ARTM2210 Intro to Web Design
Just another Intro to… siteArchive for Student Work
review 2
Ideakites uses various horizontal boxes that help brake the page up. They use different shades of red, blue, gray, and white with very little texture. The use of those colors all blend together very well and make for a clean looking web page. Every box has a drop shadow on the bottom. Just by adding the shadows to boxy elements gives the page depth. The boxes also help brake up the individual steps of how they make mobile apps, as the user scrolls from top to bottom. Or if the user doesn’t want to scroll a set of icons near the top-right in a red box indicates to the viewer that they can just click and skip to a step. The click-able box in one the right scrolls down the page and stays in the same place. They gave the red box rounded corners and positioned it vertically so it stands out really good. The red box makes navigating the page even easier. I feel like if the box was any other color it really wouldn’t work because red is a color of compassion and they are showing how to do something that they seem to be passionate about. All of the text in the rectangles is easy to read. There is a big and bold title separated by a horizontal line then smaller text underneath the line explaining something. As you go from top to bottom you learn about what they do then how they do it and how to contact them. It is very simple and to the point when you read every thing. The website over all you can tell was thought out and put together very well.
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Review – Single Page Website
Katie Withrow
The website, Viagon.com, is a very simple and clear website to understand. The site successfully uses color and texture. It also, is easy to navigate through the page and has good readability.
The texture on the site is almost unnoticeable; it appears to be extremely small granite. This works for the site, because if a texture was too noticeable, it may be difficult to read what is shown. Also, the texture works well with the topic of the site, which is, a digital agency to help those in business increase their business, lower their costs, and gain new customers. The texture gives a soft feel to the site, and yet the font is crisp and everything on the site has order. There is not much color on Viagon.com, but the colors used are appropriate. Besides the images on the site, the colors used include, white, an off red, different shades of black, and a shade of blue. The off red, and shade of blue, are used in the Viagon logo, and are used to highlight important topics and words on the site. The different shades of black are used as the background. At the top of the site, the picture of the Viagon office is very bright, but when you scroll down, the background is a light black, almost gray color. As you continue to scroll down, the shades of black become darker. This, I believe is used to separate the various sections of the page. The color white is the color used on most of the words on the site. The white lettering, stands out against the black backgrounds, and catches the users eye. All the colors used, I believe compliment each other and work well to enhance the website’s design.
The Viagon website provides two extremely easy ways to navigate through the page. The first way to navigate through the page is by scrolling down to the end of the page, than scrolling up to get back to the top of the page. This particular website is not very long; therefore, scrolling on this page does not take very long. The second way to navigate through this site is by clicking the tabs in the top right corner. Each tab will take the user to the corresponding section. The block with the tabs does not disappear when scrolling or clicking the tabs to go to another section. The tabs stay with the user, which is extremely helpful to go to a new section or back to the top of the page without having to scroll up or down. The “blog” tab on this page; however, navigates you away to a page that is not available due to “renovations.” In order to get back to the home page the user must click the blue hyperlink that is in a different language. Since this part of the site was in a different language, it was difficult to understand. Otherwise, the site is a great example of successful user navigation.
Some of the design elements that make the site easy to understand include, size, contrast, and balance. The size of the font is large enough to read without having to get real close to the computer. Also, when a larger font size is used, the user knows that is the topic of what the user is about to read. The smaller font indicates the description of a particular section. The contrast between the white font and black background works well with the site. The white stands out against the black and allows the user to easily see and read what is on the site. The layout of the entire site is very balanced. The text and smaller pictures throughout the Viagon site help balance the very large picture at the top of the site. Also, the pictures and text are aligned where both they complement each other and look proportional.
The Viagon site is an excellent example of layout in web design. The site is easy to navigate and understand. Although not many colors are used, the ones that are used stand out and help the site look presentable. The words and pictures are easy to read and see, and stand out against the black background. I believe the Viagon site is very successful in all aspects of design.
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Single Page Review
http://www.alessandromodesti.com/
For the single page review, I chose to look at a website designed by Alessandro Modesti, which was featured on One Page Love. One of the first things that catch your attention is the design that you first see on the page which has a lot of nature influence as well as man made. The color scheme for the website is mainly blue and white, which also adds to the natural feeling of the layout. The texture of it is very simple and subtle so it’s not really overwhelming or too plain-like him using a very vibrant background full of texture versus him using just a plain blue, so I think he balanced that out very well. To navigate through the page, you scroll down with your mouse, nothing moves down with the page so it is not as interactive as some others might be. The website is easy to read and understand because even though it is only a one page layout, the sections that he divided it up as aren’t “crammed” together which makes it flow really nicely. There is also not a lot of text on the page and whatever text there is, is in a bigger font so it is more readable. I like how on the pictures on the page, when you highlight something they turn yellow which I think is a really cool and unique thing to do instead of it just being the usual hover and click and nothing happens. He also provided little button links that link to each different section-personally, I would have chosen to make the buttons have text to what they are linking to on that page instead of numbers, but that is just my preference.
