Case Studies Number Three--cnn.com:Grid / Structure

The structure of the pages in cnn.com stays the same as I visit one page to another. The gird is a three columns layout and no matter how other page elements change, such as color, navigations and so forth, the basic layout stays consistently.

The content always changes, for instance, if I go from the home page to a specific news page, the center content of the news page (where contents at) shifts from a list of news to an article / news that relates to the link of whichever I click. However, although content and its layout changes, the primary navigation system and the CNN logo stays consistently on every page of the site. The reason is that as long as these two important elements are persistent, users can always go back to the home page when lost themselves somewhere in the site.

The first two things I notice on the page are the CNN logo and the search bar. Since the logo is red, it is easily attract people's attention. The search bar is more prominent than other elements on the page because of its location and size. It occupies the most space above the primary navigation system which is the thing that users are always looking at.