This is an extremely well-developed web architecture. A great deal of thought went into the conceptual design for the webbing. Nonetheless, the architecture could still use tightening up. The authors have a clear map, but the first-time viewer of the project does not get a clear idea of all the possibilities from the opening menu.

Pages are long and many require significant scrolling. It is a shame to force this scrolling on the site because it ranks among the top complaints (consistently) among web users. Many will abandon a site simply because it demands heavy scrolling. This is a site that deserves better than that, and the authors should really look for ways to minimize scrolling and to make the navigation more intuitive. 

An example of how this might be done would appear in the suggestion simply to break the initial menu (homepage) into two columns. That would certainly require reducing the type size, but the trade-off in reduced scrolling would seem worthwhile. 

Alternatively, it seems possible that adopting an out-and-back architecture for the homepage (opening sub-sections) would allow for reducing the first page scrolling significantly. The "true webbing" structure that is deep within the site would minimize the possibility that site visitors will miss significant material even with a simplified menu on the homepage.

These kinds of suggestions are for "fine-tuning" the site architecture. In most cases, such tuning is pointless. In this case, however, it is very much worthwhile because the site should be published and maintained. 

Technical Comments:

This team made excellent progress in moving from their graphics, print orientation toward an understanding of how web technology interacts with presentation of material. The technology posed few barriers except insofar as it required a 'shifting' in mindset.

This is a site that will benefit enormously from careful attention to issues such as the size of graphics files, the use of web-safe colors, etc. Unfortunately, in that regard, the page colors chosen are not web-safe. They appear as very different colors (or as white) on many browsers. 

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Content:

This project exeeds all reasonable expectations in its content. The material is very well handled, and the journalistic experience of the authors shows through very strongly.

The interesting thing about this project and its content is how quickly the authors were able to grasp the possibilities for using the web technology to present their ideas. In some senses, the technology puts limits on their vision, but they worked extraordinarily hard to make the final project work within those limits. It was very interesting to watch this team work because of their sophistication in dealing with layout, page, design, and print-based publication. In effect, their project shows how people with a very strong background in the presentation of material can adapt their strategies and their presentation to a new medium.