Knoxnews.com is the official web site for the largest newspaper in Knoxville, the Knoxville News Sentinel.  The Knoxville News Sentinel is part of Scripps Networks, so Knoxnews.com shares similar characteristics with other Scripps-owned web sites. 

STRUCTURE

Knoxnews.com has a 3 column structure with what appears to be the newest local headlines near the top of the page.  The largest headline is located on the left column with a picture and summary description of the full story.  This appears to be the most important story of the day.  The middle column contains 3 other stories with smaller headlines, though a summary is included with these as well.  The right-side column contains advertisements and squeezes the current weather between two large video ad windows.  This is very annoying as it may take the viewer a long time to distinguish between advertisement and content.  Additional headlines are located below the 3 stories in the middle column.  After these headlines, organization takes a turn for the worse.  Though topics are divided between sports, life, entertainment, business and news, it seems the placing of other sections is completely random.  The site would benefit from having less sprawl, as it is easy to get lost on the main page. 

CHARACTERISTICS

Knoxnews.com takes full advantage of the web as an interactive medium.  Every story has a section that allows viewers to comment.  Some stories have dozens of comments.  This lets the user compare his or her opinion to those of others.  The site also includes an interactive calendar for local events, and polls that deal with current issues in and around Knoxville.

The web has virtually unlimited capacity, unfortunately, home pages do not, and should not.  I think Knoxnews.com puts too much content on their main page.  It is easy for a user to forget where they are on the web site, and what they have or have not seen.  Though users appreciate an array of content, sometimes enough is enough.

Knoxnews.com makes it obvious that their web site is not neglected or overlooked, even though the newspaper was the first news medium for the Sentinel.  It is apparent that it has a formidable staff number and that the content on the page is catered to the web.  Stories have summaries, links, polls, and comments.  The page takes full advantage of the non-linear capabilities that the internet offers. 

Knoxnews.com takes advantage of having a local following.  There is a classifieds section, a local jobs section, and even a section for car shopping.  Very useful indeed.

LINKING

Linking is above average on Knoxnews.com.  Their sidebar links are especially helpful with options to e-mail the story, add it to Furl, del.icio.us, and of course RSS feed it.  Other sidebar links include related local news that uses keywords to associate stories.  This is helpful for the user who may need more information about a particular topic because all relevant topics are already included.  The only lacking linkage occurs within the stories.  Very rarely do the Knoxnews.com reporters link in the story text.

READER SERVICES

The best part about Knoxnews.com is that it does not require the user to register.  That means no annoying junk mail and no forms to complete.  However, if the user does register, they are treated with the ability to customize the site with options to show a specific genre of news on the home page, e-mail alerts of breaking news, and other convenient options.  Knoxnews.com does a great job of providing services by linking to Newsvine, Furl, Digg, and del.icio.us.  The site lacks the ability to upload to social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.  Story tools include the ability to e-mail the story, iPod it or view a printer friendly version.

IMPROVEMENTS

Knoxnews.com has everything a news junkie needs to be happy with an online news site, except for national news.  It is very hard to find national and international news on Knoxnews.com.  Even though the site stems from a local newspaper and has a local emphasis, national news needs a more prominent spot.  The main page is cluttered.  It has so much to offer that it hurts its own usability.  The Scripps web site format helps with a variety of things, but not the clutter.  Clean it up!