Navigation:
- Links are sore on the eyes to look at with mad colours, With the bold links to “Home”, “Poetry”, “Featured Articles”, “Reviews”, “Publications”, “E Magazine”, Archives”, “Links”, and “BARRY TEBBS MENTAL HEALTH BLOG SITE”. These links offer no information about what the user is viewing with their content in dreadful colours and hard to read text.
- There is no Site Map to aid in navigation.
- Different links bring you to the same content with “Feature Articles” and “Barry Tebb – An Introduction” leading to the same.
- When reading text there are no internal links.
Content:
- Content is strange with I have figured out website is for a printing press company. Links bring you to poems, all of which are along the left side of screen with 30% of screen on right hand side empty of content.
- There is no graphical content to add value to the website with only the mad colour occupying the screen and after a while the user’s nerves.
- Content seems to be very outdated with the only dated piece of information I can find being a times online excerpt dated January 17, 2007. This can be seen on main home page in centre of screen
- There is no FAQ’s.
- Page is chunked extremely badly, being very difficult to see where on topic ends and another begins with the colours different on nearly all text under headings.
Attractors:
- No Competitions, Special Offers or Freebies.
- News shown in a centre box but dates are over five years old of the newest entry.
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When the “Links” link is pressed links page comes up with all links on left hand side of screen. When the “Emlit Project 2003” link is pressed error 404 is given and when link for is pressed a new tab is opened and no content is displayed only blank screen.
- When the “E Magazine” link is pressed up come their “WINTER EDITION 2003” newsletter.
Findability:
- URL is not very explanatory as with the word sixties in it makes the user think of something relating to that decade.
- The following keywords were found in source "Sixties Press, UK poetry magazine, Barry Tebb, UK poet, Leeds Poet, Yorkshire Poetry, U.K, Novelist, Poems. Which are quite good and will hit a target audience.
- The main link “BARRY TEBB'S MENTAL HEALTH BLOG SITE” but has no relation to sixties press
Making Contact:
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The contact details are by means of two email addresses on bottom left (again) of home page, they are &
- There is a reference to ACADEMIC BOOKS BOUGHT ,SMALL COLLECTIONS TO LIBRARIES, GREATER LONDON AND SURREY, ABBEY BOOKS, Phone 02086412212 on centre right of home page, It has a phone number but doesn’t explain if this is to website author or to just a book shop.
Browser Compatibility:
- Screen shot were taken through browsershots.org in FireFox18.0, Safari 6.0 , and Google chrome 23.0
- All seem to have the same screenshots.
Knowledge of Users:
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is not an adaptive website, it doesn’t have organisation of its own links and articles to manage to record what users interests are.
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keeps no memory of your last visit or any previous visit to highlight content to users.
User Satisfaction:
- Main page did not crash or have any problems loading
- A lot of the links are repeated bring you to the same page which is frustrating.
- At the bottom there is a link to a catalogue which when clicked brings up a terribly edited catalogue with titles and prices. There is no buy function; I gather that an email has to be sent to show interest in a certain book.
Other Useful Information:
- “”© Copyright of all poems remain with the poets.” & “© Photos of Leeds courtesy of Leeds Library and Information Service” is the only useful information I can find on this website.
Website 3: summertomato.com
First Impressions:
- URL is not very self-explanatory to what the website is about.
- Download time was fast some as no flashing images are visible.
- There is a nice feel to this page with the author writing a short 5 sentence statement about herself along with picture.
- It is very obvious that this page is about healthy eating, there is a picture menu with good pictures of different foods with appropriate headings. Hovering the cursor on top of these pictures enlarges the photos and form links. But the “Basics”, “Science” and “Tips” links all bring you to the home page.
- Only about 7% of the home page is visible.
Navigation:
- The links are clearly visible on the page and you can click on the author’s picture on top of page to see a mission statement about herself.
- The other links with photos are good and have good headings such as “Basics”, News”, “Market”, “Science”, “Recipes”, “Tips” and “Random” which are good and lead to relevant information except for 3 as discussed above which bring you to the home page.
- There is then another series of links in at a tab format, these are “Home”, “About”, “Ask Me”, “Contact”, “Goodies” and “Subscribe”.
- There is a site map on the bottom of page and this is clear but it is just a lot of scrolling to get down to it.
Content:
- Some Content is very relevant to a healthy lifestyle and the author has good headings and good bullet points after each heading. Content is written confidently and to a novice healthy eater it sounds plausible.
- There are good pictures of fruit throughout the website which looks clean and fresh and radiates healthy eating.
- When clicking through the different links and looking at the different content it becomes apparent that a lot of the content is repeated over and over.
- There is no FAQ’s to enhance website
- Content seems to be very current as when on the home page the dates are clearly posted to the right of the headings, with some articles being only one day old.
