Author: abalenciaga

I decided to choose Bravo Franco Ristorante and Six Penn Kitchen for this review.  I thought that the top bar navigation on both sites were extremely similar and I liked both of them.  The nav bars incorporated both their logos and and offer everything I knew I was looking for.  I also liked that Six Penn Kitchen had a sub nav bar once you clicked menu.  Bravo Franco Ristorante had two separate pages for their lunch and dinner menus.  I liked that Six Penn showed you what menu you were on and didn’t take away the option of going to different menus on the second nav bar.  Bravo Franco took you to only one menu then you had to scroll the whole way down to bottom of the page to pick other menu types.

I liked the background image on Bravo Franco’s page and the white container that held all the information.  The red and black text on white stood out and I didn’t really struggle to read them.  I would have liked to see the menu items be centered on the page because it looks like there is a lot of open space to the right of all the text.  With Six Penn all text is center and uses the space of the page very well.  The dotted likes work to break up the sections of the specific menus.

I feel like Six Penn’s website is better than Bravo Franco’s because Six Penn is just a more visual site.  The sites are very similar in what they offer on the nav bar and effectiveness of finding what I need.  Bravo Franco’s lacks on the simplistic look of the page.  Bravo Franco has a very text heavy website where as Six Penn uses more pictures effectively.  They show their interior and exterior to their advantage as well as having galleries so that you can see and understand the atmosphere there.  Bravo Franco’s style is just not up to par with Six Penn in utilizing images and their well balanced division of their page.  I think that although content is pretty similar, Six Penn has the edgy due to style and organization of their contant

My review of a one page Parabellum Studio http://www.inparabellum.com/ . It is a website for a fashion company that uses multimedia to show there work. The site starts off really crisp and clean and the black text on a white background makes it really easy for me to see what I need to see. The hierarchy of text makes everything very easy to understand and that continues throughout the page. What I thought was really cool when I first opened up the page was that there are randomized lines that go everywhere your mouse goes.  I thought it was a really neat idea and different.  The lines did not distract or take away from the text but I did wish it continued in the white parts of the rest of the site.

As I continues to scroll down on the page I notice that the site begins to bring red and grey into the color scheme. The red and grey bring great contrast to the site and continues the crisp look. I don’t really understand the crumpled paper but the image looks well made and brings my attention to the two pictures off to the side. The text takes a back seat due to the red image standing out but is still not hard to find or read. Three more lines show up that spread apart as you continue to scroll down the page. It is not really the random patterns I still want but they add a nice look to a simplistic page.

Scrolling down more I notice the site will be alternating between image on the left, text on the right and image on the right and text on the left. This makes the site a little less repetitive. Along with switching the side of the text and image, it also rotates the red and grey between the image and background. The site continues the idea of the lines that spread when you scroll down more.

After scrolling two more images and getting a quick summery off all the aspects of Parabellum Studios, I come across text on the right that says people. On the left next to the text is nine pictures of people in an angled style. When you put your mouse over a picture it tells you who they are and what they do but it doesn’t tell you anything else about the people that work for Parabellum Studios. You can click the two arrows below the text to navigate through the 20 employees they have listed.

As you scroll down further you have your good old contact us then on the very last part on the bottom left they have their location on a google maps. My only problem with the map is that it will not take me to the google maps of there business.  It has the little red dropper like google maps but it takes you nowhere which was disappointing.

As a whole the site is really crisp and clean with color contrast. It is very easy to read and understand what the Studio does because it does not clutter the page at all, everything is very simple and your eyes just flow down the page as you scroll. The site very successful and I truly enjoyed the look and flow of it the first time I looked through it. The second time I started to nit pick and wanted things like more randomized lines and more info about the people working for the studio and also the map. The design works because of how simple the creator made it, they kept the colors simple and have high contrast, the images aren’t busy and let your eye flow from image to text. I the only thing the site is missing is a little more interaction with its graphic images, other than that it is a very strong and successful one page website.

Amazon has always been very good to me when I search for something.  I was looking for guitars because I am always looking into guitars but because its such a broad spectrum and I wanted to see how Amazon would help me find what I’m looking for.

First thing that was really nice was when I typed in “guitars” in the search bar it automatically showed different types of guitars I could also search for or begin to narrow down my search.  It gives me different departments I could look in first like “Instruments” or “Toys”.  Then Amazon gave me different ways to finish my search like “guitars for kids” or “guitars for sale”, again giving me the option to narrow my search fast so that I could find what I’m looking for and get on with my day.

So once I searched “guitars” I noticed immediately that Amazon was built to be scanned. Everything important stands out from the other text due to size and color. To me having price in red is the biggest thing because it catches the eye and when people know what they are looking for the next thing is comparing prices.  Amazon also offers more refined searches on the left side bar.  For me when I was looking to see how Amazon would help me find a guitar this is exactly what I wanted. The side bar starts by giving you more specific categories under your search, so I had different options like “acoustic guitars”, “electric guitars”, “kits” etc. I decided to refine my search and click on “electric guitars” and It brought me to exactly what I wanted.  Amazon still stayed very skim-able and yet again giving me even more ways to refine my search so that it was easier for me to find what I am looking for.  Categorizes like brands and price ranges allowed me to really narrow down what I am trying to find and also giving me a lot of different options.  The best part was the fact that It was easy to find different subcategories, I wasn’t hunting around the website trying to find where I can refine my search.  It was right there and easy to look through and find another category.  Along with the subcategories, Amazon is great with leaving bread crumbs. Say I keep digging and digging for something but I then decide to hop back to a category I was in 3 pages ago then I just have to look up and click back to that category instead of using the back button like everyone else.

The ordering process my have been the easiest part of the whole experience.  There is nothing tricky about it. Everything that you need to click to proceed with your order is very visible and is obviously a button to press. I would say the page after page is a little much but you know what you have to do on each page, there is nothing to try to trick you.

I would say Amazon has everything down to a science when someone comes to their website to buy something. It is simply, user-friendly, not cluttered, and you can get in and get done very quickly. My shopping experience with Amazon is what every site’s should be, quick and painless.