Links For Web Pub III In-Class Exercise 2:
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Links For Web Pub III In-Class Exercise 2:
Annotated Links:
http://photoalley.com/pa/home.cfm?uid=
Mission: Camera web page where customers can select the type of product they desire. Audience: Potential customers This site is well organized. The customer selects the type of product from the navigation bar on the left of the screen; proceeds to a specific product where they are given sub-headings with additional information. All web pages for this site have one name. Each page has a header/footer giving direction to all pages on the site. Under the header is a navigational path showing the path the customer has taken to get to the present location. The
Navigation Bar shows all products and services available on the site. It appears on all pages. This site provides a well prepared purchase page. All information is available including a return policy. The web page was created to make available, provide information and purchase opportunities for the customer. It succeeds in its mission.
http://www.oscars.com/
Oscars.com is a good example of links that are well organized. There are only seven main links off the home page: Nominees, Style, Oscar Night, Exclusives, Oscar Legacy, Fun & Games and Gallery. This is a good,
manageable number of links, not overwhelming like so many sites are. I like the placement of the links in the top left corner of the page. They are the first thing your eye sees, they seem to be in the right order in terms of importance and it's very clear what you'll get when you click on any link.
In the middle of the page are a few more links. This section is basically just elaborating a little on what you'll find in the main links, a little bit of a tease to get you to click. The way the information is presented is very effective.
http://www.ucsb.edu/
University of California, Santa Barbara's web site is simple, visually
pleasing and to the point. There is a big aerial shot of the campus in the
middle of the home page, and a top-to-bottom navigation bar on the left. This
clearly defined navigation bar in a table form is the asset of this web page.
Although it has 10 (one more than ideal) links, it provides the user with very
precise and self-descriptive titles for easy navigation. As you roll the mouse
over each of these titles, a one-line description of the link shows at the
bottom of the aerial shot. The navigation menu starts with a link called, "Don't know where to
begin? Click here". This link is to a page that discusses different ways
of navigation on the web site. The content is relevant and focused on
simplifying the navigation of the user. Indeed, this is a great start for the
user. In addition, the links have clear and comprehensible organization. The
navigation menu starts with helping the user with their navigation, and
progresses towards addressing the plausible needs of the students (past,
present and future), then moving on to the Administration, and finally ending
at a search engine. Besides, I am a 'Gaucho'!
ASSOCIATE-IT
Associate-It clearly states the objective of their site as being the Ultimate
Directory of Affiliate Programs. They clearly separate in bold blue headings
the various companies willing to participate. This is easy to navigate and
keeps the main focus of the site on the goal and not on the sponsors.
Aim: Visit Whirlpool and gets info on their fridges
Audience: most adults
First impression home page loads very because of a picture that didn't seem necessary.
Home page has 3 main headings (each of which has subtopics when you mouse over
it): I want a Whirlpool , I own a Whirlpool , We are
Whirlpool.
Mousing over the first option gave me the products list which was my first
click. The next page had pictures of all their appliances and on my second
click I got info on all their fridge models. A third click gave me dimensions,
price, and all the info I would need to buy a fridge.
to Whirlpool
Trina Turk
In my opinion this web page has organized links. There easy to read and
specific: Shop, Press, Stores, Trina, and Contact. Each link takes you
directly where it says it will which is always a plus! They're also organized
in an orderly fashion as well. Since Trina is a designer, the Web Site's goal
is ultimately to have people buy her clothes. Shop is the first link on top.
Since many people don't know how famous her designs are they put the Press
link second, in order to show them all the Press she's gotten. The next link
is Stores, to show where Trina sells her clothes in each city. The second to
last link is Trina, because anyone who doesn't know who Trina Turk is can find
out about her and see her picture too. The last link is Contact info where you
can find out how to purchase any of her clothing. Trina's site is so easy to
navigate and anyone who doesn't know the web well can get around just as easy
as someone who does.
