Week 4, Post 1 - Website Evaluation

The first website I chose to evaluate is gatesnfences.com. My initial impression was that the site is very outdated and unprofessional. 

I see three potential problems for visitors.  First, although there is color contrast, the palette is very unappealing.  The grey color used for the background of the body is very dull and boring.  The peachy marble-like background used on the entire page is very cheesy and outdated. Second, the depth of content is overwhelming.  There is too much information on the main page as well as the subpages. It is difficult to skim through to find a keyword or information on the product a person may be interested in.  Lastly, the typography is all the same font.  The sans-serif font used in the body is Arial or Helvetica, but the web designer made the mistake of making it bold.  In addition, royal blue, red, white, and black are not pleasing colors to look at for an extended period of time.

The website could use a major facelift, including an aesthetically pleasing color palette.  I recommend starting completely from scratch.  The business should determine what their concept and goals are, who their target market is, and which products they’d like to highlight.  Having a menu with submenu options would offer a much cleaner design.  Adding a search box would be extremely helpful as it’s apparent that the business has a large number of items to sell.  The overall design needs to be modernized, easy to navigate, easy to read, aesthetically pleasing, with a streamlined shopping cart and checkout process. 

The second website I chose to evaluate is jamilin.com.  After I clicked on the link, I wished I hadn’t.  The first issue I see is that there is no defined concept.  There is so much going on that it’s difficult to determine what this site is all about.  Second, the depth of content is overwhelming.  There are multiple sections on each page but nothing seems to make sense.  Lastly, because of the massive amount of content, the size is not easy to use.  The rainbow menu at the top of the page has items that don’t seem to be related at all.   

For this site to be appealing to visitors, it would need a complete overhaul.  A sitemap would be helpful to define the sections of the website.  It’s important to highlight the most important aspects of the website, and minimize the less important ones.  A new color palette, design, layout, and organization structure is needed to give this business a glimpse of a chance of keeping visitors on the page. 

The third website I chose to evaluate is artcenter.org.  After I clicked on the link, I had a mixed reaction. The website has a clear concept and has made good use of contrast between graphics, background, and font.  The layout and design is repetitive but the header graphic changes on each page.  It creates interest and can encourage visitors to click through all the pages to see the different header graphics.  The logo and menu graphics are consistent and add to the branding of the site.  The site is fairly aesthetically pleasing, but I have an issue with the size of the font.  It appears that they needed to fill space so they increased the font size.  A lot. 

The navigation is a little daunting.  There is a “menu” link at the top that takes you to the bottom of the page.  Here, you may select which section of the site you’d like to visit.  I think it would be much more efficient to have a drop-down list when you click or hover over the “menu” link at the top of the page.  Or, a small menu bar could be equally effective.  Overall, the design and layout of the site is appealing.  I feel visitors will be pleased by the changing header graphics and depth of content of this website.   

Toyota.com was obviously designed by a professional web design firm.  The site utilizes all aspects of C.R.A.P.H.T.E.D. The concept is clear – they want to showcase their cars and entice you to buy one.  The color palette is basic but it’s crisp, clean, and appealing.  There is plenty of contrast between the background, text, and graphics.  The repetition in design and layout makes it clear that you are still on the Toyota.com website.  The text and graphics are aligned in a way that makes it easy to read and navigate.  The drop-down menu makes it easy to find what you’re looking for.  The typography is works well with the design of the site.  The dark grey, sans-serif font is a little easier on the eyes than a true black font. 

Toyota did an excellent job on their website.  The concept, design, navigation, and aesthetics are well thought out and effective.  Visitors will have no trouble finding what they are looking for while enjoying the website.