Post for Hannah

GOOD WEBSITE: http://www.rfu.com/

For my example of a good website I looked at the Rugby Football Union webpage. I use the framework below in red to evaluate it.

Relevance of Information:

›› Content

›› Understandable

›› Updated

The information provided on the website was of high relevance as well as being understandable. The content was covered a broad range of topics and was clearly updated regularly.

Layout of webpage:

›› Easily accessible

The website was easily accessible and clear for viewers to navigate themselves round the different elements of the website.

Navigation:

›› To much or to little information?

There was enough information on the webpage without it being overcrowded, it also had different sources of media such as photos and pictures which broke up the text and gave it a refreshing look.

Links:
›› Any broken links?

›› Problems accessing webpages

There were no broken links or any problems with accessing webpage’s shown on the RFU site and all the information in the links were relevant.

Searching:

›› Search Bar/Menu/A-Z

As well as a search bar to search the website there is also a search bar to find your local rugby club which is very useful and is also located on the front page which allows the viewer easy access rather than searching the whole website for it.

Downloadable resources:

›› Problems with downloads

I had no problems with downloading word documents or e flyers from the rugby website and it was still easy straight forward in completing this task.

BAD WEBSITE: http://www.moosenetwork.com/

For my example of a bad website I looked at the Moose travel tours webpage. I use the framework below in red to evaluate it.

Relevance of Information:

›› Content

›› Understandable

›› Updated

Although the information was of relevance some was not as clear and understandable; it did not seem to be updated as prices of tours had changed when I later emailed them.

Layout of webpage:

›› Easily accessible

The layout was a little confusing as there is so much going on on the front page at once.

Navigation:

›› To much or to little information?

There were links but I had to scroll through a lot of pages to find the information I needed.

Links:

›› Any broken links?

›› Problems accessing webpages

There were a few broken links which were not updated and fixed which made the website look unprofessional.

Searching:

›› Search Bar/Menu/A-Z

There is no search bar which made it more effort to find relevant information.

Downloadable resources:

›› Problems with downloads

I did download anything simply as this was not relevant for this website.

Website Evaluation

Okay never done this before so lets hope it works, knowing me i'll post this to the wrong place but never mind!!

Okay my outline for auditing a website:

Good colours
Clear text
Relevant content
Clear Visuals
Good download tools
Good layout/design
Hyperlinks should work
Good search bars

My good website: www.musicroom.com

The home page is clear and has a good layout. The information on the homepage is all relevant to the genre of the website, for example the advert on the homepage is for music lessons, given they sell this type of stuff people may go through this kind of place to gain access to such teachers.

The menus on this site are very useful, firstly you have the main search bar across the top of the page which enables you to search the whole site or if you prefer there is the drop down menu which enables you to search in certain areas. Secondly, for example, if you choose to view sheet music, the side navigation bar allows you to choose what intrument you want the music for and some, like strings, even have a sub category like, violins, viola or cello. This all makes it much easier for the viewer to find the type of music they are looking for quickly and easily.

Another great part of this site is the download tools, a lot of times you can onto websites and you have to download some software before you can look at what you want, however, the download for the program is never on the site and you have to go searching all round the internet for what you want, not here though! On the musicroom they have an automatic down if it is not detected on your computer and once again saves you time and is very user friendly.

The colours are bright and make the page nice and visable and the size and style of text are very clear and easy to read. This website also has a high Google ranking therefore making it easy to locate in a search. All hyperlinks on this website work.

Bad Website: www.allpoetry.com

Well to start with the homepage is very dull, its all of a very basic layout and website design. Search bars are hard to use because they are drop down menus and if you move slightly off the title for example, it flicks to the drop down menu next to the one you want. Another problem is the log in details they are not in a very visable place, and logins to accounts can take some time to load. At times not all information is viewable.

Another problem with this website is that it has a 'chatterbox' at the side of the screen that everyone can view all the time so when your trying to read someones poetry all you can see at the side is someone conversation being updated second after second which puts the reader off what they came to the site for! Another problem with the site is that a 'comments box' comes across the screen when you are viewing someones poetry however, this can get in the way of the poem so you have to scroll down further than you want to to view it.

The colours of some pages also make it very difficult to see the content of the page, some of the fonts are also small and hard to read and the content of some of the pages is not at all relevent to the site. Not all of the hyperlinks on the website actually work either so you end up with a 404 which is always annoying!

Another problem is the use of their search bars, you can search for a poet if you know their name however, most websites have if you spell a word wrong will give you w link to what they think you meant however, AP does not do this and given the fact that some of the names on here are very difficult to spell this could be a useful tool for them!

Okay I think thats finally it. I'm sure I'll think of something I've missed out though!!

