ARTM2210 Intro to Web Design
Just another Intro to… siteArchive for Student Work
Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world.
Tim Hortons and Seattle’s Best are two widely known coffee chains. Tim Hortons is spread throughout Canada and the US whereas Seattle’s Best is a company based out of Seattle, WA and sold around the country.
When one visits the Tim Hortons site, the first step is to choose whether or not the user is a French or English speaking Canadian, or an English speaking American. These options are clearly placed a little below the center of the page next to a large coffee cup that is an attention grabbing graphic. After the option is chosen, there is a strange menu page that pops up, with the option of being closed. However, if the pop-up is not closed, the user is subjected to an unorganized and confusing mess that is meant to be scrolled through. After the actual site is found, there is a much more organized and aesthetically appealing website than the previously mentioned pop-up TH’s menu. An advertisement or Tim Horton’s products is placed almost in the center near the top of the page and has the most visual hierarchy. Next to it are buttons that viewers can click on and see what new products TH has to offer. The top of the page has smaller buttons that can help one easily navigate the site to find information on the company and its products. The Tim Hortons main website is balanced with the use of similar square shapes of various sizes, with an emphasis on promoting new products. The process of getting to the actual website took less than three clicks, however when users want to find information on products it may be easy to get lost due to the pop-up menu.
Seattle’s Best has a website built around a very large image placed in the center of the page. The viewer is drawn to the image that showcases an exciting opportunity to win a trip to Hawaii. The layout of the page shows the navigation buttons placed around the image so viewers can easily find them. Each button has a drop down menu of subcategories that are nested within the main categories. Seattle’s Best puts an emphasis mainly on the trip to Hawaii, but also on new products and information about caffeine levels in their coffee. It is easy to see general information about the chain and the products being sold.
Overall, the Seattle’s Best website has a much more user-friendly website than Tim Hortons. This is due to the overall layout that is easy to navigate, and the use of imagery that helps visual hierarchy play a role in grabbing the user’s attention to important information on the website. Also, since Tim Hortons used a confusing pop-up menu after the language selection page, it makes it harder for users to get to the information the site was intended for in the first place.
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Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Starbucks
At first glance, the Dunkin’ Donuts site is visually more attention grabbing than Starbucks’ site. The color scheme compliments the images of their products making a bold yet fun statement about their company. Starbucks is far simpler in design than Dunkin’ Donuts, but I don’t feel that that is at all damaging. Starbucks projects their image as being a high end coffee shop, and their site mimics that. The site is very sleek, using only sans serif fonts and muted colors. The typography of the site is useful in guiding customers to the correct corner of the site with ease. After navigating through both sites, Starbucks is a lot easier to use at a first glance, as Dunkin’ Donuts spent a vast amount of the layout on their blog and twitter links, where Staurbucks focused on their products as opposed to social media sites. Both layouts are very effective in communicating the business’s message and displaying products while remaining visually pleasing. When examining balance and unity, I felt that Dunkin’ Donuts did a better job of balancing their images and text, where Starbucks’ site is very reliant on text. I think that both sites are strong in their own ways, but in the end, I would want spend more time on Starbucks’ website, not just because of its ease of access and simple image, but because they also have a better product (in my opinion.)
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Dunkin Donuts & Starbucks
I compared Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks website. Each company is very much the same and has the same content on their websites. The homepage of both webpages show a very big picture of the specials for the season. Each company has their logo on the top right and the tabs to each part of the website along the top. When you hover over each tab it shows you drop down menus and pictures of an item that is within the category.
The colors of the Starbucks website are rather plain, and I am someone who enjoys color. It is just a white background with a little splash of green and black. Dunkin’ Donuts colors are brighter, but the use of them in the website draws me in. What I think Starbucks has an edge is that the “Search” bar is on the very top because when I want to search a keyword it is easy to navaigate, but on the Dunkin’ Donuts website you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the search bar. The layouts are almost exactly the same, just a few minor differences.
In my opinion I enjoy Dunkin Donuts website a bit more because of the bars on the top with the orange tabs. They do not blend in with the background and it is very easy and simple for one to navigate. The Starbucks website was very bland to me .