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Readymag.com review
by Milt Chatzimouratidis
The demo issue of Readymag.com uses plenty of color and sometimes texture, an original –but also very simple– navigation framework, and sophisticated animation techniques to deliver a visually stunning, result without excessive loading time. The starting section is dominated by a stunning photograph of a stellar system and a Java animation of the words “hello web”. It uses a simple arrow to point to the second part that is strictly dedicated to demonstrating the navigation mechanism, has a textured blue background, and lacks bells and whistles. In the third section we encounter a light blue gradient background and an interesting circular animation that reveals the text. Even though this is probably one of the weakest parts visually, it is still quite efficient in capturing the user’s attention and displaying inventiveness and originality. The next step brings us to a demo about the use of audio-visual techniques and animations as aids for storytelling. Probably the most colorless step, having a light grey gradient in the background that does not steal focus from the stylish animated control button in the middle. The next part uses a Java space travel background that adds texture and dynamics to the specific section. The middle composition, captivating and stylish again, uses color, high contrast, and typeface simplicity to allude to the variety and usefulness of the tools provided. The next step is dedicated to illustrating some of them and is the first one with vertical scrolling. The layout is very tidy and color – or the lack of it – is used to emphasize and illustrate the above mentioned tools’ function. The following step has an interactive video background with CSS tag links to each one of the team members, again, no clutter, swift loading, and tidy layout. The last step brings us contact information using a CSS color rotation class in the background and simple typefaces. The navigation throughout the whole webpage is based on the scrolling app at the bottom of the page and requires simply dragging and dropping a circle shape.
Overall a very clean and effective webpage that uses color and animation wisely and always remains focused on the message it attempts to convey. The authors promise a revolution in web publishing and looking at the finished product it certainly feels that way.
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Monthly Review 2
The website http://photoshopetiquette.com/ is very interesting to look at. The design is very simple and easy to navigate through. The entire page just scrolls down and each section are in bold font, so it stands out against the subtitles. Although the site is split into different sections as one scrolls down, there is unity throughout the page. For example, the font is the same typeface throughout, but the sizes of the subheadings are smaller than the headings. This shows visual hierarchy between the different sizes of font. Furthermore, the colors are all the same tint. The rule of thirds was used effectively in the website because all of the information is formatted in the middle, and there is equal negative space on either side. Therefore, the site is very balanced. Repetition is used a great amount throughout the page, as well. For instance, there is a dotted line that is repeated throughout the entire site. Also, there is emphasis on the heading for each section with the dotted line, which makes them look isolated.
Next, the colors of the Photoshop Etiquette page flow very well and go together effectively. When the page is first open, the first section is very monochromatic, but as one scrolls down through the website, the colors begin to change into a triadic color scheme. The first part of the page that is seen when the site is open is different blues and white. The color blue makes the reader feel at ease, while as if the designer would have made the first page red, the user would have felt alarmed or cautioned. Moreover, the white title on the first section of the page is the dominant color and shows power against the subtitle in light blue underneath it. The background color changes from light to dark and back to light throughout the page, which is a subtle texture. This effectively gives the site depth as the reader scrolls through it. In addition, when the background switches color, the text changes color. The changing colors helps make each section isolated from the others.
Not only are the colors helping make the page successful, the recognizable shapes before each section show the reader what they will be looking at next. For example, the picture before the images section is a picture of the icon for pictures. There are icons on the left side of each subsection to read the information for that section, along with a twitter button below to “re-tweet” that section for others to see.
As a whole, this website works and is visually appealing. It has a large amount of information within it, and it is not busy. The creator keeps the design simple and uses triadic and monochromatic colors to emphasize depth and separate each section. The familiar shapes enhance the site and preview what information will be in the sections. The typeface is easy to read, and the format of the site is well organized. Overall, this website efficiently follows all of the design principles in an attractive way.
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Extra Credit: Facebook Accurately Predicts Job Performance
Katie Withrow
9/24/2012
My Facebook profile, as of now, is not very exciting. I have little information about my interests and myself. Originally, I thought the less information the better; those who look at my profile will not find much and cannot “creep” on me. I do not post any statuses, but I do post many pictures. Those who are my friends, however, are the only people who can look at my pictures; I keep my entire Facebook private unless you are friends with me.
After reading “Facebook Profiles Accurately Predict Job Performance”, I would update my profile and make it more exciting in order to get my dream job. I would make my profile less private, but still not for everyone to see. I would also, write more about my interests and myself. As for the statuses, I would only post something if I was doing productive things, or traveling; I would not post what I was doing at every moment, or my thoughts on random things. I will always continue to post pictures as long as I believe they are appropriate for others to see and does not reflect a negative view of myself. Those are the only changes I would make to my Facebook profile in order to get my dream job.
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Extra Credit:Facebook
With social networking becoming more dominant in today’s society, many people are now concerned about what you post online and how it could possibly effect your future. For me, if I was applying for a job, one of the first things I would do before I even put any applications in, is go through my facebook posts from the past few months and delete anything that could cause a red flag. I think that this would be important, especially for partying pictures, because even though it’s normal for that, if there are too many pictures, I think that that’s when it would reflect badly because you would be giving the impression that all you do is get drunk and got out. Another thing that I would do is make most of my profile private, although I am unsure about whether or not privacy settings matter when it comes to employers searching your profile? Unless you have something completely outrageous posted on Facebook(which I would never do anyways, regardless of whether or not I was applying for job) I don’t think that it will necessarily discourage employers from hiring you, I think that they just use facebook to get a very general overview of who you are as a person, I think a lot of employers still rely heavily on the ever true face to face interview methods that have always worked. I believe that until there are thousands of tests across everyone on Facebook and employers and how job performance can relate to Facebook and what you post, this will not be such a huge concern. I think it is important to just be smart about everything you post on Facebook, whether it is a picture or a status, and just use good judgment.