Claire - website evaluation

Our Criteria for evaluating a website:

How easy it is to find, (e.g. on google)
How easy is it to navigate?
How often the website is updated?
Name of the website – is it relevant?
Is there an index on the website?
Is there a search box?- so its easy to find what you want
Are the links valid on the website?
Who are the authors of the website? – are they credible?
Is there an author/date etc for referencing? – is this easy to find?
Is it clear and easy to read? Presentation
Is the information current?
Access – Do you need to be a member/or pay to use the site?

BAD website: http://www.ski-utah-rentals.com/

Annoying cheesy Christmas music that repeats and there is no way to turn it off! I don’t want to even stay on this website long enough to read any of it!! All the colours clash making it very difficult to read, with snow falling in the background annoyingly. The spelling and grammar are incorrect with caps lock in some places and not others and mistakes. There is no search box or index, it is very basic. I cannot tell if the information is current, who the authors are and it would not be possible to reference this website. It is simple to navigate because there is not that much information. The links I clicked on seemed to work, but I couldn’t tell you much about what the site is about as I can’t stay on it longer than ten seconds!!


Good website: http://www.film.com/

This website includes movie reviews, clips, zine & lots of things to read & see including news & box office statistics, superb use of technology & user friendly shopping facilities. The name of the website is relevant to the content and it is easy to find on Google. It is easy to navigate around and also has a search box so it is easy to find any film or anything you are looking for. The text is clear and easy to read, the lay out is well structured with everything in categories, again making it easy to read and find what your looking for.

It is updated daily and all the information is relevant and current. All links work and none are broken. There are no pop ups or problems caused. It is a creditable website and can be referenced if needed and there are direct contact details. Anyone can use the site, it doesn’t require registration to be able to get the information.

New Post on Behalf of Andrea Palfreman

Andrea’s critique of two websites

Our group discussed most of the points covered by everyone else as to what was good and not so good in the design of a website.
My choice for the good website was that of www.chocevent.co.uk. The company, based in East Sussex hires out chocolate fountains for special occasions, and claims to offer the ‘ultimate chocolate experience’, which interestingly ‘whet’ my appetite immediately. The home page was very easy to navigate, there were no ‘pop ups’ and all the links were live. I also thought that the chocolate dripping off the end of the strawberry was an especially good advert to sell their product.
Conversely, for the bad website my choice was that of www.cafeintl.net which I acquired through Google ‘ing’ bad websites. This website had a tune in the background which was irritating, and the only way that this could be turned off was to turn the volume off on my computer. The menu, which interestingly should be their biggest selling point could not be read as the font was too small, furthermore there were no instructions as to how to increase the size. Then I double clicked just by chance to find that the menus spun round and I could read it. It would appear that the proprietors of this café have not thought out or communicated what they wanted to communicate to their customers.

You're getting in to this Blogging thing

Hi Folks, just reviewed the blog posts and nearly half of you have posted something on your website audits. There is also evidence that you have read what others have written too, although no one has actually commented on other people's posts yet!

Main message is to the other 13 who haven't posted yet - don't be shy!

Once you have mastered blogging we can move on to wiki creation!

Ann

I've been having all sorts of electronic problems, trying to "post" remotely!

So I think I'll begin with comments about all websites-this covers my "bad" website bit!

There is a general assumption that everyone, everywhere, can get access to the net. This isn't true! There's a vast amount of the population that have never accessed a website-& probably never will.

I'm not being a technophobe but I think that every website should have some support mechanism for those that are having problems accessing. Furthermore, I think they should try to make sure that their information can be gleaned from other sources, to ensure that they are inclusive & not exclusive!

That's my rant over....I do like some websites & the one I feel is addressing my points, as for each category, the information could be obtained from other sources, is:

www.direct.gov.uk

This has been re-launched to supply web based information to those that have ready access & a "glossy" advertising campaign is being run to raise awareness. (I won't comment on the adverts!)

The website itself is very user friendly as it takes you to where you want to go.

It is easy to read & each category is well laid out.

All the usual features (such as a search facility) are included &, in my experience, they have helped me in my endeavours, instead of causing me immense frustration!

I'd give this website an overall 9/10.

Nicola's Websites

Hi all,
Generally our group discussed criteria factors for good and bad websites in areas of layout, content, and purpose.

This seems to be the general consensus for most and having cheated slightly and searched google for 'good websites' and then 'bad websites' then this also seems to correspond. The two links I am posting will give you more information into these specific criteria.

The first for good, which is: http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/web-development/success-factors/ is useful because as well as describing good criteria it is an good version itself. For example, it is easy to read and find links on, and provides a blog for feedback, which means that it has the potential to be updated regularly.

The second is, http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/
and it is an example of a website that has been specifically designed to show the flaws of a bad web page such as bright colours with flashing pictures, having links to out of date material etc. It also specifically states what all these bad points are as well in case they aren't obvious!