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Caribou Coffee vs. Dunkin’ Donuts
For my bi-weekly review I compared Caribou Coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts. Starting off with Caribou’s website, I feel like it is fairly well balanced. It has the different links on the left, a slideshow of pictures in the middle, then on the right has daily trivia, and a few other things. Everything on Caribou’s website is unified, nothing really stands out like it doesn’t belong. Their emphasis is directed right to the center of the home page with a slideshow of pictures that contain new items and items of the month. Also it consists of some facts about their product. Their layout is a little confusing to someone who likes basic websites. You have to look carefully to find exactly what you’re looking for on the pages. Their font is also decently smaller so you really have to keep and eye out for what your interested in. They also use the visual hierarchy but it’s not as clear as some other websites. You have to click the headings to get to the subheadings rather than just having a drop down menu that lists the subheadings.As for Dunkin’ Donuts’ website I feel like it is very well balanced. Their layout is very simple and easy to navigate. Everything on their website is unified by having the orange and white colors displayed. All of the different sections match each other and nothing feels out of place. Their emphasis is very clear on the main page, it is a large picture of their new product the iced mocha, latte, and the heart shaped donut. The over all lay out is very simple but gets the point across. To get their point across they use very good visual hierarchy. They have the title of the sections then in smaller font have a few points on what that section consists of. Also if you run your mouse over the heading it has a drop down menu, which then gives you a list of smaller subsections you can click. I feel like Dunkin’ Donuts’ website does a better job of drawing attention because of their color selection. Orange is more eye-catching than tan and brown. I like Dunkin’ Donuts website better because it easier to navigate and find what you want. The sections they have with the drop down menu make it more user friendly. I had better luck using Dunkin’ Donuts website.
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Starbucks vs CrazyMocha
The layout of Starbucks has a lot of pictures and texts with links is symmetric because they use rectangles boxes when you pass the mouse on the texts and pictures so it has a good balance and a good unity because they basically use the colors of the Starbucks which is black and green and white on the website. The first thing that I noticed when I open the website was the big picture of their sandwich on the left of the page so thats the emphasis point of this website. Overall the website is very specific with everything and easy to find what you looking for.
The layout of CrazyMocha is more simple than the Starbucks one. CrazyMocha website has slides of pictures at their home page and that is the emphasis of the website because is located right in the middle. The balance of the website is more center since they only have a picture in the middle and the other options bar is located in one line under the picture. They use basically 3 colors like Starbucks black for texts, white for the background and red for the boxes.
Although Starbucks website is more complete, CrazyMocha’s website got my attention because of how they set up the pictures sliding on the center is very simple but strong.
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Coffee Shops-Nick Evanko
The two coffee company webpages I viewed were Starbucks Coffee and Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks Coffee company designed a webpage with many elements that help guide the viewer through the site. The first aspect I was drawn to was the large image near the upper left hand of the page, taking up approximately 1/4 of the page. This large image is an ad for a food promotion that contains images of breakfast sandwiches and breakfast wraps, as well as the promotional price. The designer probably made this ad large in size so that it is the first thing viewers will see, showing use of emphasis. Navigating through the site was easy with the large header options such as coffee types, food choices, starbucks coffee cards, merchandize etc. If you were to place the mouse over each header another window opens up showing more content and options to choose from. The site also contained a search bar which allows the viewer to narrow their options. The balance of the site was well designed with the headers, promotional ads, and footers that inform you more about the site.
The second site I viewed was Dunkin Donuts. The Dunkin Donuts site was similar in design to the Starbucks webpage. Again we see the logo in top left corner, followed by numerous headers in bold typeface to portray emphasis. The headers included menus, coffee types, online shopping and gift ideas. The site also had a large promotional ad for lattes and iced coffees. The webpage also showed a certain sense of balance and unity, a bit more than Starbucks. Every aspect of the Dunkin Donut’s webpage seemed more grid-like.
The two webpages were so similar that neither one was better than the other in guiding the user. They were almost essentially the same site with a change of color scheme. If I had to choose which was a better navigational design I would choose Dunkin Donuts. The layout of the page was much easier to look at in the grid fashion. When I viewed the Starbuck’s page my eyes were moving too many places at once. This may have been done on purpose by the designer so that viewers look at everything on the page, but in my opinion it was a bit more distracting than helpful.
