Sunday, November 13, 2011

Web Design Evaluation

After reading through the article which highlights the essential principles of good web design, I began to see websites in a different light and critically evaluate their design to know if the purpose of the site is achieved by the design or not. After looking through 312 websites, I discovered atrocious designs that weren’t even worth evaluating because they even seem to lack purpose. I however found 10 notably outstanding ones, which seemed to have clear intentions and also defined themselves by their designs to fall within one of two categories – successful designs and poor designs. Let’s proceed to analyze each site in order to justify their classifications.

Successful Designs


At first glance at the home page of this website, you find harmony and so you want to stay and explore. Under careful scrutiny, the site probably followed every principle of achieving a functional and polished website. There is adherence to standards in that at the top left corner of all pages, an element of identity, which has a link back to the homepage, was placed to enhance orientation. If you also know the name of what you’re looking for on the site, the search tool on the top right comes in handy. The page is aligned and balanced while the spacing of elements and white spacing makes everything on the page very visible. Almost everything on the page is interactive (or usable) and gives feedback at rollover, which contributes to navigation.


Their logo alone on the top left corner tells me loads about the group and about their website. Displayed over the top of the homepage are alternative ways to reach them and stay connected. Nearly every element on the homepage is functional for navigation. There’s also good spacing between the elements and a consistent color scheme through the entire website – even surprisingly in the photographs. Their aim is to get visitors to be clear about their vision and to donate, and so the “donate” button wasn’t left out on the home page. If I was seeking for a good cause to support, this website just won my attention.


This website is clearly defined from the homepage and through all other pages with the logo on top to enhance orientation. It has a color scheme, which seems to reverberate even in the pictures. Elements are well spaced out with sufficient white space and also text spacing. There is a good degree of contrast between the background and the text in the foreground and the site follows standards. All menus can be located on the tabs in the menu bar. There is sufficient interactivity for good navigation.


The pictures being rotated in the homepage represents a lot of words and says so much. For those who need a break fro the cold or winter, that homepage wins them over already. The items on the menu bar, contact information and all other information on the home page are usable and match what getaway-seeking visitors may be looking for on the site. The elements are also aligned for a somewhat polished look.


This website represents a company that customizes promotional products and indicated on the home page. The design adheres to standards, as different elements can be located in expected parts of the page. The page has good usability and interactivity. Products with their specific prices are organized in a grid-type arrangement. The elements on the page are well spaced out.


Poor Designs

Where do we start? I really don’t know if I can continue to stare at this page long enough to get its distinct information, but in all honesty the site is a total disaster and visitors will leave feeling worse about the author and more confused than before coming.



The tab over this page indicated home. I doubt that was the intended page name. I also doubt there was any prototyping done after this site design. I clicked on some of the links and an unexpected document instantly started to download on my computer. I had to leave the site before a get my computer infected.

Honestly speaking, I can not look at this page long enough to get an understanding.  There were too many things flying around and text of all fonts colors and sizes splashed all over the screen. If the author paid anything at all to put up this site, then everything he paid can simply be considered a waste of money.

First error I noticed, the page title had all sorts of useful tags to it. That’s a wrong place to use tags. Now there are so many things going on in that page, but nothing seemed to have any harmony with the next. There are a number of grammar errors and many of the links on the page were not usable.

The page title was actually “Yvette's Wedding Dresses Panama City Florida Yvette's Yvette's.” I won’t use this store, not will I advise anyone I know to do so. The site seems like an indication of what you might find when you get there. The page pixel measurement also won’t fit into any browser and require vertical and horizontal sidebars.




No comments:

Post a Comment