Adam Bard
Basic Description
Site Name Reddit
URL (make it a link) http://www.reddit.com/
In twenty five words or less, what is the site about? Reddit aggregates funny, offbeat, news stories and media based on user votes. ("Read-it", get it?)
Who Is the Audience?
Age 18-25-ish.
Gender Aspecific.
Special Interests Computers/Nerds.
Reason for visiting Interest / Killing Time.
Experienced? Novice? Both.
What is the purpose of the site?
What should visitors be able to do after visiting the site that they couldn't do before? Visitors should be able to view interesting and demographically-targeted news and content that interests them.
Can they do it? If they're in the right demographic.
The site's contents
Information on site is good? very good? poor? Varies, dependant on source.
Does it teach something, entertain, sell something? Does it do something else? It aims to teach and to entertain, and a little to sell in that they cover server costs with advertising income.
Is it professionally written? It links to a number of professionally-written articles, but unless the submitter of a link happens to be a writer, no.
Is it date stamped (so you can tell if it's stale)? Updates constantly. And, yes.
Are there broken links? Rarely, they get voted down quickly.
Navigation
How easily do visitors get around the site? Any problems? The main function of the site is to view the most popular links, which appears on the front page. To find other methods of aggregation, such as newer stories and the like, there is a fairly easy menu at right.
Is there a search function Yes.
Drop down menus? Graphic buttons and text links No (thankfully), no, yes.
Is there contact information on the site? Beyond a basic feedback form, no.
How's the page size? Too long? Too short? It's a great size.
Visual Impression
Graphics complement text? Mostly.
Eye candy that distracts? None.
Graphic density: enough, too much, just right? It's good, given the purpose.
Color choice, backgrounds and objects The color choices represent standard black w/ blue links on white, but with softened greys in supplemental text, and improved fonts.
Is text readable? Very.
Rich Media
Used? What for? Only in pages that are linked to that contain it.
Used appropriately? No use is good use.
Work as expected? It works precisely as expected.
Necessary to the site? No, which is why the site doesn't have it.
Speed
How fast does it take to appear? (Try three separate times to compensate for Web traffic.) Quite fast. Even faster the second and third time, thanks to caching.
Does the site require plug-ins? No.
In Conclusion
I like or dislike this site because: I like the site because I happen to be in its target demographic, and therefore enjoy the news stories that it presents, for the most part.