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Starbucks vs. Dunkin Doughnuts
After reviewing Dunkin Doughnuts and Starbucks’ websites, I have come to the conclusion that coffee web pages do everything they can to make you want to drink something frothy and high in calories.
Before entering the sites, I had anticipated pages full of artsy logos, bohemian color palettes, and sleek fonts. (Just due to the stereotypical target audience) I have to admit; I thought Starbucks would have all of these aspects. Instead, I found a rather bland color palette, without too many artsy attributes.
The Starbucks layout has to be the least pleasing to me. I personally do not like it when video clips are rather large and take over the page. It seems extremely overwhelming. I don’t mind large photos, but videos are no good to me.
As an avid coffee drinker, the site did not woo me. It appeared very wordy when it came the pull down tabs at the top. It seemed when I was browsing around, I never really got anywhere; it seemed as if I was going in a circle and their was no real direction.
As far as Dunkin Doughnuts, I like this website for a couple of reasons. The flow to me seems like it actually has a meaning and makes sense. The large photo on this page is aesthetically pleasing. (Not like the large video clip on Starbucks) I also personally like it when shapes play a big role in a web page. And they happen to use a bunch of squares and rectangles to solidify the information. I also really enjoy the color palette. Dunkin Doughnut’s orange, brown, and fuchsia colors compliment one another perfectly.
This site also guided me the way the consumer wanted. I went through the menu, viewed a bunch of different items, and then headed right to the online shop to see what they had for sale. Dunkin Doughnuts is business that wants to make money, a profit, and that’s exactly what I was about to do.
All in all, I believe that something as specific as coffee should have the right balance. There should be photos to get the attention of the audience, with enticing colors, and most importantly the information should be descriptive, yet concise.
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Bi-Weekly Review Starbucks Vs. Dunkin Doughnuts
Elliott Burns
Bi-weekly review 2
January 29, 2012
For this review I compared Starbucks and Dunkin Doughnuts’ websites. I first went to Starbucks’ site and it wasn’t as hip as I expected. It seemed rather plain for how large and hip the company is. The main focus seemed to be telling their mission in the coffee world with a large YouTube video. Also most of the highlights for clicking are for new items and ideas at Starbucks stores. It was fairly easy to navigate; the tabs have drop downs when you put the mouse over them for an easy preview. I think it is a good website and does it’s job but it is not as hip as I thought it would be.
Dunkin Doughnuts’ website is laid out almost exactly the same only with more vibrant colors like their store. There is a huge YouTube video in the middle of the page with tabs for navigating to other areas of the webpage. The tabs, like Starbucks, have a drop down preview when you hover over them with the mouse. There is however a higher concentration on social websites on the Dunkin doughnuts website than with Starbucks.
I think that both of these products are pretty similar because they offer cheap very often bought products and don’t require to have a complex website like a car manufacture might need. I would say though that I like Starbucks’ website better because it felt less aggressive than Dunkin Doughnuts.
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Coffee Website Compare & Contrast
For this assignment I looked at the Starbucks and Caribou Coffee websites. When I first glanced at the two web pages they looked very similar in their layout. After exploring them both more in depth, I noticed that they are not as similar as I had thought. Both websites are set up the same, they have a content bar across the top that shows all of the important topics their customers might be interested in. When you hover your mouse over the content bar on the Starbucks website, a drop down menu appears. On the Caribou Coffee website you can only click these links. Both websites have slideshow images in the center of the screen that feature their new drinks and products.
When comparing these two sites, I noticed that the Caribou Coffee site has more design and and a better sense of unity. The Starbucks website just has a white background which makes it look plain and unbalanced. I feel as though the Caribou Coffee website would appeal more to customers then the Starbucks website.
