Comparison Website 2

Goundrey Wines

www.goundrey.com.au

On first impressions, this particular website has a very professional feel, a subdued and calming colour scheme and easily identifiable links to various sources of information about the business and their offerings.

A static layout across all pages within the web site is impressive, and the navigational bar which resides on top of each page is easy to search various sections of the site. I particularly enjoyed the simple drop down menus under each heading which allows the user to pick and choose where they would like to be directed. However, the draw back is the menu remains on the screen until the user rolls over the main heading to retract the menu options.

Another nifty layout design is the right-hand side table which offers the user extra or complimentary information to support the page they are visiting. Each page is relatively quick to load, an important factor in any usability design, even with the crisp and detailed images used through the site.

Amusingly, the web site promotes Fox River Wines, which this paper is based. A simple one page overview of the winery and its produce seems more attractive and professional that Fox River Wines all together.

The Contacts page is easy, clean and simple to use. I particularly appeal the basic fields required to be completed – this way the user can decide what information they want to submit, rather than comulsory fields so many sites use today.

However, the site does have a few draw backs. There is a lot of text to read and to some extent I feel the‘happy-talk’ (Krug, 2006) is uneccesary. It fills the pages but adds to the user needing time to scan for the information they are after, not to mention the extra scrolling required to review each page. Secondly, I like the use of ‘bread-crumbs’(Krug, 2006) so I know where I’m going and how I can easily get back to where I’ve been. Thirdly, the links in the page do not change colour to indicate pages I’ve already visited. Browsing can therefore be somewhat frustrating when re-opening pages I’ve alreaddy viewed.

Finally, a simple search engine would benefit this web site for the user to quickly and easily pinpoint the information they are looking for, rather than trowel through all the web site pages.