get visitors’ attention by simply making a one-click. Furthermore, pages can be downloaded quickly with only a short period of waiting time, as few movies flashes exist.
Protocols & Platforms
PBS.org is a HTML document that uses hypertext to transfer protocols (HTTP) to allow computers to communicate with the Internet.
There is a secure shopping guarantee for every transaction that you make with “ShopPBS” as the site utilizes the industry standard encryption protocol known as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to keep your order information secure in which those information includes your name, address, and critically sensitive information like credit card numbers. In addition, cookies are never used in the web site that improves the security and privacy of the site.
Besides, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used for visitors to download appropriate and update system drivers. Apart from that, background colours and texts do not interfere each other; GIF animation images are hardly used, which helps browsers easier to read from the text.
The entire web site is basically designed in an ASP format, which the large amount of on-line information can be easily organized and updated into different sections and genres. Lastly, few flash movies are found throughout the site.
User Friendliness
PBS.org relies on sponsors for funding. One of its significant sponsors is Visa. The majority of pages on the site have a Visa banner going across the top. Yet the advertising is very minimal and nowhere near overwhelming. There are also no pop-up screens appear to show other advertisements as some sites tend to be.
Apart from that, detailed instructions are given to visitors when they want to find out their local station finder in order to get one-click access to local television schedules, and information throughout the site. This is just an easy, quick 3-step process.
Figure 4 http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/stationfinder_how.html - How to use PBS station finder.
As for the “ShopPBS” page, its products are very well organized and categorized to meet the various demands from customers. The photos of the on-line products can be enlarged and the prices together with a brief description of each item are all clearly shown. Moreover, there also consists of frequently asked questions (FAQs) section for its customers to review when they have encountered some general problems. Say if you have some more specific or confidential inquiries, you can then email them by just merely clicking the ‘contact us’ link.
Figure 5. http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=1999618 - An on-line item is displayed in the Shop PBS web page
Functionality
After visiting and examining the PBS Web site in terms of the above aspects, I was able to sum up that it is an absolutely functional web site. It looks complex yet it is generically easy to navigate. All the headings or instructions are easy to follow, thus visitors will not be wandering around the net. For example, instructions of making an on-line order with “ShopPBS” are always available for new customers as well as can allow them to track their purchased products in a later stage. It can be even stated that visitors with basic computer literacy can find it no problems in browsing the PBS web site.
The web page encompasses the most basic protocols to achieve the highest result. No fancy flash movies appear throughout the site that shortens the download duration. Images and text sizes are just perfectly seen with all the web pages fit into 640x460 pixel space. Good use of graphic elements – photos, subheadings, and pull quotes, to break up large areas of text.
PBS web site also provides security, encryption and privacy features stated to give on-line customers peace in mind when making a purchase. Besides, web site viewers as well as those on-line shoppers are free to make comments or make queries on the site via email where direct link is available. Discussion forums are set up for users to exchange information and ideas, too. Hence a direct relationship of trust can be built.
Throughout the site, its design and layout are just tremendous. The site is appealing to the eye and put together in a fun yet sophisticated, and inviting way.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, PBS.org is indeed an extremely successful entertaining, educational, and extensive web site in which it has much to offer both adults and children. It has in fact won many substantial awards, including the prestigious "Webbie Award" in both 1998 and 1999. According to a recent survey, fifty-six percent of users at the PBS.org are male and sixty percent are between the ages of eighteen and forty-four. Forty-four percent of the Web site users have children and fifty-seven percent make on-line purchases. (Gallup/Plaw Release: Survey of 40,000 Internet Users. Fall 1998.) Hence if PBS site is not fully functional and user-friendly, why there were awards given? And why there is research prepared to this web site informing us such a numerous and diversified Internet visitors browse it?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
· Public Broadcasting Service (1995) www.pbs.org. Public Broadcasting Service homepage. (Accessed: 20 May 2005)
· Disney, A, Huynh, T. (1998) (http://csdl.ics.hawaii.edu/techreports/98-05/98-05.html. Investigating the Design and Evaluation of Research Websites. (Accessed: 20 May 2005)
· Williams, R. http://www.ratz.com/features.html. Web Design Features. (Accessed: 20 May 2005)
· Schorock, K. (1995) http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html. Teacher Helpers Critical Evaluation Information. (Accessed: 20 May 2005)
· Navisite (1997) http://www.navisite.com/mainpage.cfm?category_level_id=350. Case Studies: PBS Public Broadcasting. (Accessed: 20 May 2005)
· Stair, R.M., Reynolds, G.W. (2003), Fundamentals of Information Systems, Second Edition, Thomson Course Technology.
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