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Bi-weekly Review 1 Amazon.com
As a student, Amazon.com is one of the most useful resources available on the internet. Amazon always has low prices on books and other essential supplies and has been adding in an impressive collection of instant streaming movies. The website itself is quite easy to navigate. You are able to easily select specific departments or do general word searches to find the items you are looking for. Amazon also makes purchasing the exact item you want easy as well. Once the item has been found you can scroll through customer reviews, sizing options if it is clothing, colors and a list of extra items you can purchase as well. Also on the screen once you find the correct item is a link to a long list of possible providers. You are able to choose between new and used and select a price that works for you or a company that you know you can trust from previous purchases or a simple to understand approval rating system. Once you have customized your items options you can either submit it to the shopping cart and continue straight to check out or continue to shop and return to the cart with one click on a link in the upper right corner. Returning customers who do a lot of shopping on the online retailer are also able to activate “one-click shopping”. All you have to do is tell the one-click option which address and which credit card to use and simply click to purchase with no extra work involved. Returning customers can also enjoy the benefits of customer suggestions on their amazon homepage. As soon as you return to the site and enter your username and password you are given a list customized for you based on what you’ve previously purchased as well as a list of items that are currently very popular. Over all Amazon sets the standards for an online shopping outlet. Items are well categorized and easy to find on a user-friendly setup that is simple to get used to after just one use. With a well designed website and customer specific shopping options, it’s no wonder people shop at Amazon over and over again.
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1st Bi-weekly Review- Amazon
Over the years Amazon.com has essentially set the standard in online shopping and still dominates much of the market. There are a few ways to find items on Amazon, one can search, browse categories and departments, check out the sales, or use a combination of searching and stipulating which categories to search. Everything is fairly easy to find and understand; the search bar is in the top center of the screen, categories and departments along the left side, check out is top right, and the results fill the majority of the rest of the screen. I decided that I wanted a 30 gallon fish tank, don’t ask why. I started by searching for a fish tank, then since some results came up that weren’t aquariums so I narrowed my search by activating the category aquariums. Then from there I saw nothing but aquariums. However there were still 541 results and nothing matching the criteria I had in mind on the first page of results, so I typed in 30 gallon fish tank to the search bar. An interesting thing about the search bar is that as long as it turns up some results it will keep searching the same departments and categories that you had previously selected. This was a good thing in this situation, but had I decided that I wanted to change the item I was searching for I could have been baffled for a second with nothing but aquarium decorations or fish food. Typing 30 gallon fish tank still yielded 44 results all of which were not relevant but what I wanted was on the first page. You’d think that Amazon would have an option to sort by product size in categories where size matters. I selected my the fish tank that I wanted and proceeded to check out. Since it was my first Amazon purchase it asked me for shipping and billing information but was still very straightforward visually and navigated in a simple linear fashion. Overall Amazon is fairly easy to use and not incredibly confusing at any point, with the huge amount of stock it offers to choose from it is no wonder that it is a leader in online shopping.
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Online Shopping – ShoeDazzle.com
Online shopping is not only convenient and simple, but personally for me, it’s a sport. I love to get the best of the best merchandise for the best possible price. Coupons are always the best technique, and free shipping is most definitely a must.
So, the other day I was watching TV and came across a commercial advertising $39.95 shoes, every style, no exclusions. “ShoeDazzle.com,” seemed too good to be true. So, I typed in the web address and found a new addiction. The website was not only extremely navigate-able, but also very visually pleasing.
The welcome page directed me to a group of clickable shoe questions. It was a quiz to “discover your shoe profile.” As I clicked on the big, artsy buttons, I finalized my answers and was directed to my “personalized collection.” The website automatically put together shoes in my size and in my style from my quiz answers. I thought the quiz was spot on. The shoes the website chose for me were to die for. I ended up purchasing two pairs.
As far as the aesthetics to the website, I loved the chic feminine look. A basic white background with main photo links a unique pink font made me realize the company really knows their target audience. I loved the girly atmosphere, and the easy to use navigation. Their information is put right out there to the public, almost as if they have nothing to hide. Their contact number is posted in the right hand corner of the page so if there’s any questions, you can direct them to their customer service.
I think finding Shoe Dazzle was a bad and good thing for me. I think it was great to come across for me to peruse around on and look at all the new fashions. And, I also think it was bad because I know I will be back to spend even more money that I don’t even have.
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Apple Review
Since the release of the first iPod in October of 2001, I have been intrigued by Apple’s mobile devices. Recently, I purchased an iPad and am in love with the product. The streamlined user interface and large App Store are really what make me decide to buy an Apple product over an Android-based or other big name device. I have previously owned 5 different iPods, including an iPod touch (similar to the iPhone).