- There is also an archive detailing entries from July 2008 to the current date
- Pages are chunked clearly enough with each different input of information clearly distinguishing itself from the next.
Attractors:
- No Competitions, Special Offers or Freebies.
- On the home page is the eye catching statement “10 Simple Ways To Eat Less Without Noticing” which is thought provoking to the want to be healthy eater.
- When clicked on the link referred to as “Goodies” you are brought to a page where different home ware item which can be bought and paid for securely through amazon.
- When Subscribe link is clicked offering the user 4 different ways to subscribe
Findability:
- URL is not very explanatory as summertomato doesn’t make you suddenly think of healthy eating.
- The following keywords were found in source " Darya Pino, scientist, healthy, eating, tips, foodie, food, San Francisco, healthstyle, diet, local, seasonal, farmers market, blog, recipes, health, all of which seem relevant to website content.
Making Contact:
- When clicked on the “Ask Me” link you are greeted with a page detailing how if you subscribe for $3.99/M0 you get newsletters and 2 free questions per month, Or insert a question into the box on screen and pay a onetime fee of $12.99.
- In the Contact link you are offered to put in your details but to read her guidelines for asking information leaves you a bit uninterested.
Browser Compatibility:
- Screen shot were taken through browsershots.org in FireFox18.0, Safari 6.0 , and Google chrome 23.0
- Screenshot from Google Chrome displays the full page with site map attached to bottom
- Firefox give screen shot with page requiring side scrolling as well as down.
- Safari doesn’t display any of the nice pictures in the menu and picture of author seems faded.
Knowledge of Users:
- Summertomato is not an adaptive website.
- When looking at recipes or certain information on different topics about healthy eating no relevant information is stored.
User Satisfaction:
- Homepage seemed to upload quickly with no issues.
- With links bringing the user to the same content is frustrating.
- Pictures are interesting and relevant to healthy eating with a clearly labelled menu link on top of home page
Other Useful Information:
- Darya (this websites author) is the creator of Summer Tomato, one of TIME's 50 Best Websites of 2011.
Website 4:
First Impressions:
- URL is not very intuitive.
- Download time was very quick,
- Homepage is extremely simple, there are no picture just links on middle of page with a steel like background.
- The page is on full screen with no side scrolling needed but on the middle top of screen is a scroll down window with company logo and contact details.
Navigation:
- Navigation of site is very easy middle of home page 4 links, “Home Page”, “Gloss Foils”, “Matte Foils”, and “Product Spec Sheet”.
- In scroll down window clicking on company name highlighted in green opens outlook for sending an email. Also main logo on middle of screen opens outlook.
Content:
- Clicking Gloss Foils displays the companies gloss foil series in the scroll down window the information is basic and straight to the point.
- Clicking Matte Foils displays the companies Matte foil series in the scroll down window again the information is basic and straight to the point.
- Clicking the Product Spec Sheet brings up a query form to put in certain conditions and get a quotation.
Attractors:
- This Website is very basic. Offers general info about the different foils and a contact form.
Findability:
- The url is long winded with an ending of “.mnsi.net”.
- Keywords found in source are: hot stamping, die, dies, foils, hot stamping foils, printing, foil stamping which are relevant to what the company offers.
- Partners and Affiliate websites are not visible on main page.
Making Contact:
- There is no contact link.
- In the scroll down window the companies address with phone and fax numbers clearly shown
- Clicking the company logos brings up Outlook and clicking Product Spec Sheet allows a detailed query template to be sent.
Browser Compatibility:
- Screen shot were taken through browsershots.org in FireFox18.0, Safari 6.0 , Google chrome 23.0 and Internet explorer 10.0
- The scroll down window on Google chrome seems bigger than on all the rest.
Knowledge of Users:
- Website is very basic and record no user details
User Satisfaction:
- This website is very simply formatted with just the bare minimum of information displayed.
Other Useful Information:
- This website has a counter to display how many visitors to site which is currently at 27770.
- Also tells the user:
- All information found on this web site is the sole property of Imprint Technologies Inc.
- Web Site and graphics designed by Scott Morgan. Excalibur Web Designs 1997.
Website 5: www.centra.ie
First Impressions:
- URL is Good, Short, and very intuitive.
- Download time was quite quick.
- Homepage at first glance seem compact and very user friendly, very few images and main colours used being pink, blue and yellow.
- 100% of homepage fits on screen.
- Small pictures on screen with animation to give the effect of sparkles.
- Moving mouse over top tool bar gives drop down menus with text with a very boxy white background which takes away from the professional first reaction.
Navigation:
- Tool bar gives clear choices with drop down menu offering more detailed links
- There is no site map or search function on this page.
