My all-time listening radio station has gotta be Hitz FM ever since it launched a long time ago. I remember always trying to wake up early and listening to the comedy of Lil Kev and Fly Guy. During that time it was the golden years for Hitz FM Morning Crew and I still miss it. Maybe the duo could start an online podcast thing for the people who remember them.
Anyway, this exclusive review is written to assist in a media student’s research or survey before taking on the task of trying to redesign the Hitz FM website. Melisa Lim of uNCUT…uNPLUGGED…uNCENSORED is doing a Hitz FM Web Survey.
So let’s get started. *knuckles cracking*
Click on the image for a larger version.
The purple blob you see on the website is what we call an eyeblaster advertisement. Just like any ad that obstructs your view for a moment it’s always good to make sure these ads can close properly. In this case, after clicking the close button I was left with the blob.
The only method I found for you to get rid of the blob is that you need to rollover one of the dropdown menus to the right which isn’t obstructed by the floating Flash element. It’s the same even for Internet Explorer so that’s double points deducted for website advertising.
The last time I visited Hitz FM to listen to the radio via online, their menu buttons were totally sucky square purple and not readable text. However, when I came back to it I’m very impressed and happy they’ve now nice large text that’s also readable on their menu.
Their ePass login is still located at the weirdest place which is the top of the content. I wonder why didn’t they bother creating a custom panel or differentiation for it.
Their distribution of content via the panels is a done deal in splitting each category of content apart. Their hover colors though are a tad too many with some not really working out well enough as a hover.
Their banner designs is top notch MTV generation style right now. One problem though is that some of their pages seem to have background images that are almost as clear as their text. Though the text might be presented as more striking, the differentiation between background image and text still isn’t enough.
Overall, the website has vast improvement but there’s definetely areas where it could be improved more. And I just stumbled on something pretty funny. I think all the www.radio.fm websites are done by the same company.
If you check out the Mix FM,Light & Easy and ERA FM websites, you’ll notice the similarities in layout but just a change of color and maybe arrangement of things.
I finally found out who’s in charge of all these websites after snooping around Google for the company handling these website. They are the people at ASTRO.
Anyway, I hope this review helps Melisa and if anyone wants to create an online survey in future, try dPolls.
Anyone else would like to share their views of these radio websites?
I’m confused by the last paragraphs – did you not know that these radio stations are Astro’s?
*nod nod*
Nope, didn’t know that Astro personally handles all of these stations. Maybe I’m still imagining that all of em are at RTM or something. :|
WOW…thanks lots for the review..never expected 1..it means alot….
would you consider being my mentor on this project..haha..u r after all a web designer maybe can offer some tips..hehe..
thanks again
I’d be happy to share a word or two of what I think of the designs the team can come up with. Or if you’d like, I could post up an entry here and see what others might want to say about it.
Cheers.
it would be great if u can suggest some designs..we have not come out with any ideas for the theme yet..at the moment we are thinking of some more simple and less cluttered theme..hehe
My pleasure. Well, here’s 4 types of different websites targeted at music for you to research on. I’ve tried to categorize them as well.
http://www.soulshaker.co.uk/ (Clean but Hip)
http://web.getalive.be/ (Clean and Organized)
http://www.yourmusiczone.com/ (Organized)
http://www.purevolume.com/ (Clean and Sleek)
Cheers.