When you first take a glance at the Apple.com website, you will see the same sleek, innovative format that Apple is famous for throughout their products. The clean white background is complemented by the reflections of the iPhone 4S, and the navigation bar is put together with their simplistic look in mind.
After clicking the “Store” link in the top navigation bar, I am taken to a page where I can choose from a variety of apple products, as well as categories of these products. In the top left corner there is a convenient search bar to search for the product of my choice, as well as the phone number to the Apple Store above it. In the middle of the page are Apple’s main products. I chose a MacBook Pro since I am interested in purchasing a new laptop. From the next page, I then selected which MacBook Pro I was most interested in (15-inch). I was then able to select the specifications of the laptop, and press the “Add to Cart” button which was colored green, most likely so it could be better distinguished from other buttons on the site. I was then taken to my cart where I could either continue shopping or check out. By going through only 4 pages, all of which crucial to the buying process, I was able to find the product I wanted, choose my specifications, and purchase the item, without any hassle whatsoever.
I found the Apple site to be very easy to use, with minimal effort needed to purchase what I would like. This is almost expected with Apple. They are known for their easy-to-use computers and mobile devices. It has always been their goal to deliver products that do not require the consumer to have to think to access things of their choice.
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Apple vs Supreme: website usability
Apple vs Supreme Review.
I chose two websites to analyze, one being Apple, and the other being Supreme. I first visited apple, in a search to buy a Macbook Pro. When coming to the websites main page, I came a across a little problem in my thought process. At the top of the web site, I was instantly drawn to the Mac tab. When I the page reloaded, I thought I was in the right place but I eventually noticed there was no button to put the product in my cart. I then realized I had to go to the store tab. This was the scenario that happened when I first used their site. After multiple times using it, I learned just to go to the store tab. But for a first time user, this could be a minor issue. After I stumbled across that minor problem, It was smooth sailing from there, everything else was effortless to me. I was even able to find the student version of the website no problem. The student site shows the prices of certain Items with a student discount factored into the price.
The second website I looked at was, Supreme. They are a skateboard brand originating from New York City. When first entering their website, I found It very easy to get were I wanted, I just clicked the shop button. Its was all downhill from their. The next page that loaded was just a bunch of skinny pictures that looked to be clothing, I really couldn’t tell. The website is also flash driven which could be a problem if people don’t have the right software or a computer good enough to run it. After browsing the site for a while, I eventually got used to it, but it took sometime. Overall, I would definitely say Apple has the better website, but I like how clean Supreme’s site is, it is very easy on the eye. After analyzing both site, I realized that a perfect website is hard to come by.
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Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes.
After a recent trip to Disney World, I have been contemplating purchasing one of the Star Wars cookbooks, but have been too lazy to look online for a copy. Disney World has every Star Wars product imaginable. This assignment has given me a reason to get my online shopping on and actually pay attention to the steps I must go through to retrieve such a literary gem. Both Amazon and ThinkGeek have at least one of the two books. I found Amazon easier because the search bar has a drop down menu where I conveniently selected books and typed in the keywords “star wars cookbook.” Amazon graced my eyes with not only the Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes, but also the second book, Darth Malt and More Galactic Recipes. I found that the home page was not overwhelming with Amazon pushing products. Also there are multiple ways to easily find what the user wants with both a search bar on the top and a menu on the side with different departments or categories of items that could be purchased on the website. I did not have to “satisfice” because I was presented with multiple viable options that got me to where I hoped to go.
ThinkGeek is always a dangerous website for someone with a short attention span to go to. Though there isn’t a smorgasbord of items on the homepage, the products are just too cool to sometimes fight the urge to click on everything. I found at the bottom of the page, instead of organizing things by category, there were options to choose from popular series or games. I thought this was an appropriate approach for this particular website. On the top everything was organized in categories. Instead of using my first instinct of just using the search bar, I clicked on the fantasy and sci-fi books section to see if I could possibly land upon my desired cookbook series instantaneously. I was delighted to see so many things that sparked my interested, but no dice with the product I wanted. However, the good ol’ trustworthy search bar led me to where I needed to be after I used the same keywords as I did on Amazon. I was surprised to see that ThinkGeek only had the first edition, Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes. Not only were they lacking in options, but it was more expensive than the price Amazon had to offer.