- Navigational links visible on the top tool bars remain for all Centra pages making it easy to navigate through.
- There is no internal links when reading text on pages but there is lots of suitable links dotted on the pages which are easy to see.
Content:
- Content is relevant to the website. At the bottom of the page is a scrolling text detailing different deals offered in all Centra stores.
- There is links to highlight Centra’s involvement in different charities, also a link showing how to buy GAA tickets in your local store.
- Link to glossary of all centra stores and different promotions available.
- There is no FAQ’s on page.
- There is a large window displaying different people who have liked Centra on Facebook.
- Home page is chunked very well with every link clear, all text clearly shown and the page give a real sense of community involvement, by it different links.
Attractors:
- This site has deals of the week clearly displayed on bottom of page.
- When hovering over the “Promo zone” link and clicking on the one and only pop down of smart savings, Up comes a neat display of its weekly 8 page magazine showing all deals in store.
- Also a link introducing a new offer of ready meals for two.
- Some Good External Links provided Links to Events organised in conjunction with centra regarding cancer awareness.
- When “News and Events is clicked up comes some news headlines about centra but the earliest being dated in 2010 it is not very current.
- In the “Sponsorship” link detail of the brand commitment to sponsoring GAA and Rugby camps throughout the country.
Findability:
- URL is straight and to the point with just being centra.ie
- Keywords found in source are centra Ireland nation wide convenience store super market musgrave group local community close fuse graphic design groceries food recipes promotions value healthy living wines franchise.
- Partners and Affiliate websites such as to the “Irish cancer society”, “Action Breast Cancer”, GAA, Facebook and twitter
Making Contact:
- In the “About Centra” link is the link “Contact” when clicked you are presented with an email address to send your comment or query and they will respond as soon as they can.
- In the “Franchises” link is the link “Info” when click displays a Name, Address, Email, Phone and Fax
Browser Compatibility:
- Screen shot were taken through browsershots.org in FireFox18.0, Safari 6.0 , Google chrome 23.0 and Internet explorer 10.0
- Google chrome display is nearly on full screen with easy viewing.
- Firefox displays a very small image on screen, not using the full screen size at all.
- Safari displays page touching the bottom of the screen but not the top.
- Internet explorer displays image well on screen but rolling text on bottom seems distorted and on top of each other.
Knowledge of Users:
- Centra does not have an adaptive website
- Centra keeps no memory of your last visit or any previous visit to highlight content to users.
User Satisfaction:
- Home page did not crash or has not been off-line.
- Links from menu tool bar offers a drop down menu which is very simple with pink writing in a white box which doesn’t have the same quality field as the links on the home page.
- Centras displays good offers in a scrolling text and the magazine type display in the Promo zone link offers a neat way to view a magazine.
Other Useful Information:
- The website offers a health zone but displays very little information
- In the lifestyle link you a wine zone which first ask you to confirm you are eighteen before continuing to see info about wines in stores.
Ranking Order:
1. www.lit.ie
2. summertomato.com
3. www.centra.ie
4. imprint.mnsi.net
5. sixtiespress.co.uk
Explanation:
LIT has been awarded the coveted number 1 spot for its usability, easy function with tool bars and site map. The page had a lot of information when first presented to the user but moving the mouse over the keywords in the tab toolbar, the user is offered with array of links. The information presented is current and relevant reading to students and non-students.
Summertomato receives the number 2 spot for having interesting photos and articles, also a professional looking picture menu. The fact that each page requires so much scrolling is frustrating. The information is repetitive with several links bringing the user to the same page. In her contact details though, she comes across as being rude, in regard to companies sending infographics which really turns all users from sending a response.
Centra offers a good, compact website with a good colour co-ordination which is welcoming and easy on the eye. The tabs in tool bar display a drop down menu which seems a lot simpler that the initial website view. The links bring you to pages in same format as home page and displays a brief report on the selected comment. The links to charities and community sponsorships increase the overall feel of the website.
Imprint is a very small and straight to the point website which displays relevant information regarding the company’s products. All could have been easily fitted to main page without inserting the scrolling window in the top centre of screen. Contact info is displayed with phone number and clicking on company logos open and outlook window for sending questions. The page was simplistic and gave the user enough information without over informing the user about the products.
Sixtiespress is a terrible website its colours were annoying and seemed to be done by someone just picked the most random colours. The website offered little information as regards to the company’s ethos. It took me a long time to understand what it was offering. The only way to order book was to email first with your order and you would be sent an email with a PayPal address. The text was terrible and all over to the left hand side of screen.
Evaluating websites makes you look at different websites grading their content. It is a method that I have never used but often found myself reaching websites and quickly changing site address if there wasn’t a good feel to them. From this exercise I have gained a new insight to the design and display of different sites.