comicbookmovie.com
Many entertainment websites focus on comic books and pop culture, including Comic Book Movie. The website launched in 2003, around the same time major comic book movies were being produced.
Lots of people visit the website every month to read about comic books, graphic novels, and anime. In 2008, the website expanded to include other genres of fiction too.
Website Design
The website for the comic book movie was pretty disappointing. The focus was immediately shifted to the advertisements instead of the actual site. As soon as I landed on the home page, I was hit with three ads. One ad at the header, one at the footer, and a huge pop-up video kept me from seeing the website.
I tried to get past the ads on the website, but it was futile. Every time I clicked exit, I only succeeded with one. The website looks worse because of the ads, and I can understand why they try to hide them.
The website is not user-friendly. The color scheme is confusing and the branding is off-putting. The logo on the top is not the same as the logo on the browser tab.
Content
This makes it easy for viewers to find what they are looking for.
Comic Book Movies provides a variety of content, including comics, graphic novels, science fiction, horror, and anime. There are various categories on their main menu, making it easy for viewers to find what they are looking for.
On the website, the primary menu offers categories such as News, TV, Comics, Videos, Features, Reviews, Editorials, Fan Fic, CBM Index, About, and Members. Most of these tabs include typical entertainments content. It doesn't look like the website provides much related topic information after reading articles either. There are few links in the articles.
The website has a lot of cool features, one of which is the fan fiction tab. In this category, writers create fan casts for upcoming movies. There are also many fan artworks in articles. Another interesting category is the Comic Book Movie Index. Although the format of the webpage is confusing, it is an archive of movies. The archives are done by category. The index helps users find content related to their favorite movies and tv shows. It has the potential to be a really cool space on the site but isn't quite there yet.
Desktop & Mobile Accessibility
I do not like the website's design. The desktop version is terrible. There are too many advertisements and it is hard to read the content. The color scheme is bad and there is no clear branding.
The mobile browser is also kind of a nightmare. Although the titles are spaced out slightly better, the ads still break up the flow of the website. Readers can't access the articles due to the number of ads. As far as I could find, there are no mobile apps available for the website.
Positives
Some of the only good aspects of Comic Book Movies are the articles. There is a wide variety of topics available for readers to view. However, saying that they are entertaining might be a stretch. Most of them are not very long and difficult to read.
Negatives
Most of the things I have to say about comic book movies are negative. I'm in shock that the website is still functioning or that it sees millions of viewers per month. The claim that it is the number one source for comic news is totally bogus. I can think of many better sources to get my news.
The website design is dated and not up to date with the times. The theme is confusing and the background looks grey. The menu uses shades of red, orange, navy blue, white, and more which makes it difficult to read. The social icons in the top right-hand corner only add to the confusion. The website does itself a disservice by not focusing on reader experiences.
The overwhelming number of ads on the website is a downside. Not only are there footer and header ads, but there are video pop-ups as well. This sidebar could be better utilized to feature some of the website's popular posts instead of defaulting to the newest.
Another issue some people have with the website is the way articles are arranged. They're squeezed together with a barely legible font, and the reason for that is due to the grey background. The margins around articles are set much too wide, instead of leaving wide spaces unused. Instead, the website should reformat those spaces between articles to make them more readable.
The search bar on this website is not helpful. It only functions as a global search for google, which is unfortunate because it sends readers to sites that are unrelated to Spiderman on Comic Book Movies.
Improvements Needed
There are so many improvements that need to be made to make this website functional. Huge amounts of work need to be done in order to make the website more user-friendly. It might be better to just shut the whole thing down and redesign it from scratch. This would be a huge favor for subscribers and longtime readers, who would appreciate an optimized website and an app.
If a full redesign is out of the question, Comic Book Movies could start with some simple changes. Most web designers would be able to fix this issue with little trouble. If the background took up less space there would be more room available for a visually appealing layout of articles.
There are a lot of advertisements on Comic Book Movies. If the site could move them to run featured articles instead, it would be more beneficial for readers. The sister websites featured don't look very legitimate and the ads for them would make me wary of clicking. This is another example of why the company should rethink their online presence.
Summary
Comic Book Movies is an entertainment site for comic book fans and entertainment news. It's one of the older sites of its kind and its age has started to show in its design - which is outdated and filled with unsavory ads.
There are few positive features of the website. The color scheme and design are unsightly. The logo is also confusing. It seems like the website has not been updated since it first launched. The source of its success is no doubt the ads, but when people stop visiting the website because of them, what will happen?
I hope the Comic Book Movie team sees fit to re-design or re-launch the website some time in the near future. The viewership is there, but the functionality is not. The potential for a great website is there, but it is unlikely that they will change anything. Long-time readers deserve better platform. There are many features the site could fix without tearing the whole page down. For example, the search button could be fixed. The organization would be another quick fix.
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