Web Design Critque

1IT110 Web Design Critique

The two websites I am going to assess and compare is Amazon.co.uk and Ebay.co.uk. Both of these websites are e-Commerce websites. This is where the business is primarily run electronically. These two websites are slightly different. EBay is a online auction place where anyone can advertise to buy and sell therefore offers a service as advertise placements whereas Amazon sells a variety or products from DVD’s to toys. I will assess these websites on the usability and accessibility on the user. Concentrating on key issues such as Navigation of the website, use of graphics and Text.

The usability and accessibility of a website is key to its success. A fully functional Intuitive website that is assessable and available for everyone is what this means. The usability is mainly the ease a user can use a website efficiently. Issues that affect this are content, giving precise information the user is looking for. Page layout, clean and simple to help the user find the information quickly. Using standard colours to save confusion and to be functional with all web browsers. HTML coding to keep the website smooth and useable and finally download speed of a website. Studies have shown if it takes longer than 10 second to download the website the user has lost interest in the page and left the web site.

Accessibility is how available the website is to people. Aspects that are involved with this is making websites that will work on all computers, available for people with disabilities such as sight or sound and the use of correct languages.

Under UK law all non-personal websites must be made accessible to everyone. Meeting the WC3 guidelines is what is required. Following this guidelines such as having equivalent alternatives to audio and visual content and making a clear smooth easily navigational website can ensure a good accessibility of a website.

Amazon is one of the first companies to sell goods over the Internet. Established in 1994 it concentrated on selling books. Now it sells all kinds of entertainment goods to all over the globe.

The navigation system on Amazon good making it very easy to find what you want. As you enter the website you are faced with some options to help you find what you want. At the top of the page you have a series of navigational links that direct you to different sections of the website. These are set out in a tab style in bold font where your eyes are easily drawn. Within second you could be in the books section or the sports and leisure section depending on what you require. This function is useful for users to browse the products if they do not have a specific demand. Along with this way of navigating you get a more of a specific search on the left hand side of the webpage. This is set out in standard link style, blue and underlined. Universally know symbol of a link to another item. This second navigation tool helps users quickly find a more specific product. Finally if a user knows exactly what they are looking for they can use the search function. They type in their request and Amazon quickly comes up with results to fit their description. These navigational tools are essential to the website usability success. Users can browse and find quickly what they are looking for smoothly with no complications. In terms of accessibility it is a simple website which should work on all browsers, has universal styled links, simple colours and appropriate language. However I could not find any support for people with disabilities for them to access the website.

The graphics for the website are only used where needed. Creating a clear and clean look to the sight making it easier to navigate and find the information you require. All the products have pictures, which is detail that the customer would need. The pictures are of different size depending on what stage that you are it. If you are browsing through products they are small so they do not get in the way and you can scroll down quickly through products without getting bombarded with big pictures. The pictures when you have selected the product are of a sufficient size next to a description of the product so you get a good overview of what you are buying. Then an issue they have resolved for the accessibility they have enabled you to enlarge the image if you want a more detailed view or if you have a vision disability.

However the adverts are of a bigger side on the right margin of the page, which could be seen as a distraction for a customer. But that is the point of the advertisement to get their attention so the use of the bigger images is effective in its role. The colours on the website are used effectively to create a clean simple but professional looking website. The main themed colours are a white background with black font and blue headings. Very simple so it does not distract or confuses a user in anyway but still keeps it looking professional.

The text is in a formal font and the standard colour of black therefore is easily readable. Headings are in orange and are of a bigger size .The products are in the blue link style signifying to the user that it’s a link to more detail of the product However it is of a small size and the option of getting bigger text is not there like you can with the pictures. Leading to the accessibility of people with vision disabilities may find it difficult to read the text.

Finally the layout looks like it has been designed with the use of tables. This technique is perfect to keep a well-structured and simple layout, which is easy for a user to use. A negative issue is that all the information is in screen and you would be required to scroll down to find information however this is expected of a shopping website due to the amount of products. It is only limited to 12 products a page which keeps each page as small as possible. Options to organise the results such as best sellers, relevance and price is a great addition to help the usability of the site to help the user even more to find what they want which is the main object of the website. Every page has a view basket link enabling a customer to go straight to the checkout page for an easy and hassle free purchase, which would have an affect if people will buy the products. The easier the search and the easier the payment the more users would use this service. Creating an account with Amazon is yet another way to increase the usability for the user details and preferences are already saved to save time. Also they even suggest items you may be interested in from prior purchaces.

Overall this website is a clear easy to use website making it a very useable website enabling customers to browse and find products very quickly which