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Facebook Extra Credit
Facebook profiles reflect who people are. This social network showcases activities people are involved in, they friends they have, and an overall biography of themselves. This can be a positive or negative aspect because employers can look at applicants and judge them based on what is on their Facebook.
My Facebook profile can be improved in many ways for when employers to evaluate it. To start, some of my pictures with my friends can be taken off because in we are intoxicated in a few. Plus, some of the pictures I am tagged in are inappropriate because there is alcohol in them.
I traveled a lot this summer, so I should create separate albums for each of the places in my pictures. This would show employers that I am willing to travel and adventurous. Also, I would go into my information section and add more accomplishments and goals. For instance, I would add in all of the community service I have done and where they were located, along with what I plan to accomplish in the future. I would list my hobbies and activities I participate in to show that I am very well rounded, as well. Another aspect I would work on is organizing my profile better, so when companies look at my page, everything I want them to see is easy to find.
Overall, having a good Facebook page is very important in getting a job. People need to make sure there is a lot of information about themselves in their “About Me” section to help employers understand them better and have appropriate pictures.
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Bi-Weekly Review 1: Musician’s Friend
After reading chapter 1 of “Don’t Make Me Think”, I’ve come to recognize many of the features that major eCommerce sites utilize to streamline the online shopping process. My most recent experience with this came over the weekend, when I shopped online via the site Musiciansfriend.com.
I was searching for new bass strings, specifically from the brand DR. At first glance, the site’s home page was laid-out very cleanly. Across the top of the site is the main menu, where the user can decide which department of the site they wish to visit. These options include Shop, which also has a sub menu for what type of musical gear the user wishes to shop for; Deal Center, which is full of sale/bargain-priced items; and Used Gear, which is full of previously-owned gear. The top menu also has tabs for Videos, where users can watch video demos/reviews of various musical gear, and resources, where they can go to access shopping resources like buying guides and product reviews. Depending on what the user is looking for, this top menu is the start of the shopping process. Since I was looking for new bass strings, I looked under the shopping tab, and clicked on the sub-tab for “Bass”. From there, I was taken to a strictly bass page, where various categories were listed along the left side. Upon my first glance at the page, everything looked to be catered towards buying full-on bass guitars, not just the strings. After a bit of inspection on the page, I determined that I wouldn’t be finding a link to bass strings anywhere. I thought for a bit, then decided to instead look under the “Accessories” sub-tab of the main menu, since I guess strings could be considered an accessory. When I dragged the mouse over the tab, a drop-down menu appeared. Among the options in this menu, I saw “Strings”. This feature allowed me to go straight to the string section, without having to search through the accessories page. Once there, I found “Bass Guitar Strings” among the categories listed along the left side, and clicked on it. I was taken to yet another similar page, with categories along the side, and where I could narrow my product search by brand, price range, and customer rating. Knowing that I was looking for DR brand strings, I chose that option along the side and watched as the products listed dwindled down to only those made by DR. I found the specific set I wanted, clicked on the corresponding thumbnail image, and was taken to a page with the price, product descriptions, links to user reviews, and a boldly-colored red and white button that read “Add To Cart”. I clicked the button, and was taken to a page showing me the items in my cart. The page also gave me the options to “Edit Cart” or “Proceed To Checkout”. I was done shopping, so I clicked the latter option.
I won’t bore you with any more play-by-play of my use of this website (I’m quite confident that you know what goes into the checkout process, etc.). What I will do, however, is dish out my criticisms of the site. The site as a whole is a mixed bag. The front page of the site, although fairly clean and easy to navigate, is often dominated by images of current deals and specials. Call me biased, but bass-related items hardly ever make it to this section, so that entire demographic of users can feel alienated by this practice (“We’re not cool enough to see what we want on the front page, so we have to dig for it…”). Which brings me to the actual search process: it’s too complicated for the average person to use with confidence. I’ve been playing bass for almost a decade, and this wasn’t my first time ordering strings online. The natural, “not-thinking” process for me was to search for what I wanted on the page related to its instrument, and I was stumped for a moment when I was unable to find it there. If I was stumped, then someone with no experience shopping for that item likely would’ve been clueless and may have gone to another site to continue looking. This aspect of the site’s organization and search process was sub-par, but directly searching for a product with the search bar on the site’s homepage seems to work far better. Simply searching for “DR bass strings” brings the user to the page that took me nearly 2 minutes to locate.
On the whole, the site doesn’t do a great job of catering to shoppers. Somebody with a dead-set idea of what they want could make great use of the site, but someone without such concrete information such as a brand name (somebody shopping for a gift, for example) could search page after page before finding something of interest. This was my first time ordering online through this site, and the amount of time it took me to find something as simple as bass strings means it’ll be my last time as well.
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Bi-weekly review 1: Zappos
I chose Zappos for my bi-weekly review. Zappos is mainly a clothing site but they also sell shoes bags accessories beuty supplies glasses and outdoor supplies. But they leave jewelry and sporting goods off their main navigation bar for appearance. They are listed in a drop-down menu when you click the last button on the main nav-bar.
The color scheme of off-white with blue text and search bars is pleasing. They also give the option to alphabetically search by brand name which seems pretty original. The layout is simple. There are a few big important buttons that offer sales, different categories at the top and category by gender on the left. Just at the botton third of the screen they have reccommendations from your personal history. I looked for hockey hats and they guessed I was a man and gave me 6 choices besides what I wanted and there are orange “sale” tags that hang near the items if there’s a sale.
