ARTM2210 Intro to Web Design
Just another Intro to… siteArchive for Spring 2013 a
Monthly Review 3
For my third monthly review, I chose to describe and compare two websites on their usability and layout. For reference, I used Steve Krug’s book on website usability called “Don’t Make Me Think.” Krug recommends trying the trunk test to see if a website has good navigation. The site will pass if the viewer can easily find the site ID, search button, sections, page name, and the local navigation. The websites I chose to analyze were www.thefryecompany.com and www.allenedmonds.com.
I examined The Frye Company’s website first. When opening the site, I found myself automatically attracted to the aesthetic quality. The simple color palette of earthy browns and greens matched the overall feel for their vintage shoes. I especially liked the large image carousal that took most of the main page because it added emphasis to the products themselves. For the majority of the pages, the designer used a well-balanced, symmetrical layout. There is little clutter and the simplicity makes it easier for the viewers to find what they need. Their choice of colors, type, imagery and overall layout unifies very well together and gets the theme across to the consumers. As for Krug’s trunk test, the site did not completely pass. I easily found the site ID, search button, and sections. However, when it came to the page titles and local navigation, I feel they could have done better. The page titles were hard to find, but I did eventually noticed that the designer slightly bolded the section title. The local navigation is under a dropdown menu. It works, but I prefer to have a column navigation option for when I am scrolling through the gallery products. In addition, there is no usage of breadcrumbs. Overall, this site has a pleasing design, but needs a little work on the usability.
My first impression of Allen Edmonds’ website is that there is too much going on. I am a huge fan of simplicity, especially in color choice and layout. I feel they could narrow down their usage of neutral tones, and work on emphasizing what is most important on their site. There use of asymmetrical balance works, but if they kept a similar layout throughout all the pages it would unify them better. When it comes to Krug’s trunk test, this site passed easily. I was able to find everything right where they should be. The designer even used breadcrumbs as a back up in case the viewer got confused. This site’s usability was great; now all they need to do is make it more pleasing to the viewer’s eye.
After analyzing both websites, I found that each one was lacking in what the other site had. The Frye Company’s site had the pleasing look, but poor navigation. The Allen Edmonds’ site was the opposite. I found myself still more attracted to the look of the first site, and probably more willing as a customer to muddle through the navigation.
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Monthly Review 1: Barnes & Noble
After the assigned reading of Steve Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think,” I reviewed a large eCommerce site and used his thoughts as a reference. I chose to examine barnesandnoble.com. On first entering the site, I noticed the design was clean and simple. The color palette was limited, which helps prevent the viewers from being distracted or overwhelmed. However, I do think their site was verging on being too simple and could be uninteresting to customers. From there I began to analyze the usability of the site. I searched for products by acting as two different customers, one who knew what they wanted and one who did not.
As the first, I found it very simple to use the search bar. The thinking was done for me because I only had to type a few letters before my product appeared. According to Krug, this is an important factor. I then placed that item in my shopping bag without much difficulty. My only issue was that once I hit the continue shopping button, it took me back to the main page. I find it tiresome to have to restart my search, especially if there were several items I needed in that area.
I then began my search as customer who did not know exactly what she wanted. I noticed that the product categories were not alphabetized or in any kind of order. This problem continued as I went farther into the site and was frowned upon by Krug. I believe this issue made my search more time consuming because I had to read through all the tabs. My first instinct was to look for a place that will recommend products to me. Instead of one area, I found many, including: B&N Top 100, NY Times Bestsellers, Trending Books, Best Books of the Month, Recommended, Best of 2012, Award Winners, Bestsellers by Subject, and Barnes & Noble Classics. Except for a few, small differences, these buttons seemed like nine ways to show the same items. After wasting a lot of time, I was able to find a product that I wanted.
I found the Barnes & Noble website to be decent place to search for products, but still could use some improvement. From the assigned reading, I remember Krug mentioned that customers should be able to tell right away whether or not a button is clickable. I did notice that while using the site, I would have to run my mouse over areas to see if it would light up or not. To make their site easier to use, they should make the buttons more obvious, decrease their amount of tabs and place the tabs in some kind of order. Overall, this review helped me to better understand how important it is for a website to have easy accessibility.
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