Well Organized Links: Chrysler
Motors
I'll preface my comments about this site by noting that I
am a fan of frames for the purpose of implementing a sound web site
navigational structure. My feeling is that this site contains a well
organized structure of links which I'll explain. The primary
navigation frame on this web site is a left justified page set to a width of
180 pixels. The remaining page frames serve as the main content area. The
navigation structure in this frame contains a list of 10 text links, each
representing a category/subject matter section of the web site. Each item is
vertically separated by a thin horizontal rule extending as long as the
widest text link. To me, the organization and descriptive value of this link
structure was coherent and easy to follow. I found that I was able to
navigate easily through the web site. This navigation frame and its list of
text links stays present during while navigating to any of the site pages. I
favor the organization of links on this site because it is structured within
a navigation hierarchy that I'm both familiar and comfortable with, MS
Windows Explorer. The left frame/pane has it's top level links which will
expand and reveal a child links when selected. The child list is indented
and the previously mentioned horizontal rules that visually separate the top
level links become even more useful when the total list size is larger. The
child list items will contract if a higher level or other link category is
selected. Of note is that there are not icons used in any of the navigation
links in this frame, I certainly did not find them necessary. This 'Nav Bar'
system of links is my preferred construct for a large web site.
www.bestdoctors.com The simple
folder-tab menu at the top of this page makes it easy to navigate and see the
information available on this page. For example, a menu FIND A DOCTOR takes
you to a page where you can do exactly as the menu said. It walks you through
a very easy to understand process and does not lead you to maze of 100
questions before giving you the information. In spite of the various
information that are scattered on the home page, the additional organized menu
on the left side are self-explanatory and directly provides the information
http://www.buffaloexchange.com/
This site's navigation is excellent and a pleasure to navigate - with the
exception of the annoying popup window, which occurs upon accessing the site
and reoccurs upon returning to the homepage (although, the popup promotes a
"gift with $50 purchase," which few shoppers would turn away). The
site has clean and clear direction and structure, with a limited number of
links. The navigation is not top-heavy, with bars on the center left and at
the bottom. These navigation bars carry through from page to page. The site
offers multiple navigation approaches (text, and graphics, with
"onmouseover" and "onmouseout" and "alt" tags),
good text links (brief and intuitive names, which are all in lower case
without spaces) and a homepage icon ("Buffalo Exchange" logo). Also,
the clickable image map on their "locations" is effective and
superb.
A site that has well organized links is SDSU.edu
The site includes a clean clear direction and structure. I like the simplicity
of the navigation bar and the limited number of links. It is very easy to move
around the site. I also like the colors that are used for the links and the
tiled background. It is very easy to search for a department or other web
pages with the search button on the homepage.
Calistoga Inn has a very well laid
out navigational structure. The site has a navigation bar on the left side of
each page. All are linked nicely together. Information is very easy to find do
to this bold, clearly labeled navigation bar
I liked www.dell.com because the
navigational tabs and links are organized in different categories and easy to
access within one or two clicks. I especially like the useful topic-navigation
at the top
The Auscomp website contains a well
thought out navigation structure. This is expected, considering that Auscomp
manufactures a site navigation software product. On the left side of the page,
there is a tabbed index folder that lists the various options on the site.
There is a tab navbar at the bottom of the page that offers broader category
options and the main screen highlights the links to their various products.
Additionally, the site offers options to browse through a mirror site at a
more local network.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/default.asp?cp1=1
MSNBC is an online news site. As such, it is constantly changing. At work,
I have this site set up as my 'home' page when I bring up my browser, so I
have become somewhat familiar with it. What I like about this site is that the
headlines are displayed in the middle of the screen. The currently breaking
news is at the top, and the main stories are under that. There are links on
the left hand side, organized by subject area: business, sports, national,
etc. When these links are followed, it is possible to see the day's news by
category. This seems a very logical and easy-to-follow structure. The user can
get as much or as little news as they want. When a news story link is
followed, there are sometimes links to other sites with further or ancillary
information. I like this approach. If I find I am interested in the story, and
would like to know more, I usually can find out more. If I have read enough, I
can return to the main page and find another story that piques my interest.
