Navigating the Buttons of Slate-#6

While I have had some unkind things to say about Slate in previous posts, I have to say I generally find the site fairly easy to navigate. Part of that is due to the fact it uses the “F” style layout we have discussed in class. This makes it easy for a readers eyes to move across the navigation buttons at the top of the page, and then travel down the middle of the page. Your eye goes from the site banner and then across the various categories such as News&Politics, Business, and Arts which are all designated by buttons.

Slate try’s quite hard to adhere to this layout on its home page. This design works for me because I can hover over each one separately, viewing the top ten stories under each category. From there you then go down the page to “The Slatest,” which features the latest offerings from the site, and on to Top Stories, featuring Most recent, Most read, Most liked etc.

By setting it up this way a reader is guided through the stories and can quickly see what he or she wants to read.  It allows you to navigate pretty quickly through the site to determine whether you want to read something or move on. For example:

HOME /  New Scientist :  Stories from the New Scientist.

How Much Can We Blame on Global Warming?

Sorting through the confusion on “extreme weather events.”

By |Posted Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, at 12:11 AM ET

Pictures and graphics on the story pages are also well done, with a nice combination of embedded links and usually a solid picture different from the main page.

Satellite image of a hurricane.
Once into a story you can easily link to any info posted in the piece. The primary links work well as you can see in this example of coverage of the recent problems of child sex abuse at Penn State.

The About section is clearly labeled at the bottom of the main page. Once there it gives clear concise info. (Note for students- Slate is offering internships in both New York and D.C. this spring!) The Corrections page was found by simply typing the word into the search box.

In these respects this site again works well. Perhaps not surprisingly, linking is something Slate does very well.

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