slashfilm.com
In 2013, they were bought by Vox Media.
Slashfilm was founded in 2005 by Peter Sciretted, and quickly grew in popularity thanks to its blog staff. In 2013, they were bought by Vox Media. Today, Slashfilm is an entertainment website with a wide variety of content, ranging from geeky movie news to reviews and interviews.
Originally, Slashfilm posted a lot of celebrity news. They quickly learned that their audience was much greater and ultimately went in a different direction. The website offered unique personal opinions about new movies and pop culture.
In January 2007, Slashfilm received a redesign. The data provided by Slashfilm's About Us section suggests that their viewership skyrocketed and they had to make changes to servers. The aim of the redesign was to make the website more accessible.
Website Design
Slashfilm is in need of a redesign. The desktop view is not ideal, and there are many issues with design continuity. I am unsure if the theme was meant to look this way, but more often than not sections and boxes look like they are being cut off.
There are so many ads clustered on this page it is difficult to navigate. Advertisements are necessary for websites to profit, however, placement is important. There are ways to place ads on websites without distracting from the content. Unfortunately, Slashfilm does not deliver the advertisements in a visually appealing manner. They are very in your face and bothersome.
The website is meticulously organized. The primary menu is the main focus. The header draws attention to it and readers can find it easily. When you hover on the primary menu categories it reveals subcategories to choose from underneath of it. The search bar is easy to find, but it brings up google search results instead of website archive results. It has to be difficult for viewers to keep track of what they are looking at when the search bar leads them away. I am yet to find a way to access previous archives.
Content
The variety and quantity of content on Slashfilms is one of its strong suits. There is a lot to read, watch, and listen to on the site. This content ranges from movie reviews, trailers, to interviews.
A great mechanic website has utilized many subcategories and articles to make it much easier to read. There are so many articles to sift through subcategories that make it much easier. Further, the articles also have related links to it and make reading similar content simple. Tags are another great resource and the website uses them liberally. Since the search bar does not perform well, tags provide an alternative search tool. By clicking on a tag the website takes you to a list with all titles related to the specific tag.
The website's news section takes up a large chunk of its content. SlashFilm reports on new releases, castings, and buzz-worthy happenings in the movie world. An eye-catching title from this section is "The Best TV Shows & Movies Coming To Netflix In 2020?" The article gives a rundown on some fun titles that will be appearing this year, among them works like Horsegirl, Jerry McGuire, Love Is Blind, and many more.
Some cool items are found in the cool stuff category of the website. This section includes products like Funko Pops, exclusive art prints, and other unique items. My favorite find from this corner of Slashfilm is Ben & Jerry's ice cream - Netflix and Chill?d. The sweet treat is sponsored by Netflix. The flavor is peanut butter ice cream with sweet and salty pretzels and fudge brownies.
Early buzz covers interesting content in the News section, which includes early reviews for newly-released titles like Frozen 2, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and Doctor Sleep.
Slashfilm reviews are objective and come from experienced writers. Although I may not always agree with the reviews, they are well written and provide valid points. Writers pay close attention to detail in their chosen films and their opinions are clear.
Desktop & Mobile Accessibility
The desktop browser for Slashfilm has some issues that I would love to see fixed. A redesign for this website would be amazing. There is so much amazing quality content on there, but the design is not welcoming. Additionally, some tools do not work properly, such as the search bar which searches Google instead of the website archives.
The mobile browser is okay. It is formatted differently than the website, but it is more readable than I expected. The text size is pretty good. The header looks better in the mobile form, and there is also a side menu that is well-utilized. The primary menu and the sidebar menu share the same contents, but it is more difficult to slide through the main one. Creating the sidebar also allows users to access the menu while in the middle of scrolling. The mobile version uses an endless scroll that I personally dislike, but again most contents are able to be accessed via the side menu. Unfortunately, there is no mobile app for the website.
Positives
There are quite a few positive aspects of the Slashfilm website. It is one of the larger geek-centric entertainment websites that has access to press passes for large events like the annual Sundance Festival.
My favorite feature of Slashfilm is the name and logo. I at first thought of it as a horror genre website, but upon further research and discovery, I discovered that the website has a much deeper platform. The logo is the text film with a slash in front of it, which resembles a film strip very cleverly. I think it's a very unique name and definitely stands out from other movie website names.
I have some complaints about the website design, but sometimes Slashfilm gets it right. The use of sidebars is great. It helps break up walls of text and keep viewers' eyes from being bored of the same layouts. The menu categories and subcategories are other good examples that work in favor of the website. The organization on Slashfilm is very meticulous.
There is a wealth of content on Slashfilm, most notably interviews, trailers, movie reviews, photo galleries, and interesting products. The writing is well done and the related posts are very helpful. What I particularly enjoy are the Cool Stuff posts which often feature exclusive Funko Pops, Legos, unique collectibles, and more. The writers behind these articles always seem to be unbiased and honest - a quality I greatly appreciate. Thank you Slashfilm for all that you do!
Negatives
Slashfilm has many great features, but it also has some issues. One of the most pressing is the outdated website design. It feels messy and dated, and it doesn't look very accessible. I would love to see them improve the functionality of the website by doing a redesign. The color scheme and overall theme don't feel right for a site of this caliber.
The ads at the very top and bottom of Slashfilm get in the way of reading content. This is a problem because it crowds out other content and makes it difficult to find what you're looking for. Usually, this is not a huge issue, but in the case of Slashfilm, it is particularly problematic because most of the ads are hidden among other featured articles.
My final complaint is about the search bar on the website and external links. I love when websites link things externally - like the items in the cool stuff section. Unfortunately, Slashfilm uses a google search as its search bar function instead of searching through the site's library. It leads readers away from the website. Aside from the search bar, the cool posts from around the web section caught my attention. I am sure the links are affiliate ones, but I would prefer to be linked to more content on Slashfilm rather than outside sources.
Improvements Needed
A redesign of Slashfilm's website would be greatly beneficial. If the page was more visually appealing and easier to navigate, I would likely visit the page daily. However, sometimes the design makes things confusing. For example, the cool posts from around the web section leads readers to a different website. A new logo and facelift for this website is needed and well deserved; the content is phenomenal.
Slashfilm needs to improve its placement of ads on the site. In some cases, the ads are hidden well and don't disrupt user experience, but the footer ad is disruptive because it overlaps with text. Moving this ad would have a huge impact on user experience.
Summary
Entertainment websites like Slashfilm are great sources of information for all things nerd pop-culture. The website design is outdated, but the available content is worth reading. The staff writers are a highlight of the website, and their insights into pop culture make it a valuable resource.
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