What are the goals of Apple’s website? How does Apple’s website address the needs of a user who has just purchased their first MacBook? (Chapter 3)
- The goals of Apple’s website is to showcase their products and explain to users everything that an Apple product can help them do. Apple likes to show their consumers that it isn’t that hard and they are user friendly, especially if they want to create/interact with content.
- Once the user clicks on the Macbook that they have purchased, they have access to every detail they could need or want to know about their new device. Apple provides written and visual information about the technology itself as well as the interactability of the device. If the user has any questions, there is also a section of the website where they can find answers or contact Apple Support.
What are the functional specifications of Facebook’s wall? If you are not on Facebook what are the specs for the signup page? (Chapter 4: Functional Specifications, Content Requirements and Prioritizing Requirements)
- I have a Facebook account but I never use it. From the interactions I have had with the website and app I feel that Facebook has a major drive for user generated content. By this, I mean that Facebook’s main function is to give every user the same tools to create, share, and show interest in different organizations or subjects. Facebook provides users with a “status” and a “wall” to provide information to their “friends” and interact with each other. Facebook even further developed their “Like” button to a “reaction” button so that they could show more emotion and exactly what they were feeling regarding a post. From my experience (or lack there of), Facebook is more of a platform with everything set up to be used. It also has ads which are meant to engage users and potentially interact with them. The ads are also geared towards each individual user’s account based on their likes and interests and searches. This function makes it possible for Facebook to learn about each user. All of these details are functional specifications that the makers of Facebook knew were critical to the success of their website/app.
What are four architectural approaches to information structure? Find one example of each. (Chapter 5: Information Architecture)
- Hierarchal
- www.bjsrestaurants.com, or other restaurant pages alike, have a navigation bar with links that drop down from the menu to offer more options and paths. The links in the drop downs are related to the parent link but offer more information.
- Matrix
- When shopping online, I may narrow my search for dresses by color, size, cut, brand, and fabric. This allows me to search for several different things at once to help narrow my search because I have more that one need asking to be met all at once.
- Organic
- This one is confusing me a little bit because I am having a hard time finding examples. I think that a good example of an organic structure would be buzzfeed.com. Any link you click on leads to a completely new page with information only related to the link you just clicked but nothing relating to your previous searches/clicks. Everything seems a bit random and without much structure, but I think some more examples would be a big help in clearing this up for me.
- Sequential
- Book or article–meant to be read in a specific order so it is given in a specific order. I’m not completely positive about this example, but something like an online test could qualify as sequential. There is a specific order that the user is directed to take and you cannot move on until you have completely the first section provided.
What percentage of The Huffington Post index page is navigation, and what percentage is content? What about Google, Wikipedia, and Etsy? (Chapter 6)
- The Huffington Post
- Going off of the index page, about 98% of the page is navigation. The only content that I see is from the headlines within the links.
- Google
- For this index page- which I’m assuming is just the search bar and logo along with the links to gmail accounts/spin offs- it is all navigation. The only thing that I can think of that would be considered content is the Google symbol itself. This is because they sometimes have art featured or special links within the logo that would be considered content more than navigation (or maybe an alternate/creative way of navigating).
- Wikipedia
- This index page is probably 99% navigation besides the small blurb that says who Wikipedia is hosted by towards the bottom of the page.
- Etsy
- Etsy seems to have a lot more content because the links are all within their ads/stock photos. This is tricky though, for me at least, because I’m not sure of it should be considered content or navigation since the goal of the content is to be clicked to navigate to something else. Since there is more content visible on this page, I want to say it’s close to 60% content, 40% navigation (even though I feel like those numbers could flip flop).
How does http://landor.com guide the reader’s’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important? (Chapter 7: Follow the eye )
- This website makes it so that the user can only see one visual and relating text at once. This makes it easy for the user to stay focused on what Landor wants them to be focused on. Everyone reads from left to right, so when the text is on the left, it allows the reader to receive an explanation first and then move on to the visual. Sometimes there is only text or only a visual, which only intensifies the users focus on that one piece of information.