Visual Appeal of ESPN.com and FoxSports.com

In this post I will attempt to discuss what makes such sports websites as ESPN.com, FoxSports.com. What works and what doesn’t work.

On the ESPN website the creators have a picture with the main story on the left and various other sports headlines on the right. The right side of the page also features ESPN Motion, where the viewer can stream highlights of recently completed game. Across the top of the page, it lists all the major sports, such as NBA, NFL, MLB, College Basketball and more. When you drag the cursor over any one is brings up a pull down menu, where the user can access information about stats, scores, players and other information. If you click on the sport the site will bring you to the sport-specific page where you can find all the info and stories pertaining solely to that sport.

On the main page it also has the “spotlight” section that scroll through the various stories accompanied with pictures. It also has an interactive poll question pertaining to one of the recent trends in the sports world. I think the site in well set up and the user can access anything that they ever wanted to know about sports. The site might be a little too extensive and there is a lot of content on the page.

FoxSports.com delivers the user the same information and has a somewhat similar layout to ESPN but it is not nearly as cluttered. It has the main story on the left, followed by feature stories underneath. The sports are listed on the top with pull-down menus. Sports headlines are on the right, there are highlight videos and an interactive poll just like ESPN. There are fewer “flashy” components to site and it’s less distracting. When you log on to ESPN, it will immediately start playing highlights on ESPN Motion. The user has a choice on FoxSports.com. It’s a simple, straightforward, layout and the user can access the same information in the same amount of time.

Probably the number one thing that a viewer of ESPN or FoxSports.com is going to want to find out is quick scores. Fox Sports has a scoreboard on the front page and you can pick the sport. ESPN has a scrolling scoreboard that displays only one score at a time. The user can pick the sport but again is limited to one score at a time.

FoxSports.com is both visually pleasing and productive. ESPN is great visually, but can sometimes get in the way of what a person is trying to accomplish.