For this weeks’ monthly review, I’ve decided on Zappos.com and allenedmonds.com. Both are clothing and apparel sites which draw attention to their respective products. That being said, there are some key differences in each site. So how do they compare? To the next paragraph, boy (or girl) wonder!

Zappos is much more of a traditional layout with an emphasis on text based shopping. Images accompany certain tags, but the main focus is readability and clarity for the user. It’s only once you have gotten into the meat of the site that you start to see more images along with a slight variation on the actual layout of the page. Considering the central balance of the site along with a general color and style scheme that is consistent throughout the entirety of the site, it is apparent that Zappos is looking for more function than style, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

AllenEdmonds on the contrary is very much an image based site. By utilizing scroll-over text-to-images along with a consistent and interesting scheme, AllenEdmonds manages to change general layout without destroying the balance of the site. That being said, the balance of the site is somewhat off-kilter. Any time a scroll text-to-image is used, said image can become overpowering and tends to throw off the entire balance of the page. Also the emphasis seems to be more placed on images rather than functionality, as it can become overbearing to see so many varying images, especially when you are attempting to search throughout the site.

Overall I think both sites have a strong presence of unifying aspects (stylistically and functionally) but at their core they are two very different sites. Zappos is content with placing emphasis on the text and format of the page while AllenEdmonds is much more concerned with the stylistic and visual based approach to their site. Again, both are very strong in their design, but ultimately I believe that Zappos, while somewhat under-stylized, is the better site. Aesthetic means nothing without functionality.