In the top right corner they show FREE shipping and their vague 1 year return policy which if you click on offers some fine print and a handy little youtube video to show you how to return items if you’re unable to read.
The more important buttons; sale, shopping cart, and search, are all a big bright orange and you can’t miss them. I dislike that the search font is italic because it seems like I am just writing the title of books like “Quebec Nordiques Hat” which I would read.
Once you find the item you need, the page has a picture of it modeled by a mannequein and dominates the page. The font color of important buttons like “add to cart” is changed from the can’t miss orange to a subdued green. I guess they think they already have you hooked and they dont need to shout anymore. To the left of the item are interesting options for item information, similar items, and also a page of info about the brand. customer reviews are very prominent below along with a column at the bottom right for recommended items.
After you select add to cart you’re directed to a page that shows your entire cart, more reccommended items and the important buttons return to the bright orange color. You’re given the option to change the quantity of your items and also to remove or add them to your favorites. The price is shown in large font.
Overall I like the layout of Zappos more than many of the other shopping sites. It’s minimalist with only few colors. The option to search by brand with a few recommended items prominently displayed makes it easy to navigate and is never jarring to look at.
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Bi-Weekly Review – Newegg
Evan Phillips
Newegg.com
Being a student who is aspiring to be in the Graphic Design field, technology is a major importance. Staying up to date with upcoming programs and gadgets is a necessity. Newegg is a site that has the best of both those worlds. They are a technically savvy website with all kinds of the latest gizmos you could want.
Upon entering the site you will notice the basics. The search bar is located neatly at the top and center of the page, making it easy at first glance to be able to search right away what it is you’re looking for. The design of the site is set up in three major vertical paths. The first path down the left most side of the site is where you’ll find all the major categories the site has to offer. For example computer hardware, PC’s & Laptop’s and Electronics are the first three categories in this list to name a few. The second and third vertical paths is where you’ll find all the sites deals, along with the top rated and top viewed items recently added to the site now on sale.
The product I decided I would be purchasing would be a new TV. From the home page I went over to my first vertical column and dragged the mouse over Electronics. This in turn extended a box from the word Electronics, which neatly had all the different assortment of Electronics I might want to purchase. Televisions was the first option so I clicked it which took me to a similar page such as the home page, but this time along the left side were different types of TV’s I might want to purchase. I clicked on the LED TV button which took me to the page for all the LED TV’s the site had to offer. After rifling through a barrage of sizes, resolution choices and price along the left side of the page I came across the TV for me.
Adding the TV to my shopping cart was as simple as clicking a big bright orange button that said “Add To Cart”. The screen following this was a suggestive one of things I might need for my TV. Such as a wall mount, power cord or even a satellite antenna just in case I planned to take my TV onto an RV. I found this very help because if I hadn’t seen those items I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about them. Also on this same page was an extended warranty you could purchase for one to four years of the TV’s life that covered anything happening to it. This was another thing that otherwise would have just passed over my head without any thought.
Directly underneath the warranty section is “View Shopping Cart” button, clicking it takes you to your shopping cart for checkout. On the checkout page they go as far to provide you with a shipping cost calculator. I found this extremely helpful because clearly not everyone is from the same place on earth, so someone who lives closer to Newegg’s shipping head-quarters is clearly going to pay less then someone who lives maybe half way around the world. Past this you are either required to pay through “PayPal” or create an account through Newegg’s site. This was by far the worst thing the site did. Who wants to go through a whole checkout process then have to create an account? Not me. Although once you have done so you are clearly to put your payment method in and you’ll see your item in the shipping parameters you have chosen.
Newegg being a strictly Electronics based website was in my opinion not bad to navigate through. It wasn’t like going on Amazon and buying a book that for sure, but I would rather them be stricter and have more steps so you know exactly what you’re paying for. Now having said that I do feel the site could bring the steps down though a lot more. They could compact more specifics into drop boxes therefore not having so much visual clutter for the mind to wonder around the page so much. All and all the page is visual pleasing with subtle color pages on more important features, which in turn leads your mind where it needs to go before you think about it.
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Bi-Weekly Review, American Eagle
This assignment to review the navigation of an online store comes at the perfect time because not only do I need pants, but it’s also Labor Day weekend, which means sales. I’ve chosen to shop American Eagle’s website.
Upon entering the site one can find options between their store and their affiliates (American Eagle Outfitters, Aerie, 77Kids, AEO Factory) at the top of the page. Below that are tabs for Men, Women, Clearance, etc. At the base of the page are your standard customer service options including shipping, returns, orders, credit cards and policies. And although I came to this site with the express purpose of purchasing pants, I am distracted by the big clickable “30% off + free shipping” in the center of page and begin exploring my options.
After digressing for a fair twenty minutes I return to the home page, click “Women,” choose “Jeans” from the easy to read side bar and am directed to an interactive catalogue of different styles. Rolling over each style with my cursor I can scroll through all of the available fits without clicking through a thousand pages. This makes the shopping experience must easier and faster. After adding a pair to my cart the item appears at a bar at the bottom of the page so I can conveniently monitor anything I add to my cart.
Having shopped there before I knew American Eagle’s site would be easy to navigate. All the images and keywords are linked and clickable. The fonts are bold and readable, and the color palette is simplistic and clean.
In all, the American Eagle shopping experience is convenient, fun, and (this weekend) affordable.
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Justin Yaras: Bi-Weekly Review – American Apparel
I actually recently just bought a few things from American Apparel a few weeks ago and thought it was actually fairly simple to purchase things.