Overall, I feel that Amazon is a great website if you need to look for something specific, but gives good suggestions for products similar to the one searched. ThinkGeek is good for looking through specialty/odd products if you have the time to “window shop” online.
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TrueSwords.com
When I try to find different items that catch my interest, or certain swords of nearly any calibur I go to trueswords.com. The site is based on being able to get high quality items, be them swords, knives, armor, necklaces, and many more at low prices. The site is very easy to navigate whether you’re just browsing, or if you look through the many categories which are located under the site title. The color theme for this site is blue, brown, and grey. The grey is the neutral color of the site. The Brown separates the borders and inside the brown are the headings. Finally the Blue is where the sub-headings and the different categories for different types of items. The site overall is very simple to use and items included in this site are very affordable for any sword enthusiasts. If you just wanna find very cool things and wanna try to get any inspiration through swords or anything of that nature I would advise to go look at this site.
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Bid on Ebay
When I buy things on the internet, I always head to Ebay. I love the way it is very simple to bid for a product. Ebay also has everything, and I like being able to buy all that I need in one site. I hate site hoping for products I need to buy. I have also sold things on Ebay, and to sell things on Ebay is simple yet very effective. It does not make it complicated, it helps you step by step to make sure you can reach the most customers for your product. Ebay has been one of the top selling sites for years.
The front page is always giving best sellers and ways to navigate around the website. Even though I love being on the internet, some sites are so hard to get around and when that happens i get frustrated and I just leave the site. The way Ebay is set up is easy for me to use., and that is why I continue to use it.
My favorite thing on Ebay is the “My Ebay” tab, it keeps all my Ebay selling, buying and history. I like being able to see who I bought from, and what I have on a watch list. Ebay keeps it very friendly if you are a frequent user.
I’ve always like Ebay over Amazon because i like the way it set up and the way I can sell easily and buy easily on the site.
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Amazon Review – Week 1
Amazon does a great job at making finding and buying products effortless. The search bar is highlighted in an eye catching blue that stands out from the stark white of the rest of the page. Upon completing a search, the items are categorized by either price, relevancy, or rating, and the buyer has the choice to narrow their search further by dividing results by department. Once the item is ready to be purchased, Amazon provides specific instructions that point you to the correct checkout, ensuring customer satisfaction. The design of the site, though it seems simple, is obviously the product of a lot of programming and thought, as a few clicks of the mouse does so many different tasks. Compared to other online marketplaces, Amazon is easy to use even if it is the customer’s first experience using the site.
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Bi-weekly review, week 1
One of the most popular websites makes it simple for customers to purchase merchandise. I logged on to Amazon.com to purchase a textbook. Amazon has the key features, such as navigation, search bar, deals, etc., in the appropriate places. The navigation is located on the left hand side; the search bar is centered and at the top of the page; deals are the largest in size. All elements are used to draw in the consumer to make a purchase.
Since I have been a frequent customer the process of finding a product was made easier by scrolling down the page and there are suggested related items. Therefore I just had to click on item, choose a size and click the ‘add to cart’ button. I have to confirm the order and confirm my user information. The process is hassle free since they have saved the information, even down to the shipping address. Because the process is effortless, it is much easier to continue shopping. The cheap prices bring in the customer, but the simplistic checkout keeps the customer coming back.
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Amazon Website Review
I use the Amazon website very frequently to buy my textbooks and rent ebooks for my Kindle. Searching for specific products is as simple as using google. There is a drop down menu that lets you choose what category or item you are looking for. For example there is movies, books, clothes, beauty, etc. You select the category you want then type the specific item you are looking for in the search bar. Once you find the item you are looking for, you proceed to checkout. Here is where the process can become confusing to some people.
Say you want to buy a movie from Amazon. You select the movie category and search the movie you want. When the search list comes up there are many different options you can choose from to buy this movie. You can rent the movie and download it onto your computer or kindle, buy it for your computer or kindle, buy the actual DVD, buy the movie for Blu-Ray, etc. If you choose to buy the actual DVD/Blu-Ray, then you must decide if you want to buy it new or used. Sometimes there are just to many options to pick from and people get frustrated.
Amazon has many memberships that you can sign up for. There is a student membership, a prime membership and many others. If you are signed up for one of these then you have more options to choose from when you are purchasing an item. If you are a member then you must choose an item that coincides with the specific membership you belong to.
