With the inception of the Internet came the inevitable birth of the web site. Since the World Wide Web was released to the world in 1993 (a copy of the first web page created by Tim Berners-Lee is kept here),the evolution of the web site has been exponential in terms of the technology employed and the speed of which it has transformed. Along with an ever expanding universe that is the World Wide Web is an ever increasing number of people that design and maintain web pages and web sites.
There are many types of web sites, including news sites, download sites, blogs, corporate sites, commerce sites, search engines, and political sites to name a few. For users of web sites, it can be difficult to determine which one is best. For any given topic, any number of different web sites can be found. One must constantly question the validity of the information found on web sites, while assessing them for ease of use, aesthetic allure, overall appropriateness, and numerous other criteria. For web site designers, one paramount question exists: How do I attract people to a given web site?
One particular type of web site, a commerce site, is used to sell goods. One type of good sold via web sites is computers and computer parts. The web site used by MSY Technology (found here) is one such web site. In terms of user like-ability, this web site has its pros and cons. One aspect that favors this web site is its relative simplicity. It is easy to grasp the overall layout, and only takes a few seconds to scan the entire home page. One aspect that may repel users is its poor use of text size and color. Text ranges from very large and readable, to very small and hard to read. After browsing MSY Technology’s website, what are your general thoughts on its overall usability (or lack there of)? Does it seem like a web site that you would use if you needed to purchase a computer or computer parts? Why or why not? As a user of the site, what attracts you to or repels you from it?
April 13, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Just visiting the mainpage, it appears the website could definitely do a better job of organizing as well as appearance. The lack of colors and background and pictures makes the website appear like a 2 year old has done it. The random bold as well as letter size of many of the words is very distracting and makes the website look very tacky. One of the main things I would suggest for this website would be organization. Get a $50 layout from the internet and use it. There would probably be a huge amount of change by just doing this alone that it would be noticeable. It would also appeal to many more people and they would probably actually know what the website was trying to accomplish. It would also give the website some much needed color as well as better links to other parts of the website.
April 13, 2008 at 10:30 pm
I would not use this website. It looks unprofessional and would make me hesitant to provide my finacial information. If they don’t have the money, time, or experience to make their website look normal, would they be able to provide a secure way to ensure my account info is not stolen? Additionally when viewing the website their slogan is located in such a way that it appears that it states “Best Quality + Best Prices + Best Services Costs You”. Only after further examination did I realize that the intended slogan was Best Quality + Best Prices + Best Services Costs You No More.
April 14, 2008 at 8:45 am
Font size and color difficult to read. layout very difficult to follow. The page isn’t very well organized. It has no eye appeal.
April 14, 2008 at 9:03 am
I had a very poor first impression with the site. The home page was poorly put together. I even sensed a lack of security by being on the wesite. I believe pictures are important, whether associated with the product you’re selling or with the company I’m buying from. After several clicks, I finally found a PDF page that was “scanned” into their site. If I did a search and went to this site, I would immediately leave it for another website that took pride in putting together an appealing home page.
April 14, 2008 at 11:39 am
Overall I would have to support the other comments that have been left by other users. There is no realy symmetry with the site. Organization is lagging and it took me awhile just to find out what it was that they offered. With the ease of using GoogleMaps (as an example), I feel the directions that they provided for their many locations were very vague and could have been better worded. There was not the sense of security in regards to placing online orders. It also would have been nice to let users know what the abbreviations were for on the homepage (such as N.S.W., Q.L.D., etc). Overall a very vague website design and one that would not instill confidence in the average consumer, whether professional or not.
April 15, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I think that there is not much evolution between this site and the ‘first web page’ that you referrenced. I think the site looks sloppy and unprofessional. I would expect a technology based company that deals in computers and/or their applications be a little more savy on web design. In short, I would skip over this page altogether and take my business elsewhere. The one plus, they definitely have the whole ‘discount warehouse prices’ feel going on.
Oh, and if you had not mentioned that whey deal in computers and computer parts, I wouldn’t have known this by their web page.
April 17, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I will respond to everyone in this one ‘reply’.
Jmochal:
You mentioned the use (or lack of) color on the website. I couldnt agree more. The white background gives this web site a plainness that is inexcusable. Even something as simple as a subtle background image could really be a big step in the right direction.
Christa:
You make an excellent point about the unprofessional appearance and resultant insecure feel of the website. In face, this fact had not occurred to me prior to your mentioning it. It is important to remember the purpose of the website, which is to sell computers and related items. It sometimes can be easy to lose track of all the things associated with its purpose (like paying for the items!).
Debi Cruea:
You echoes many of the same points that I had noticed when I first viewed the web page. You also touch on the recurring comment about poor organization. It is also definitely hard to follow the page. It took me a lot of studying before I began to grasp that the page seems to highlight its locations over anything else. By the way, I think they have more stores than Wal-Mart!
Brad:
You again mentioned the insecure feel of the web site. This shows me that people are definitely getting a sketchy vibe from MSY Technology. And I agree: I would absolutely move on immediately to another web site if I stumbled upon this one during a search.
Adam:
There is that security comment again! Also, you make a great suggestion about the use of a widget like google maps. That would certainly improve the web site. Your comment about the abbreviated locations is also accurate. As a technical writer, I consider not fully spelling an abbreviation in its first appearance in a document (or in this case web site) a cardinal sin.
Tiffany:
I am glad you compared this web site to the first web site by Tim Berners-Lee. You are definitely correct in your assessment and I will take it one step further: I believe the first web site is much better than MSY Technologies web site! For one, it is infinitely better organized. Also, its intention is better stated than MSY’s. I even enjoy its use of color more than MSY’s despite the fact that it uses less colors. This is because there is a purpose for using the colors in Tim’s web site (to indicate links), not just random text coloring.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and respond to my essay. It has definitely helped me with my project.
Chris