WEB SITE EVALUATIONS by Len Hom

 

Find the following sites in the Internet and answer the questions. 

All addresses begin with http://www.

 

1.        honda.com 

Question:  Looking through the many tiers of this site, what did you notice about the theme? 

Answer:  The visual theme is the use of the color red and grey tones that is carried throughout the various tiers at the     site.

 

2.       lynda.com 

Question:  What do you think about the home page? 

Answer:  The header and background image are pleasing to book readers, like what you expect at a library.  This theme is carried forth in the tier 2 and other pages, using a three-column format.

Question:  Did you think the theme was visual or analogy? Why?

Answer:  The theme is more visual than analogy because of the header and background imagery used. 

3.        donbarnett.com 

Question:  Describe the theme of this site. 

Answer:  The moon flower theme is quite an artistic Web site, shows good use of light and dark along with the emphasis given to style of typography.

Question:  Does it seem appropriate for the subject matter?

Answer:  Yes, this is appropriate for a professional artist Web site.

4.       discovery.com 

Question:  What did you think of the visual hierarchy on the home page?

Answer:  Because everything is laid out in the shallow hierarchy, one can access much of the information at the website.  However, this may be confusing to some viewers. 

Question:  Do you think this is appropriate?  Explain.

      Answer:  This may be appropriate for a media website that uses many videos in its presentations.        However, the videos require a high-speed Internet connection.  Otherwise, too much time is required to load the videos.

5.       hotwired.com 

Question:  Do you think the homepage is successful in relaying information clearly and quickly?  Explain.

      Answer:    No, because the homepage is somewhat cluttered.  One has to scan through the many item on the page to find the information wanted.

      Question:  What could make the homepage better?

      Answer:    Simplify the page and remove some the distracting ads on the page.  I suppose hotwired.com needs the ad income to support their work on the website.  They do provide useful information.

6.       blkbx.com

Question:  What do you click on to get into the site?

Answer:    Click on the black box on the page.  However, it is not labeled at all.

    Question:  What do you click on if you ever want to return to the homepage?

      Answer:    Click on the black box on the page.  However, it is not labeled at all.

      Question:   Do you find this intuitive?  Why?

    Answer:    I do not find this intuitive because it is not labeled.

7.       ogilvypr.com

Question:   Do you think there is a strong theme at this website?  Explain what it is.

Answer:    Yes, the color red is the strong theme.  The site is overwhelming with the color red which takes a long while to load (over a minute), even with a high-speed modem.

8.       jennalex.com

Question:   Explain the navigation clues at this site.  What does the designer do to let you know what page youÕre on?

Answer:    The navigation clues are the colored boxes, which do not explain what they were.  Also, this homepage and tier 2 pages take awhile to load.

9.       apple.com

Question:   What is your opinion on the colors used in this site Ð namely the white backgrounds?  Does white  enhances enhance this site or do you think the site could benefit from more color or textured backgrounds?

Answer:   The white background is actually quite pleasing and gives the site a crisp, clean look.  This corresponds with the use of pure white in much of AppleÕs products.   

10.     badjonnie.com

Question:   There is a pull down menu on the right side of the screen on the homepage.  Johnnie uses some very interesting language to describe the link subjects.  Is this appropriate for his audience/theme?  Why?

Answer:   This menu may appeal to his audience and does grab some attention to his theme.  However, potential clients may be turned off by such language.

 

List one site you found that uses a theme and you would recommend to the class.  We are looking for design, not content.  Explain why?

Answer:   One site that I would recommend to the class might be the Sacramento City College site at: 

www.scc.losrios.edu  This seems like a well designed site, with good use of a color theme and clear navigation.