For a new user to Amazon, this site can be very overwhelming. Once you purchase a few items from this site and set up an account it becomes easier to navigate your way around it and easier to select the right purchase for yourself.
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bi-weekly
Amazon.com is a fairly simple layout website when it comes to shopping and locating things on the site. When you first access the site the hot items are on the middle of the screen fairly bigger than the other normal items. Also they have a golden box that catches your eye for the deals of the day. When adding items to the shopping cart it is just a click of the button and its there in the order you placed the items in the cart. A few complaints to the site are, when you first search movies they are all instant streams or downloads, not the actual DVDs so you have to go click the button that says DVD. Also when searching the full department the categories are all scattered around not even alphabetical order and if you are in a hurry you wont be able to get there in time unless you are familiar with the page. This site it rather easily navigated through with little troubles along the way.
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Apple.com Review ~ John Marshall
| The apple website is fairly intuitive for shopping. You can find the store at the top of the apple.com homepage. The main products apple promotes are listed in the center, and everything else is categorized on the left side of the page. Also, the various discount stores such as educational and military can be found there as well. I found that finding a product and putting in the shopping cart required little to no thought. Also, checking out was equally simplistic.My only complaint would be the order the products were laid out under each category page. The order of the products seemed too random and took too much time to find the one I was looking for. Yes, apple offers a search bar, a narrow option on the side bar, and also a ‘sort by’ bar, but I think that it could be simpler to find the product by automatically organizing them based on either price, popularity, or type. For example, I was looking for a car charger for a Macbook, and I had to access the accessories page, which was mixed with all different types of accessories for various Mac items.
As a result, it took me much longer to find my items than it needed to be. Instead, by automatically categorizing the search, it would make it much easier for the average web user to find what they were looking for, even if they do not know exactly what they want. Other than that however, it is a very simple to navigate online store that requires little to no thought, and I would recommend it for web designers to look at in terms of layout and navigation. -Written By John Marshall http://mediaweb.rmu.edu/~jdmst33/ |
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Amazon Shopping Review by Elliott Burns
Elliott Burns
Large Commerce Site
1/16/12
For my large commerce site I picked Amazon.com because I have never tried shopping online and that is one of few shopping websites that I know of. It was very easy to get to because it is so well known I just put in amazon.com and it took me directly to the site. I checked and it is the third option that comes up on google.com if you type in “shopping”.
Once I was on the website I decided that I wanted an Omega watch because I thought that it would be a brand that is to expensive for a watch and not have an online market. I was wrong though amazon gave me thirty choices for Omega watches. I didn’t have to make any clicks either it took me straight to the results.
Deciding on which watch to put in my cart was also made easier by the comparative pricing that showed the cost of the watch from different sites, manufacturer, as well as an actual jewelry store. There was even an option to buy used something that I thought only Tourneau did on a large scale.
When I finally made a decision all I had to do was click add to cart. Once it was in my cart I clicked proceed to checkout. It asked for a me to sign up as a member which I didn’t because I wasn’t actually going to buy it but I don’t believe it would have been complicated.
Overall the only thinking I actually had to do while using amazon was deciding which watch was the one I wanted. Everything else was mindlessly easy.
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1st blog post bill paterson
BH Photo
Bh Photo video is a very unique site because they offer just about every thing you can imagine for the given electronic device. There main specialty is cameras and video equipment, here they offer anything from top of the line camera lens costing thousands of dollars, to off brand lens caps for a couple bucks. BH has so many products it makes searching for a given product a little tricky. For example, you need to search by the type of product it is and the company that you would like to buy. Then you can organize the products by price and even technical specs as well. For a site like BH photo that covers thousands of products makes it easy to find what you need, if you know what you are looking for. knowing the name of the item of category that it would fall into would be a big help in looking for anything on BH photo
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Amazon: Shopping for Movies
I recently visited the large commercial website Amazon.com. On this website, an individual can find almost any product they want. From books to electronics, movies, cds, the website can safisfy hundreds of commercial consumer needs. In my opinion, the site is very useful for online shopping. Amazon is easy to navigate, narrow down your products, and eventually make the purchase. Today I was shopping for rare, hard to find movies and DVDs. First, I typed in the search bar the title of the film I was in search of, titled Martyrs. Even without narrowing the search to “Movies” the first on the list was the DVD I was looking for. The website even goes as far as to recommend other products that may interest the buyer, further provoking the consumer demand. Shopping online is an interesting process. The website contains a giant database of products to buy and makes the shopping experience virtually painless for the consumer. Simply type in the name of the product you want, and the product appears. If it does not, you can narrow your search with a number of helpful toolbars. The search bar is so sophisticated, you can copy and paste a serial number, or barcode number of your product, and the product will appear in the search. Creators of websites such as Amazon are even smart enough to write a program that recommends similar products to online consumers, increasing sales and time spent on the website. When adding the item to the cart, you are offered different options such as, add to wish list, or add to cart with free two day shipping, and other such offers that persuade a sale. Online shopping is becoming so sophisticated, yet so easy, that in years to come, strip malls will be a thing of the past.
