Web Analysis

Westlife were an Irish pop band signed by Simon Cowell and managed by Louis Walsh. After almost 15 years of creating music together the band decided to go their own ways in 2012 and for many Westlife fans their official web page is a reminder of the pop groups hard work and great music.

The use of Photographs

There is only one dominant photograph on this site of the band ‘Westlife’. The photograph takes up most of the space on top of the site and really catches your attention when the site is opened. Then on the right hand side of the site going down is three photographs of the bands latest album and upcoming album. People often take photos of real events to capture a moment to remember forever but the composers of this site have constructed a photo of the group looking away from the camera where it brings a somewhat ‘seriousness’ to the site. According to Wysocki “[p]hotographs are often used to bring an sense of immediacy and “reality” to a layout…” (Wysocki 2004, pg 133). The three album photographs on the right hand side is not that all eye catching, it does not jump out and tell a story because the size is smaller than the dominant photograph. Not only is it smaller in size but there is not much happening in the photograph for the reader to be interested in or being invited to enjoy the site, it is like the composers have just put up the photographs in a rush as long as there is something on the site for the readers to see. “People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead they scan the page…” (Nielson, 2007) but scanning a page that only has a few eye catching photographs the reader will not read what is advertised at all because immediately they will find the site boring.

The use of Color

The first color that catches your attention is the sky blue at the very top of the site that fades into what you would think, is black but if looked at very closely is a darker tone of a deep blue color. The fonts for the links are also a sky blue color and the main heading ‘Westlife’ is in the color white. Also, when the mouse icon hovers over the fonts for the links it changes from the color sky blue to the color white indicating the reader to let them know they are about to click that link. Immediately after scanning the main homepage of this site, you realize that the composers “…want to give the appearance of being serious [due] to [the] use of muted colors and a limited number.” (Wysocki 2004, pg 132). The composers have also used these colors to somewhat tell the audience about ‘Westlife’ and their attitude towards their music. For example, the use of the color blue is a color of trust and peace, as well as honesty and loyalty (Seekers, 2002). Anyone who listens to Westlife and their music will understand that their songs comes from their hearts and talks about true feelings that many encounter everyday as well as the loyalty the boy band have towards not only their music but also their supportive fans. Even though there are only a few colors used by the composers of this site, but it is “…simple and easy taught with friendly authority.” (Wysocki 2004, pg 157).

Links to other areas of Website

Underneath the heading ‘Westlife’ and the photograph of the band, there is 10 links (not including the ‘Home’ link) that the composers have created for the readers. One link is a biography of the group, where the group members talk about how they became ‘Westlife’ and what it meant for them. They deeply express how the journey as a band has molded them into the artists they are today. This is a good link because I think it gives the reader a better understanding about the band, they are able to read about their journey and probably most readers will relate to them in a way because of a “…life experience they have encountered and can say “Yes, I know that feeling”” (Seekers, 2002).

Another link is a link to the ‘Gallery’, a page all about the band but this time there is no words, just photographs. When you click on this link the page loads to the official photos of the band, and there are thumbnails of the photographs, on the right hand side is a box with a heading that reads ‘Image Galleries’ and underneath it has 8 links to 8 different photograph galleries where the composers have given the fans opportunity to upload their favourite photos of the band. There is also at the bottom of the page a comment box that the reader can write comments about a album and/or photo that they like or disliked, this is good because the composers “…create a sense of…invitation…and comfortable confidence.” (Wysocki 2004, pg 155) for the reader to participate together with other fans/readers of this website. There is also a link that is all about Westlife and their music videos. On this page it has many of the songs and music videos the band has created throughout their journey as a group, on the right hand side is a scroll bar of all the music videos thumbnails and on the left hand side is the large version of the video ready to play. Again, this is a good way to invite the reader and give them “…more, larger and smoother video to watch and analyze on screen…” (Wysocki 2004, pg 136), they can sing-a-long with the video or simply just admire the song and its meaning

The Overall Effect

Overall the site is simple. The colors used do not “…look playful…” (Wysocki 2004, pg 132) but come across somewhat serious and portrays the maturity of the band. The “…visual presentation of [the] page…gives you an immediate sense of its genre.” (Wysocki 2004, pg 123) which creates the intention that this site is for a mature audience rather than for children. But in saying that, the site does fail to catch the readers’ attention, the home page does not use many colors or different kinds of images that is eye catching and draws the reader in. However, the name ‘Westlife’ is what matters for most readers of this site, because of their music and legacy many would see pass the creativeness of the site and would just want to know about the next Westlife concert and/or tour.  

Bibliography

Nielson, J. (2007). Research on how users read on the web and how authors should write their web pages. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from Writing for the Web:

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

Seekers, D. (2002). The Color Of Communication. How We See, Read And Understand Colors , 132-134.

Wysocki, A. F. (2004). The Multiple Media of Texts: How Onscreen and Paper Texts Incorporate Words, Images, and Other Media. In P. P. Charles Bazerman (Ed.), What Writing Does and How It Does It (pp. 122-151). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates , Inc.

Wysocki, A. F. (2004). The Multiple Media of Texts: How Onscreen and Paper Texts Incorporate Wors, Images and Other Media. In P. P. Charles Bazerman (Ed.), What Writing Does And How It Does It (pp. 153-162). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.