I decided to use the websites in the “D” section. The first one is https://americanantiquarian.org/NatTurner/. The title of the page is, “Revising Rebellion: Nat Turner in the American Imagination”. At first, the website seemed simple and almost underwhelming. It had a short article about Nat Turner and had a handful of links to other areas of the site on the left hand side. While it seems very simple, that is both a strength and a weakness, it allows the readers to navigate the site very easily and find what they’re looking for. Another advantage of this website is that it has a picture to accompany every article. Although this website is bland and not very attractive, it accomplishes it’s goal of simplicity and allows easy access to its information.
The second website is, https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/portent-john-browns-raid-american-memory and the article is titled, “The Portent: John Brown’s Raid in American Memory”. My first impression of this site was much different then that of the first site; the blue that lined the top of the screen and held then links to other sections of the website felt inviting. This site has a lot more depth than the first one, it provides pictures as well, but these have little buttons which you can press and it will give you additional information. This website also gives the reader recommendations for other articles to read after finishing this one. This website provides a lot more information and depth compared to the other website.
In conclusion, I believe that each website has its own distinct target audience. By that I mean that while the first website was bland and lacked the amount of pure knowledge than the second had, it is more geared to an audience seeking a quick answer to a question, whereas the second was geared toward someone looking to master a certain topic, and might seem like too much to bite off to someone who was looking for a quick resolution.
These are very thoughtful observations about the two websites. I appreciate how you engaged both the appearance of the sites as well as the content, navigation, and accessibility. As you noted, each website/digital project has its own goals that it is trying to accomplish, which has an impact on who is likely to engage with that type of work.