The first thing that you have to do when you go to their website is to pick your country, simple enough. Then there are a number of categories that you can pick from like, Men, Women, Kids & Babies, etc. Then within those categories there are the time of garments like T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, Pants etc.
Now it’s time to pick the items you want. Just click on the item you want, color, size and then add to cart. Then go through the motions of buying whatever you want to buy.
I think they have an amazing website to buy stuff from because it’s fairly simple to use and it’s very straight forward. I also like the fact that they have a “Locate Item at a Nearby Store” where you just simply put in your zip code and it will tell you if they have that specific item at a store close to you so you can go to the store to pick it up rather than spending the extra money on shipping and tax. I wish more places had a feature like this. It might make things a lot easier and cheaper for consumers.
However I wish that that in their cart screen that they had a more visible remove button but that can easily be overlooked buy the fact that it’s so simple to purchase things from there.
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Bi-weekly review: Netflix.com
It’s been a while now since I started using Netflix. Being a big fan of cinematography, I became interested in creating an account almost as I first moved to the US. After my first visit, I have to admit, I was fairly disappointed, mainly by the structure and layout of the whole site. It seemed chaotic and cluttered beyond belief. It certainly took some time to digest the flood of information of the first page.
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Overstock.com by Latiyfa Whitehead
For the purpose of this review I decided to search for the Star Wars Trilogy at Overstock.com. I chose this particular website because I was unfamiliar with it and I believed it would give me a fresher, less biased perspective.
The website itself was very clean with crisp designs and boxes at the top that helped you navigate the website. One quibble I had was that the navigation boxes were a beige color which were not as noticeable as other sections which were red or blue. For example, the search bar had a bright red button that grabbed your attention, which the designers could have used for the other navigation buttons.
Speaking of the search button, I found it convenient and easy, which made up for the navigation buttons. It didn’t force you to specify where you wanted to go like some websites do. You could type in what you wanted and it would find the items that were the closest to your search. Instead it gave you options to specify your search after you searched for your item. I assume that this is just in case you can’t find it right away. I searched for the Star Wars Trilogy and found it in seconds.
Purchasing a product was made easy by the shopping cart symbol at the top right hand corner of the page, and by the fact that you don’t need an account to purchase something. Some websites force you to create an account, which means that if you want to buy something once you have go through the tedium of signing your name, entering your personal information and making a password. So all in all, it was an impressive website.
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Bi-Weekly Review 1: Charlotte Russe
One of my favorite stores to shop at, both online and in store, has always been Charlotte Russe. In my opinion, I believe that this particular website, from having shopped a lot online, is one of the easiest to navigate in terms of finding items online. To start, right as soon as you go to the website, www.charlotterusse.com, over a bright pink banner that automatically draws your eye to it, is a list of all the different major categories of items they sell, including one for the newest items, clothes, shoes, and accessories. Once you hover over any category, a subcategory is displayed underneath it with all the different sections. For the item I was looking for, a blouse, it was really simple to find that section instead of searching through all the tops. Once on the “Tops” page, there is a menu to the left which gives you all the different categories of tops they sale, including Blouses. While all explained out, it seems as if the process of navigating to the page I needed to get to is a lot longer than it was. When in reality, it maybe took me less than 10 seconds to get to where I needed to be. After reading the pages assigned to us this week and having a little more knowledge on how users actually use the web, I believe that this is definitely one website that doesn’t make you think. Everything is appropriately named and through the subcategories and different options underneath the menu to the left on every page(type of top, size, color), navigating this website allows you to focus on EXACTLY what you are searching for, and not thinking “Okay, how do I get here? Where does this link take me? How can I find this?” all it takes is really just a second to find the type of item you are looking for, which is especially useful if you see it in store, but don’t for whatever reason buy it, you can easily find it online.
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Bi-Weekly Review 1
Shopping for products online has become very popular because no one has to leave their house to get what they want anymore. I rely on online shopping sometimes because I do not have the time to go out and get what I need.
My favorite website to shop on is Zumba.com. I teach Zumba, and this site is the easiest way to get the latest gear. Plus, since I have an instructor account on the site, I receive discounts on all of the clothes.
Zumba.com is very easy to navigate around. All of the icons to click on are displayed at the top of the screen and light up when the mouse is hovering over them. There is an icon at the top that specifically says “shop”. Once clicked on, the website navigates to a page where the products are organized on the left by the subtitles “men” and “women.” Within those subtitles, there are icons to navigate to new arrivals, tops, bottoms, footwear, and on-sale items.
I chose the “new arrivals” link under the women’s section and found a top that I liked. When I clicked on the top, it linked me to a new page that showed a review of the item, comments left by other people who bought the shirt, the color, size, and number of shirts I wanted. Once I went through all of the criteria on the page, I clicked the “add to cart” button at the bottom of the page. From there I was easily able to put in my credit card and shipping information and order the shirt.
Overall, the Zumba website is very appealing. There are many colors, shapes, and textures in everything including the background, tabs to click on, and the logos. On the main page of the site there is a slideshow that automatically scrolls to showcase their major products. The slideshow is very convenient because if a customer sees something they are interested in, they can click on it in the slideshow. Also, if anyone has questions or comments their contact information is all at the bottom of the website.
Zumba.com is a great website for me to quickly find and buy products. Everything is very easy to find, and the website is interesting to look at. Consumers use Zumba.com often because it is convenient to buy products.
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Bi-Weekly Review 1-Treat
I chose to do my BI-WEEKLY Review on Treat.com.