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Amazon by Alexandria Antonacci
Amazon is a very visually appealing website to use. It doesn’t take you longer than a few seconds to find what you are looking for. On Amazon I searched for a Nikon 18-105mm lens for my camera. From the start I know automatically how to find what I am looking for. The search bar is centered at the top of the page in blue. Its the first thing you look at when you open the page, the color alone draws you in from the stark white rest of the layout. I don’t even need to pick which department I want to search in the drop down box if I don’t want to. If I search without picking it automatically looks through each department to find the best answers.
When I searched without picking a department the exact lens that I wanted came up first. On the left hand side it still gives me the option if I wanted to refine my search. If I go back to the homepage I can also look for the lens on the vertical list to the left. I know that my lens would probably be under electronics and camera equipment from there. Since Amazon uses key words instead of unfamiliar names it keeps the users interest and creates minimal frustration.
The usability of this website is easily for users with average to even below average experience with websites. Everything you could possibly want to look for is in its obvious place on the left with the right terminology used. At no point did I dwell on “Why did they call it that” or “Where should I begin”. I simply did not have to think at those points I instinctively knew where to click. When scanning the page I can focus on my task at hand due to Amazons clever use of trigger words.
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Amazon Review
I reviewed the process on how to create an order on amazon.com. I typed an an item I was looking for and it gave me a variety to choose from. I then narrowed my search to something more specific and found what I was looking for. The overall process on the site was quick and easy. The site is really user friendly and is easy to navigate. The homepage really gives you a good look a what the site is about and how to browse to certain products. It is very easy to find what you are looking for. The site has alot going on, but once you play around with it, the site is very easy to understand. All of the information is simple and to the point. I like that once you purchase a product it gives you suggestions on what else may interest you. Most websites do not carry this feature and it just makes the site all the better. Also, before you buy a product they have reviews of the products. These reviews are completed by other people. It is not your ordinary review. These reviews are detailed and really give you great insight on the product you are about to purchase.
Amazon.com is very user friendly and its a great site to find something you are looking of you cant find it anywhere else. All the categories are listed on the left hand side and are really specific. This feature really helps people navigate the site much better. All they have to do is click what categorie they are looking for and it takes them right to that section. Overal, amazon is very simple and easy to navigate. This particular site requires little thought at all, and I would recommend it for web designers who are looking for a good layout and setup. Amazon has an easy way to navigate the information the customer needs.
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Barnes and Noble Review
Barnes and Noble’s site is pretty use to use. If you are looking for a book, music, movie or just browsing, the search will find what you are looking for. The process for this site would have the code extremely difficult to understand to the reader, but very necessary for the user to move along the site. While browsing on the site,the reader might find a book or item that they are interested in so they will click on the item. The connection of the item would have to link the reader to the next page that shows the reader what the item is about, reviews and other information like price the reader would need to know before ordering. If the reader would like the purchase the item, the next step for the code would have to link the reader to a log in page for the website. If the reader does not have a user for the site, there would be a link for the reader to by pass so they could still purchase the item. Next after the reader has either logged in or by passed the log in, the reader would have to type in information for billing or the purchase cannot be complete. The whole process has to work perfectly for the reader to get to purchase the item. One mistake in the code, errors would have the reader confused and frustrated. All connections web designs have will have to work perfectly so readers can easily glide step to step.
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