Week 6- Website Analysis....

The website I am going to look at for our brief website analysis is gigsandtours.com a well know and used online ticket distributor and music event promotion site. I chose this site as I use it every time I want to find out what bands are playing, artists tour dates and to purchase tickets to see my favorite bands. The site is one that is used by thousands of people everyday and is certainly one of the major site used for purchasing music event tickets.

I shall look in to the following aspects when analysis the website.
The structure and the general navigation, the 'Culture' of the site and finally the appeal for me as a user and anyone else that may use this site.

Any website needs to be well structured in a way so users can understand and work their way around the site, the information and content needs to be laid out in a logical way and an easy navigation system must be in place, normally in the style of a search engine. Links should be easily visible and clear on what they are linking the user to.

When loading on to the homepage of gigsandtours the first thing I tend to notice is the contrast in colour, the black and red really stand out against one another and secondly I notice the scrolling text along the top, which gives names of various other artists who have tickets available. The front page changes regularly depending on whether or not other well know artists have released ticket for tour dates. The page has a search engine down the left hand side where you would expect to see one, allowing users to find the artists or band they want with the littlest amount of effort that is required, along with links to the other available pages just above, such as 'Artists/Gigs A-Z' and 'Order Tracker'. The names and pictures of the latest artists to release tickets that are on the home page are also direct links to their list of dates, Lister et al states that hypertexts "[guide] the reader beyond the immediate text to necessary contextualising information" (2003:23) gigsandtours is full of these links, the majority of all the text visible is a link to further information.
The information on the website has a 'sequenced' structure and is very much organised in an orderly fashion and in a way you would expect.
I feel the most important section of the site is that or 'Artists/Gigs A-Z' (As seen above) due to the fact the main purpose of the site is ticket purchasing and this page allows you to find the artist or gig (E.g festivals, concerts.) that you are looking for. This page is laid out in an alphabetical format, and again has many links to other pages showing various artists under their alphabetical letter. This allows users to find the artist they are looking for with total ease, and come across other artist that are listed under that letter. Each artists name is a link to another page where it shows the dates and places they are playing as well as allowing users to see if there are still tickets available. I think this website is easy enough for anyone to navigate around.

The culture of this site is very much that of 'music culture' the site is for music lovers, about music and allowing users to get the chance to see their favorite band or artist live. The interest of the users will be that of music, there is however no specific genre that the site caters for, it advertises every type of music from commercial pop, indie, alternation and folk.
There is always a question of trust when it comes to websites, can you trust what you are reading? can you trust the people who have control of the website? Users of this website put their trust in the site and those controlling it every time they visit it. If the site states a show has sold out, users take this information and don't question it, but how do they know this is the truth. The site its self is a leading ticket distribution site and therefore user take what is say as the truth. I think the ability to trust the website is made easier due to the fact that it is not an open website i.e. the users are not able to contribute to the site. Also the content is licensed, as site selling gig tickets have to have the correct licensing and have to have gone through the correct legal processes to sell items such as this. There is no need for copyright issues as all the information provided is trade marked and licensed accordingly. There is small print at the bottom of every page, showing who controls the website and that all images and text has been given permission to be used. It also states that the information on the site is correct at time of publishing, this almost provides them with a back up in case a users attempts to purchase an item, when it has in fact sold out.
There is no element of produsage with in the site, due to the fact tickets are sold legally by the company, users are not able to contribute to the site and there is not type of forum or interactivity in place.

The appeal of the website for myself is due to my interest in music, I love music in general and I'm always looking to see who's playing a gig somewhere near. The fact that the website is update regularly tends to mean I check it quite a lot to see if any new bands or artists have released tour dates. The site appeal to anyone who likes music, anyone who wants to take the time to go and see a band, I would guess that the majority of the users are teenagers and young adults due to the fact the artists listed on the site are very contemporary. The site obviously lists the artists and then shows you where there playing, what time the gig starts, who is supporting the band (If there is a support act) and the age of the show, the price of general admission ticket and the terms and conditions, all this information is what a user wants to know before purchasing a ticket, this gives an informational and professional feel and appeal to the website making the user feel more at ease about the reliability of the site.