Starting with the basics, the page takes around 8 seconds to load fully, however the textual & design elements of the page load in about 2 seconds, with the remaining time being used to load the images used to illustrate the stories displayed.
In a practical sense, the page displays everything the reader needs in a concise, easy to follow format, with most of the pertinent information being displayed "above the fold". More importantly, it follows a number of good website design and accessibility principles; all images are sized appropriately (rather than scaled down via html code), all images contain a "Title" tag and those tags are descriptive and relevant, and almost without exception, all text is displayed in textual format (rather than the often overused headings in image format).The first speeds up the overall loading time of the page as reducing the dimensions of the images also reduces their file size, the latter two provide the best means of accessibility to those using screen readers. The use of text only to display textual elements also provides the added side effect, and what is probably more important from my own point of view, the ability for Google Translate to translate almost all of the page from Norwegian to English (as someone with only a basic grasp of the Norwegian Language this is essential for me).
The page is divided into 5 sections, the header, left column, main body, right column and footer. Section is clearly defined through the use of borders and background colours.
I will look at each of these sections in turn.
The Header contains the newspapers masthead (which links to the main page), a small banner link to "Se sommerbildene" (See Summer Pictures), and a small banner ad for a popular Norwegian comic book.
The Left Column is used for navigation, with clearly defined section headings; Nyheter (News), Bilder og Video (Photos & Videos), Tjenester (Services) and Kontakt OSS (Contact Us) each with a set of related subheadings. Unlike a national newspaper who's main focus is providing up to date information on all breaking news, it is clear that this site is focused on providing information and content pertinent to the local community, with subheadings leading to galleries of user uploaded images & videos and shipping information (the major township of Andenes is the centre of the regions extensive fishing industry).
The Main Body of the page contains a selection of headlines, (each accompanied by a relevant photo, a small snippet from the story, and a link to the full text of that story) - the latest story occupies a prominent position, and spans 2 columns. This is followed by 4 older stories, each 1 column in width, and then a 2 column width banner image that links to a book review in pdf format, and finally 4 further stories, and a link to another page with older stories still.
The Right Column is used to clearly display the contact details for the paper along with a small image of the papers current front page which links to a subscription site allowing you to purchase the current copy.
The Footer is used to display the name and contact details of the editor (although the contact details are identical to those displayed in the Right Column, so it makes this section redundant.While the site is definitely not "flashy" and forsakes the now seemingly commonplace use of flash, I believe it does achieve its purpose, which is to provide content that is both, useful and of interest to the local community that it serves.
In a mostly unrelated note, it was interesting to critique a non-English language website, as I found it was easier to concentrate more on the design and practical side of the website, and less on the content it contained.
