Website Analysis

www.dailymail.com is the online version of the newspaper The Daily Mail and changes everyday to reflect the news and it's headlines.
Logging onto the home page, the user can see the days headlines and a list of other stories seen as important to viewers. There are also many hyperlinks sending the user to different parts of the website, similar to the different sections in the real life newspaper. eg. 'Coffee Break' and 'Sport'.
This structure makes it easy to browse or, as Meikle would suggest, "research" the site.
Many critics hold an issue with hyperlinks, suggesting that they are non-linear and that they change the way we read, acting as a distraction from the online text. However, for a website such as this one, such hyperlinks create a quick and easy way to direct the user from one news story to another.
The culture of the site is reflected by the nature and status of the newspaper. The website shows the stories which the Daily Mail believe their readers will find most interesting, and then displays sub-headings for the 'less important' stories and events.
The Daily Mail have a specific audience, the newspaper, although a tabloid, is seen as more 'news-worthy' than most other tabloid papers however it is too gossipy to be a broadsheet and so finds itself appealing to the middle-class, providing important stories, sporting events and colloquial gossip columns. The website mirrors this appearance.

The websites language is representative of the 'real-life' newspaper with bold, conversational and eye-catching headlines and sub-paragraphs giving a summary of the news story.
Across the top of the website are hyperlinks to various pages, displaying different topics of news. These too are quite casual and quirky, eg. the "Femail" section. The style of lexis used reflects the readership and audience.