Comparison Website 1

Foate’s Ridge

www.foates.com.au

After intial loading of the page, first impression is quite a busy page with an overbundance of text. However, a simple white background, easily identifiable links and left-hand side heading links makes for a fairly simple navigation experience.

However, as you move from the home page to visit links on the left hand side a series of broken page links occur. Moving from one page to the next, some of the page content seems to be the same and it is difficult to find where I am in the multitude of pages within the Foate’s Ridge web site (the use of breadcrumbs would be useful here).

The main Home Page is rather cluttered, and the need to scroll for more information is frusturating. A simpler approach would be to minimise, or remove most of the text and perhaps replace with smaller ‘pop-up’ screens which delve into more detail without losing access to the home page.

Use of low quality images detracts from the overlook of this site to which I feel they could be better placed on the Home Page and through the web site. I do however, like the way it personalises the web page and offers the user insight into the business and in particular, the winery itself.

The idea of being able to purchase wines directly from the producer is nifty, whilst information on where to enjoy the wines in restaurants and the like is more than ample to inform the user of access to their produce. A simple search engine would be handy, with the ability to quickly find a type (i.e. Voigner wine, Semillion Wine etc) rather than clicking through site pages to find what is on offer.

From page to page, not all layouts are uniform. Again, this detracts from the overall ‘professionalism’ of the web site. A standard layout across the site would be beneficial, and by removing or streamlining the content, fewer pages would benefit the end user. Currently, I feel there are too many pages and much of the content could be refined and group together (such as Gape Varieties, Wine & Health, and Food & Wine pages).

I feel there is no obvious flow of pages within this particular web site. The fact the header image is the actual ‘Home Page’ link is found by chance, and the contact page seems to be placed in a peculiar order in the left hand side link table. I’d like to see the Newsletters moved into the Contacts page perhaps in a static table on the right hand side of the page so the user can always ask for information from any point in the web site.