Treat is a greeting card company that is very user friendly. When you visit the website it has a very basic layout to it. Treat has five catergories that at the top of the page that are in big white letters with a purple background. Once you select a catergory it has a drop down box and it has a lists of what kind of occassion it is and who it is for for example, for her or him if you want it to be funny or not. If you can’t find what you are looking for they have a search box that you can use to look up what you want.
With Treat you can sign in with your Facebook that way you will get notifications when it is your friends birthday and you can send them a card so you don’t have to keep putting in your friends birthday.
You can pick out a card that you like and you can personalize it, you can change the wording, font and color and you can also add photos to your card. Everytime you want to add something or upload a photo a box appears with instructions on what you are suppose to do and how many characters you can put and what the size of the image has to be. Once you done personalizing your card you click on the big purple button that has delivery on it once yur done previewing it. Treat asks you who the card is being sent to and when you want it delivered by. Click the add to basket and it shows you what your card looks like to make sure everything is right on it.Treat is a very userfriendly website and they give you step by step directions on how to do everything. It makes it easy to complete a purchase on the website.
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Katie Withrow – Overstock.com
Overstock is a user-friendly and easy to understand website that is not limited to users who want to shop. The site has a Car search, Travel search, Insurance Search, and B2B (Business to Business) search. The prices on Overstock are also very affordable.
When you first enter the site the search box is at the top center of the page. Under the search box are various categories. One could choose to search for an item under a certain category or you can search “All Departments”, which means you are searching for items in all of the categories.
The item I chose to search was an iPod touch. Many iPod touches were displayed along with accessories to go with the iPod touch. To the left of the items being displayed is a smaller search box that reads, “Search within”. This means the user can narrow their search by choosing a price range, color, brand, and ratings. Once the user chooses an item that may be worth buying, it is very simple to read the details on the item and see customer reviews. There are two options with each product; you can click “quick view” or “View full details and reviews”. The “quick view” option will give you the price, summary, and minor details. The “View full details and reviews” option will take you to the full page of details on the product, customer reviews, shipping and returns, and product Q&As. At this point in the process the user can add the product to their cart and either “continue to check out” or “shop more”. If you are not ready to check out, Overstock will hold the product in your cart until you are ready to check out. It will also add other items you choose to add to your cart without losing the product/s already placed in your cart.
When you are ready to check out, you either create a new account or enter your username and password if you already have an account. Signing up a new account is simple. You enter your full name and full address that the bill will be sent too than enter the address where you want the items to be shipped to. If the address you entered as your billing address is the same as the shipping than there is a box you can click that reads, “My shipping address is the same as my billing address.” After that is complete, at the bottom of the page is where you enter your credit card information. Than you click “Submit Order Now”. Once you review all the information you entered you confirm the order. You than will receive confirmation of your order and be given an estimated arrival date.
Overstock is very simple to use and is easy to learn how the website works after one use, I would recommend this site to anyone.
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Bi-weekly 1 (Laura Keefer)
I chose to go on Best Buy’s website to look at video cameras. The search bar is in the top left of the navigation bar and if easy to see, right next to the company’s logo. Below the search bar are four drop down menus, Products, Services, Shops & Deals and gifts. By hovering over the Products menu, a list appears including TV & Home Theater, Audio & MP3, Mobile Phones, Cameras and Camcorders, and Movies & Music among others. I hovered over the Cameras and Camcorders link and was given several more options including Digital Cameras, Digital SLR Cameras, Camcorders, Memory Cards and resources for people who need assistance with their cameras.
After clicking the Camcorders link, I’m redirected to a page that featured the camcorders on sale, along the left hand side is a column where I can choose what kind of camcorder I’d like to shop for, I choose the High-Definition Camcorders link and have 146 cameras shown to me on 10 pages. From here, I can narrow the selection by brand, price and optical zoom. I choose to look at the brand with the most available cameras, Sony. The selection is lowered to 24 cameras, and from there I choose to narrow my price field from $250 to $499.99, leaving me seven cameras. I choose the Sony HDR-PJ200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder, which costs $439.99. I can either click the camera’s link or add it directly to my cart by clicking a large yellow price tag that is next to every link. I add it directly to the cart and can choose to go to my cart and pay or to add their suggested accessories to my cart as well.
The Best Buy website is very easy to use and user friendly. I liked that, at the check out feature, I was given the option to purchase additional memory cards and other accessories, including a carrying bag and tripod, for the camcorder.
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Imagining Peace
The website http://imaginepeace.com/ has a giant banner on its front page which takes up more than half of my screen and depicts a hills with a car parked next to a giant beam of light reaching into the sky, with quotations from John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the left. I do not know what the picture is supposed to represent exactly so the only the quotes are conveying any meaning to me. They describe the site as the ‘biggest online peace event’. This is too vague for me to understand exactly what the website is for. Under ‘what can I do?’ all of the suggestions are just ways to advertise the website.
Below the picture of the hills is a section of the screen devoted to actual content of the website such as advertisements for Yoko Ono’s music and updates on projects she is working on. This section of the screen is smaller than the picture at the top of the screen, which seems rather backwards. Shouldn’t the content of the site get more space than the title? Below this there is a link to the Apple App store so that you can send the website a picture of yourself smiling and your location in the world. In Yoko’s words, this is because “My ultimate goal in film-making is to make a film which includes a smiling face snap of every single human being in the world”. Thanks to the rates at which old people die and babies are born, this goal is obviously impossible, so whatever. The bottom of the screen provides links to Yoko Ono’s Facebook and Twitter.
