Channel 10 Rochester Online Review

Channel 10 Rochester NY has been broadcasting since 1953. It usually ranks second for most time spots, and it remains the only Rochester station that has not upgraded to high definition or the 16 to 9 widescreen. Today, I will review their online site for how it compares favorably or unfavorably to other news stations and standards of web design.

To start off, though I like that the Channel 10 Rochester site employs the more updated design of having colored panels on the blank side spaces, it is a very bright blue that almost seems distracting. This would probably be minimized if they used a more eye friendly pattern, such as the one they use in their header. There are several useful sections of the main screen. At the top there are three different sections of tabs, enabling a user to access multiple types of information relatively easily. Accessibility is always a big plus.

There are tabs on Rochester NY Channel 10 online for community, weather, gas prices, social media, movie times, sports and more. This is the first time I have ever seen a tab for gas prices on a news site, and it does seem like a particularly handy type of information. If you click on that tab, it gives the addresses and prices of the top ten places with the lowest gas prices, as well as their locations in Rochester.

Weather is another important aspect of news web design, and on the Rochester channel 10 site it is displayed in the right hand corner. This feature rates favorable compared to other news sites, giving a prominent display of temperature as well as a moving Doppler display and an indication of precipitation conditions. Most people want weather information to be easy to understand and quick to find, and the site ranks well for this.

The layout for news stories on the Channel 10 Rochester site could be better. On other sites, an rss list of the most current or popular pieces tends to display closer to the top of the page. Additionally, the two articles visible on their site without scrolling down lack relevant pictures, and instead just have a Channel 10 Rochester icon. If you do scroll down further, however, other stories do have images.