There are some 'fluff' links off of the main page--gossip columns,
relationship quizes, vote for something, etc. I guess that is true of all
newspapers, isn't it?? The user can follow these links or not, depending on
their interest, or what else is going on at work that day.
Insiders Italy
Marjorie Shaw's Insiders Italy has on its home page only 5 links but it is
everything customers need. Introduction suggesting first reading provides
general info about company, its owner and services. Next links: Services and
Fees; Sample Travel Plans; Contact Us and Insider's Best give all information
necessary to make decision if one wants arrange holidays with Marjorie or not
http://www.pets.com/
I feel pets.com does a great job in organizing their links. They separate
their consumers into communities (i.e. Dog Owners) and make it easy for them
to navigate through the site.
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Annotated Links:
http://www.7up.com/
Mission : Information? Entertainment? Audience: Users? distributers? children? This is a loud extremely annoying site with bubbles, loud
noises and a purpose in question. It is constructed of popup screens based on "active X control". There are no links. Following one path, brings up a second popup window. Popup windows do not have page names. BUT you CAN get a free t-shirt...One of the "pages" consists wholly of streaming video. Another is a confusing game. A third is a timeline of 7Up history. There is not organization. However, in all fairness, this might be what they MEANT to do.
http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/
KGTV Channel 10's web site, thesandiegochannel.com, is a good example of a web site with poorly organized links. First of all, the site's name doesn't make a lot of sense. Most people know Channel 10 by "KGTV". While typing in "kgtv.com" will take you to the web site, it seems a bit confusing to call it "thesandiegochannel". As far at the actual links go, at the top are six links in a blue navigation bar: Legal, Deals, Automotive, Career Center, Yellow Pages and My E-news. These are not the most important links and should not have such prominent placement and size. There are 10 main links in the yellow nav bar (a few too many for my taste): News, Weather, Traffic, Sports, Troubleshooter, Staying Healthy, Technology, Money, Entertainment and KGTV (what?? I thought this whole site was KGTV, now I'm really confused...poor choice of a name for this link, maybe "Inside KGTV" would be better). Also on the home page, 11 links to new stories and then a whopping 128 links to other information (including what's in the drop down menus and ad banners). This makes the site way too cluttered and you have to search too hard for what you want.
http://www.worldwebcasting.com/
This hyperlink does not give any indication where is it going to lead to ie.
check mail, making icons obscure will degrade the value of the icon as people
will ignore it altogether. You have to move the mouse over the icon to
even know it is a hyperlink.
http://www.elle.com/
This page looks like a busy magazine table of contents. It contains lots of
different link lists - multiple levels of organization existing at the same
time. The top of the page seems to contain the top level navigation bar,
however, the really interesting content seems to be contained in a secondary
link list that is drilled down for us on that first page. I do not like this
page or bunches of grouped navigation/links. Even if the object of this page
was to mimic the look and feel of an issue of their magazine, a magazine table
of contents is somewhat easier to follow - and certainly explains the sections
better.
MSN HOME PAGE
Microsoft's Home Page is nothing more than the webs version of entertainment
tonight. There is no direction on the front page and it always has some movie
star with nasty behavior or articles that promote less than perfect behavior.
This is the focus of their site as the pictures draw the eye to that point.
Everything else is so crowded and busy and annoying that you want to leave
their page immediately.
Aim: To visit Nikon.com and get info on a telescopic lens for my
camera
Audience: age 15 and over
First impression home page loads slowly because of graphics that could
have just been text links. "Pick a country " in the home page is
your first click. The second page has links on the right and at the bottom of
the page. The most important ones seem to be at the bottom and in very
small print. There is a search button there, but you cannot type in a
keyword. The site has not logical path to go down and is very confusing.
to nikon
If you look at Toyota's site the general organization is good. Main menu is on
the top. When you click on any of them, you go to a new page and the submenu
of related topics is on the left side bar. However the home page has the main
menu on the top and the name of all their car-models on the side bar. This
sidebar should appear on the page about their vehicles to be consistent with
the rest of the pages. Frames have also been used in this site and it is easy
to get lost since the URLs don't change.
Toyota .