The background of the site is a picture of the clouds, which is a constant among every page of the site. Everything else is presented in self-contained boxes, which can scroll while the clouds stay still. This leads to a consistant visual style that lets me know this is all part of the same website. The site is relatively simple and easy to navigate, so it gets points for that. Also some pages are programmed to play Lennon and/or Ono music as long as you stay on the site, which is a nice feature I guess.
The site is navigated by a horizontal menu bar with vertical scroll-over lists of content below the picture of the hills (a search bar is also provided for us here too). The manifesto/FAQ tell us that “Together, we are creating a world of Peace, Love and Freedom, all while the negative forces try their hardest to stop us,” And that “The way we are doing it is by being conscious of the ‘Power of Togetherness.’” That’s about as in-depth as the website gets, so frankly I do not know what this site is for. I guess it looks fine visually, but I really do not know how Yoko intends to bring about world peace.
WAR IS OVER is one project that has its own page on this website. It’s just a bunch of posters that say ‘war is over’ in tons of different languages that Yoko encourages us to print out and hang up all over the place. Obviously war isn’t over, so I don’t get it. Finally, the last option on the menu directs us to a page that has information on various charities that you can give to. This is the first thing I’ve seen on the website that actually does any tangible good as far as I can tell, and I had to go to the very end of the menu to reach it. That’s not good placement.
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Final Review
For my final review i am comparing my website to thegreatflu.com. While the great flu is a game it is difficult to find a comparable website to a zombie awareness one. The great flu could be interpreted as an awareness tool. It gives the user options on what to do and what to distribute in order to stem the expanding flu. The player can distribute gas masks, education, and even release a vaccine after playing the game long enough. This could be used as a way to show what is needed in the case of any kind of viral or bacterial infection could let loose. Which ties in well with my website which talks about what is needed and what is useful for the zombie apocalypse; which would be caused by something viral or bacterial. Considering that it is never said what the flu truly is it could be interpreted as the zombie flu. Seeing as how two zombies in pop culture are from the rage virus and the green virus this is very possible. This also gives the player the view of a government that is trying to save the population from dieing. This game gives a good view of the other side of what the apocalypse would be like.
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Guerrilla Girls…. NOT!
First things first, the name of the site is Guerrilla Girls and the tag line is included right in the logo which helps its audience identify what the site is about. As Krug mentioned in one of our readings… nothing beats a good tagline!
Moving forward, looking at each page, they stayed with a very basic structure throughout which helps to keep the navigation simple. While the navigation is simple, the site is not interactive; it’s more like a newsletter as there is a wealth of information displayed on each page. There are no links that carry you away from the website and there is only one-way to navigate throughout and that is the menu bar.
Next, the use of colors they used to create the site are very basic but the header colors are vibrant and eye catching. According to Principles of Beautiful Web Design, color is very important. The color lime green represents excitement, motivation, anticipation, money prosperity, hope, growth, luck and employment. The color purple, which goes good with green means thought, universal identity and oriented to self-knowledge. While the colors speak volumes, the combinations of the lime, purple, grey, red and black do not work for me. It is too much variety and it looks pretty hideous, less is more!
When talking about texture, there are very small amounts of texture on each page. Some of the animations add texture, some of the titles add texture but for the most part, the site is pretty flat. There isn’t even texture with the use of fonts as the font is pretty tiny and there is a lot of it which seems a little overwhelming to me. The site is more like a big Facebook page. The use of imagery is lacking as well… the site is just boring!
Overall, I am not fascinated with this site at all. Although it is easy to navigate and there is a wealth of information listed within it, it’s ugly and lacks interaction
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Bi-Weekly 4
For my final bi-weekly review the website iSideWith.com was used. At first look at the site, the site has a nice blue texture in the background which helps bring out everything. One thing, the site has is a test you can take which takes your political views and compares them to all the candidates that are running in the election. When I took the test, my results for the candidate was Ron Paul. It compares what other people in your state agree with what candidate also. The site has a lot of articles about the candidates as well.
I think the test is an excellent way for people to start getting involved with the election, but the site does not really have what the candidates stand for at hand. For people who do not want to read the articles will maybe bypass the site to find another that meets their needs.
The design and layout is a nice easy layout for the viewers to navigate the site. The blue background is a nice color that does not draw the viewer away from the site. Over all the site works well with the test, but getting easy information about the candidates might have the viewer frustrated in all the articles of reading.
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Last Bi-weekly review
For this weeks bi-weekly review the site assigned to me was yesiamprecious.com. First, the objective of the site was to raise money to fight cancer, donating all profits to LIVESTRONG. The main function of the site was to track the progress of Precious(bike) and Janeen(rider) on the 4,410 mile ride across America. Team Fatty equipped Precious with an on-board brain to record temperature, humidity, speed, cadence, grade, direction, and roadkill. They also provide a video to show how the brain was built and used.
The layout of the site is mainly a two-column spread with one row of statistics in the middle of the page. The colors of the site coordinate with the colors of the bike. The colors scheme uses earth tones of gray, black, and bronze-orange. There is a texture to the site, which I believe to be cement. An image of a beach with the sun setting is the absolute background, perhaps representing reaching the west coast. For me the visual hierarchy takes me right to bike first then to the map and statistics. Overall the site is simple and sweet for a one page site.
