GENERIC CONVENTIONS OF A WEBSITE

I researched into current web pages which advertise a certain newspaper.
Firslty, I decided it would be beneficial to look at The Harrogate Advertiser's web page and identify its conventions in order to understand a little bit more about how websites invite the buyer. Instead of analysing other ultralocal newspapers to the Harrogate area, I will also analyse a newspaper from a different local area, as most of these local newspaper are published by Ackrill Media group; therefore most of these local newspaper will have the same generic layout.

Here is a screen shot of the Harrogate Advertiser's web page.







The conventions I have identified are as follows:

- Organised layout
- Bold title (however, the title is not substantially large which is interesting, as the masthead on the Harrogate Advertiser's newspaper is noticeably big)
- Hyperlinks and navigation bar
- Search engine
- References to jobstoday and property today etc
- Date
- Updates in a scrolling marquee
- Advertisements
- Subheadings, headings and images
- Letters to the editor
- 'What's on' column

What cohesive links does the Harrogate Advertiser's web page have with the newspaper itself?

- Similar/same articles
- Brand identity and house style
- Date and time
- Advertisements
- Some form of navigation
- Same images

What differences does the web page and the newspaper have?

- Hyperlinks and search engines on the web page
- Small proportion of articles with a link to the full article on web page
- Comment options on the web page
- Web page has scrolling text and other visual aspects which the newspaper does not have

This variation of similarities and differences outline the divergence between the hard print copy of the newspaper and the interactive, modern and 'instantaneous' version of the newspaper in web pages.
New media, for example, the internet has been involved in the decline in profits of print media.

I have also researched on the internet into the common generic features of web pages. One website, Jerz Setonhill.com, states that there are five key factors you must follow to create a conventional and successful newspaper based web page:

- Lead with your best stuff: put your best stuff at the top of the page to keep readers engaged and entertained
- Inform with meaningful links: to provide meaningful information to the reader
- Employ consistent navigation: 'Home' link in the navigation bar and other consistent links
- Prefer simple designs: to avoid confusion and to get straight to the point
- Write scannable text: provide meaningful subheadings, bulleted lists and bold keywords

What about The Hereford Times?

Here is a screen shot of the Hereford Times' web page






Is there any relation between this web page and the Harrogate Advertiser's web page?

- Noticeably different layout
- Hereford has larger title
- Both have main web page conventions such as navigation, images and text