Jaguar's homepage displays
a number of poorly organized links. Firstly, under the column, "Please
choose a country," there is no interactive link. Aesthetically, the page
is very dark, making it difficult to see the images and links. While trying to
create a certain effect, the page is not easy on the eye and creates a
claustrophobic atmosphere. Too many flash images make for very slow downloads.
Also, the repetition of the Sting advert gets to be a bit much after a while.
www.tahoe.com This site is a case of
repetitive information, not to mention links that don't work. I went to this
site to check out their classifieds so I can advertise my own site for a
vacation rental in Lake Tahoe. At first glance, it was a little confusing as
to which link I should click. They have one that seem to give information on
how to advertise on the Tahoe Carson newspaper. And another one that points to
a place where you can make reservations. Upon checking both links, I
ended up in a page where the links stopped working. I was not able to find
what I was looking for and it did not even provide me a way to go back to the
homepage.
http://www.imdb.com/
This site's navigation is fair but somewhat confusing to navigate. There are
too many ways to navigate. The site has fairly clean and somewhat clear
direction and structure but too many links. The navigation is top-heavy, with
primary navigation tabs and secondary navigation text links at the top. The
site also has text links at the bottom but they are inconsistent with the tabs
and text links at the top. This navigation carries through from page to page.
The site offers multiple navigation approaches (text and graphics, but is
inconsistent with "alt" tags), fair text links (brief and intuitive
names but most are partially upper case and some have underscores) and a
homepage icon ("IMDb" logo). Also, the site does have a powerful
search engine and a wealth of content but has inconsistent content from page
to page.
A site I dislike because the links are poorly organized is Yahoo.com
I don't like that on the homepage there is so much information to go through.
The site had too many links and information on the first page. It takes a
while to find the link that I what to make a connection to.
Doctor Design Services, www.doctordesign.com,
is not organized because the links are referenced on the left panel and at the
top. To some, redundancy may be a good thing but for others it looks
unorganized
http://www.netscape.com/
I chose this site because it contrasts pretty well with MSNBC.COM. It
contains a fair amount of news, and also some other things. The news section
isn't well laid out at all. On the left side of the screen are a few headlines
and a link to 'more news'. It is all run-together text, and is difficult to
read. There are some other news stories off to the right hand side of the
screen. To me, it would be much clearer if they were all together. You can get
to the better-organized news-by-category links by following the 'more news'
link. But the home page's layout is pretty dismal. There is so much going on
with this page, that it is truly overwhelming. In addition to the news, there
is way too much shopping, there are tools, a search engine, classifieds,
language links, and links to just about anything and everything. I know this
site is a good resource--but I find it very difficult to use because it tries
to do too much.
Rosanna's Tours
I find Rosanna's Tour web site as a great looser in it's category. Here is why
from the point of view of the navigation:
- There is to many links.
- To see all the choices there is the necessity to scroll down almost
another two screens.
- Name of the company Rosanna's Europe still does not explain to much
- Beginning with :"Who we are......." Is really great for the
company but not necessarily for the visitors.
- After some annoying scrolling one can see: Honeymoons.......
Weddings....... Custom Tours....... Why choose us ?.......
Italy.......France.......(other countries)... Wine and Cooking Itineraries
in Tuscany & Venice.......Testimonials....... Prices......
- This order does not make to much sense to me. For example Link "Why
choose us" I would expect in the end of this list or maybe connected
with "About Us". Definitively non in the middle.
- Entering deeper into the site I felt lost.
- Under "About Us", after a few introductory words I have found
general information about the tours! Fortunately I was interested in the
company, so I found out about booking procedures, changes, protection and
another FAQ!
- On other pages except index, from bottom nav bar diapered Ireland and
the order from the first page has been changed. I am lost!
- E-mail link is announced in this way: "To select the most
comfortable way for you to contact us click here". Personally I don't
like when someone tells me what is more comfortable for me. I don't like
to guess that what this what I am clicking, is a link to their e-mail.
http://www.sandiego.com/
SanDiego.com has poor organization. When I went to their homepage I was
completely confused with the purpose of the site. Plus, many of the links did
not work
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