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Final bi-weekly review
For my final bi-weekly review i was assigned a website involved with staying active, which goes along with the one i’m creating. The overall set-up of the site is pretty good at first glance. The color scheme goes good, blue and green. It makes the site have a lively feeling, which goes along with what the site is about. Some of the text is pretty creative in that they use a graffiti style, which I find really cool because that is the style I’m into. It goes along with the feel of the site, usually, skaters and other extreme sport athletes have that certain street, hip style.
As for format, it is well designed, everything is laid out right in front of you and is very easy to navigate. On the homepage, they have pictures that change between several photos, which is a good idea so it’s not just a plane looking site. Although there is no texture, the site still works because of everything else. The white background and the colors and text all work together to make the site visually interesting.
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bi weekly review
For this weeks Bi-weekly review I have chosen the website Adultbicycling.com. The website coordinates with the site that I am creating in that it highlights the health benefits and safety tips. The site provides several links to other cycling articles and directions to some of the local trails and bike paths in the area. The site is only three colors. White, grey, and several shades of green. I feel that the green was a nice touch simply based on the fact that bikes are eco-friendly. The navigation is very simple and in the standard top fixed position. This site is not very large making the navigation very easy to work through the site. Adult Bicycling does have some texture to the background of the site. It seems to be watermarked gears for a bike. It does a good job of breaking up the solid green.
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Zombie websites
The website i chose to compare to my final website was the center for diesase control’s zombie awareness page. There isn’t much to the page as it is just a simple article. It isn’t very flashy or interesting but it does get the point across. That point is of course zombie awareness. The CDC gives the reader many examples of what to do during a possible outbreak. This advice of course also transfers over to any natural disater or other kind of outbreak. Things such as keeping canned goods and keeping bottled water available. They also talk about meeting points and where to go if something happens. It also gives a brief history of zombies and possible variants of an outbreak. My site however will be more visual. It will feature more robust images and a more interactive display of the information. Instead of just being like an article my website will be more like reading a comic with cartoonish pictures. But the information will be as robust as on the CDC page.
http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/
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Rob Dyrdek Foundation
I chose Rob Dyrdek’s skateboard foundation to compare. As i looked through the site, the navigation seemed to be straight forward. All the tabs for the different pages are lined up at the top of the homepage.
As for the color, it is pretty dull. All the pages to this site are a straight teel color. A good thing about it is that the color isn’t distracting or loud. It helps with the composition because you know you are still in that particular site since all the pages are the same color. Personally, i would have added more design to the pages to make it more exciting to the eye, but it isn’t too dull. They have pictures and news about expanding the sport of skateboarding.
For the texture, there really isn’t any. As I stated before, all the pages are a plain, teel color, which isn’t a bad thing though. By keeping it more on the simple side, it kind of makes the site work just as well. Instead of texture, they have various videos, pictures, and diagrams of what this foundation is about. It’s not about necessarily skateboarding, but about creating legal places for people to skate, like skateparks or plazas.
In comparison to my site I’m creating, it is simular, but mine is more about the physical activity and staying active rather than creating places for skating. I think they go together because both have a goal to better people, whether if its staying active or staying out of trouble.
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Why What’s Rightfully Yours Inc is BETTER!!
The website I used to help aid in the creation of my website is called She Incorporated Women.com (http://sheincwomen.com/). I plan to discuss the websites use of color, texture and navigation. I will then critique their effectiveness at guiding the user through the site and lastly, I will compare this site to my final project design, and suggest how my website will stand out.
She Inc is an organization that is run by women for women. I chose this site because it was user friendly with a simple layout. In comparison to other websites, the navigation is short and sweet… nothing too difficult and easy to follow.
According to Principles of Beautiful Web Design, color is very important and after reviewing She Inc’s color scheme… I found that the use of color says a lot about the site. They say the color red has a reputation for stimulating adrenaline and blood pressure and it’s also known to increase human metabolism; it’s an exciting, dramatic, and rich color. They say reds also a color of passion. She Inc uses a pale red in its logo and navigation. I believe the red shows the passion behind the company and its paleness keeps the site feminine. It is also said that the use of white helps promote the idea that this is clean power. The majority of She Inc is white and it supports the spiritual background of the group or company. The tan is a subtle accent used to help the information area pop on top of the white. The last color She Inc used is black. It is suggested that black is a color of power, elegance, and strength. Based on what I have read about color, it is safe to assume that just based on She Inc’s choice of colors, they are passionate, spiritual and they hold a wealth of power about the topic at hand.
As far as texture, there is very little texture used in the middle of the page. The small amount of texture breaks the page up even without the lines. The textured area is consistent throughout the site, showing where the important information is located on each page. The use of the lines show a little depth but I feel like there are too many and it breaks the site up a little too much.
She Inc is very effective at guiding the user through the site. One feature of the site that kept me was the use of the running clock for the next event. It brings this simple layout to life and there is no question that the information is current.
Lastly, in comparing this site to my final project’s design, I feel that they are very similar in simplicity. I chose to use a bright red with my site because the cause is a passion of mine. With this color choice, my goal is to get women of all races and ages stimulated to take a stand and fight for what they want and deserve. I chose to use a white background because even though my site suggest women fighting for rights… it’s with the law making it a clean power. And I used texture a little different by adding a gradient background. The gradient added color while keeping the important or wealth of information in white. My site has the ability to stand out because of the bold choice of colors along with its simplicity. My site will not be one that takes you so deep that you need to get back to the home page to start all over. I plan to keep the navigation simple with the 3 click rule keeping life simple. I want my site to be used more as reference to getting legal issues taken care of.
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