Web 240
Michael Daniel (Team B)
Kristi Ruddle
7/17/13
During our Team B’s evaluation of the Elias Group’s website we discovered various area’s that could be improved upon in order to make the website more appealing and functional to its users. Below you will find various criteria that we determined to be of value when it came to redesigning The Elias Group website. * Contact – This site is missing an essential part needed in order for it to be able to complete its main function successfully. Without even a single method of contact how will people or companies in need of the services that this site are supposed to offer be able to obtain them? This information should go in the footer of each page as well …show more content…
as possibly having a page of its own to make it easier on the user. * Content – The users of this website are accessing it for a reason and they should be able to glad that they have.
The webpages for this site need to be able to answer the questions that the users may have on how to accomplish the goals that they have formed by accessing this site. If that is not possible then they should at least point them in the correct direction to get their questions answered. * Web Site Purpose – The designer or owner of the website has to come to a conclusion of the Websites main purpose. Once they have decided this then pages other than the main can be created because the website will have a goal, which will result in the designed knowing what direction to take. * Web Page Purpose – Every individual webpage of the website needs to have a specific purpose and it should relate back to the overall purpose of the website. The web pages should enforce the main purpose of the site and offer information or resources to achieve it. * Home page – The use of the past and present portion of the home page is not necessary. The site would be better served with removing these sections and instead replacing them with a better version of a mission statement and possibly internal links or bookmarks that the sites users may find …show more content…
beneficial. * Search bar – This site could benefit from the addition of a search bar. This would allow for its users to be able to search for specific areas that interest them from the sites information. * Help function – It is always a good idea to have a help function when dealing with the public in regards to a website. This function would allow for users to be able to either request help through support staff or find potentially indexed information. * Color scheme – The website has a very generic look to itself, the colors that are being used should be changed in order to make the page stand out more to its potential users. The designers need to be able to walk the line between eye catching and over extravagant.
* Spamming – The website should be direct and to the point. It is good for the home page to have links to several subpages, however these pages need to be relevant to the information that the user is here to find out. The user should not be forced to search through multiple pages of information hoping that what they are looking for is present. * Size – The amount of data that is present on individual pages should not be excessively large. What this means is that the user should not be forced to scroll multiple times through pages of information in order to reach the bottom of a webpage. * Internal Links – If there is large amounts of information that needs to be conveyed then the information should be broken into categories with summaries for each potential topic and then have internal links that lead to more in depth information. * Main photo – The picture that is displayed on the home page is acceptable and it looks presentable for the initial display photo.
However the variation of the picture that is utilized in the pages that follow leaves much to be desired, and therefore can either be replaced or removed entirely. * Photos – The photos that are used on the other subpages of the website should be replaced because if the topics of the subpages are changed then the present photos will not match the topic of the webpage. Also we do not believe that it is necessary to have the photos of the directors of every area displayed on the website. * Footer – Along with the contact information being displayed in the footer portion of the web page, there should also be links to the various different subpages so that it isn’t necessary to navigate through multiple pages in order to reach a specific page that you are interested in getting to. * Font – The font type and size can be changed in order to make it easier to view for the users of this site * Browser compliant – Making sure that the website is compliant with multiple different web browsers is of the utmost importance. * Navigation – The sites navigation needs to be easy to follow and also allow for its users to backtrack to any position that they desire. A good example would be a “breadcrumb” navigational
bar. * Matching – Each page of the website should match in basic design, layout and color. The only thing that should change is the purpose of each subpage. * Links – All links need to be verified and the only ones that should be used are those that are made to sites that are unlikely to disappear. The presence of broken links will place a sites functionality and professionalism into question. * Screen size – The website needs to appear clean and clear at many different resolutions. This is true because the vast majority of the world uses higher screen resolutions. * Speed – The site needs to make sure that with whatever changes take place that it stays optimized. This means that the useful links and all texts should be displayed within a few seconds. Images can run a little slower however to much lag in loading a website may cause a user to lose interest and leave the page.