Week Two: Wolk

One of the websites that I was told to look at recently was gawker.com. I didn't know much about the website and assumed it was just like any other gossip site, full of articles I would have no interest reading out in some sort of trashy format. When I went to the website, however, I discovered that gawker.com is completely user-friendly, even during the first use. There are stories with big headlines and blurbs, then the option to "read more" if the story interests you. The stories are organized chronologically, so that you can see the most recent stories first. The pictures that go alongside the stories are large enough that you can get a sense of what the article is about rather than clicking on articles that you actually have no interest in reading. There is a search bar at the top of the page, allowing you to look at all stories on a particular person or subject. Alongside the page, there is the contact information for many of the people who run the website. It is nice that you don't have to scroll to the bottom of the page or hunt around to find this information if you wish to contact the makers of the site.
Our media culture today is all about getting the information we want as fast as possible. It seems to me that current websites are being manuevered to address this concern, and in this rush, losing the focus of visual appeal or artistic creativity that there is potential for.