Website Analysis

The website I have chosen to analyse is http://www.topshop.com/.

The Topshop website makes it avalibale for you to buy and view clothes from the clothes store Topshop online. It also offers fashion tips and advice and shows you the latest fashion trends off the cat walk.

"Hypertext is text which contains links to other texts" (Nelson) The website is structured with hypertext. Links to all products are displayed on the left handside of of all pages. In the middle of the homepage is a slide show of the latst trends. Without the hyperlinks to ther pages on the website the homepage would be quite empty. The website is non linear as following the links you can hop around all the pages on the website and all other websites associated with the company. There is links to blogs written on the site and fashion advice. However after looking at Sonia Livingstone's theories I realise that reading on the internet is really not reading at all. The wbsite has few articles but through hyperlinks there is no order to the pages.

This site is aimed at women who are interested in the latest fashion trends. The clothes are affordable and the many ranges means that women of all ages are catered for. The site is broken down into different links displying different type of clothing avaliable. The pages are easy to access and bright and colourful with many images of clothes. Every page shows all hyperlinks avaliable so it is easy to navigate your own way through the site. This site would be easy to find as the company Topshop is a popular brand. They also avertise their website in their stores.

The website only caters for womens clothes but their is a seperate site specialising in mens clothes. The websites purpose is primarily for consummerism. Trust is put in the website to deliver the product within the time it states. Also when a product is out of stock then people genuinely believe that the product is not able to purchase at that time.

The term produsage is not applicable to this website as the only people able to make changes to this website are Topshop themselves. This website is open so anyone can access it. However only the U.K and America are the only countries that Topshop deliver too. The only language avaliable on the website is English and so it narrows down the amount of users accessing it.

The question bears though with over a hundred stores does the website need to exist or is it just keeping up to date with technology. It is easy touse the website as you can buy clothes without having to leave the house. People use the website to browse for clothes but they also use it to look at the latest fashions and listen to the latest podcasts.

Online Music.

With the phenomenom of people promoting their own music online with networking sites such as Myspace. It is easier than ever to promote music online and get it heard as anyone can put their music oline and anyone can access it. Many people promote their music online as it is free and people have got music deals. Artists such as Lily Allen, Kate Nash and Arctic Monkeys all promoted their music online which helped them to get a record deals as their fanbase was built up.
As all types of msuic are avaliable online it means people can listen to all types of music which means that people may change from listening to the mainstream which is the majority avaiable on television and radio. People have more of a choice and range and can listen to whatever they want.
However the fact that music is so easily and readily avaliable online then people have started downloading music instead of going out and buying cds. Whether they are doing this legally or illegally. This has had a huge effect on the market causing shops such as Zavvi and Woolorths to close down due to lack of people purchasing CDs.

The Independent.

Looking at 'The Independent's' online message boards you can make assumptions about people. The members that leave comments under different names I would consider to be young as they grew up in a age of the internet. Whereas the members that use their whole name I would assume to be older. Many of the comments to the stories posted are heavily criticised for the way they are written and people are not afraid to express if they do not agree with the journalists. I think you can tell by the comments posted the kind of person it is as the more formal a comment then the more serious a person. You can also tell how up to date with the news someone is by the comments they make and how much they know about the latest news.
I think online message boards are a good idea as it gives people a chance to express their opinion which in real life they may not express as they don't have an opportunity or are afraid that people will disagree with what they say. Online you can disagree and express your own opinion more easily as people cannot actually talking to someone face to face.

Virtual Community.

The idea of online 'virtual' communities unnerves me abit. The idea that people have a life on computer but in reality you are just sat on your own at a computer is quite worrying. That people can live a virtual life but in reality be completely on their own. I think it would be hard to maintain a sufficent relationship with someone that you cannot see. I feel online comunities are for people who find it hard to communicate with people in the rea world and so live in online community.
The fact people are sharing online conversations and living in an online community in which they have never actually met the person they are talking to gives a false sense that you now the person you are talking to however online you can claim whatever kind of identity you want.
However a virtual community could also be seen as alot of people watching a form of media for example when the world cup is on and aot of people are gathered infromt of their t.v to view it.