Author: Danielle

Danielle Bobish

Web Design

Prof. Ames

Review#4

 

The competition of our restaurant in terms of content and menu is Ihop. Ihop is known for selling a variety of breakfast delights that caters to all hours of the night and day. The layout of Ihop separated into 9 horizontal rows, 7 if you don’t include the navigation bar/header and media bar/footer. Each row is categorized by a topic that is mostly illustrated by pictures. The main source of unity is color from the pineapples, lemon and tea drink in the top photo, to the sunshine gradient in the next row, then to the slight differentiation of the cheese and fries, to the lights in the restaurant, and then to the eggs and snap chat symbol. The color yellow is said to be a happy color and bring joy to people, but it is also eye catching and allows people to navigate from one section to the next. Blue is also used in a creative way, in the background up top, to the buttons and then to the countdown symbol. Even though there are a variety of textures in this web page, it is unified by color and it works. The texture is not always something to be identified by an object though, the text gives off a fun character that helps with the texture. Paradise is spectacled, but it doesn’t detract the user from navigating the page. Besides the navigation bar at the very top, the page is a single scroll downward. Your eyes are drawn to the center of the page and from there you are met with a variety of advertisements and clickable options.

In conclusion to Ihop as a working website, I believe it is successful at guiding the user through the web pages and giving the user just enough control to feel in control. Colors are used to help give our eyes relief and trail to follow as we scroll. This site is very fun and definitely reflects the character of the actual atmosphere of the location (robsinson). My website caters to the same crowd of late night bites but adds a twist to the idea. Our company is called Whiskey Waffles. We are a late night crowd appealing food craze that caters to the 21& up crowd. Because we are located on the south side and have a lot of night life traffic, our website is to reflect the atmosphere of our joint. We used dark colors to give the effect of little lighting and grey wood is to implement a rustic feel. Our color palate is very neutral containing a lot of greys, blacks and whites. We want minimal lighting in the restaurant and to overall be a fun time and place to be to get your munchies on. My website will also stand out with a creative layout that is more modern. Like most websites, images are a main feature that helps cater the user through our site. Images help create satisfaction and weather or not a user decides to visit us in person is how they determine this.

 

http://www.ihop.com/

Danielle Bobish
Web Design
Prof. Ames

Review #3

The 2 websites I chose to review are Applebee’s and Texas Roadhouse. I chose these 2 because I don’t necessarily live in Pittsburgh, so I am familiar with these local restaurants through the means of their services and brand personality.
I find that both of their sites look balanced, even though they are focused on the middle of the page. The aspects that make these pages unified are their use of color, and layout. In the Applebee’s layout, they are very structured and require minimal clicking to navigate the page. Their use of color also helps create a more distinguished and unified look. The Texas roadhouse layout is similar to Applebee’s, however they have a zoom effect on images that help identify clickable links on their page. Emphasis is put on images primarily based on a scrolling gallery to give you an idea of the menu, as well as the hierarchical navigation. The layout in general of Applebee’s consists of a lot of square and rectangular shapes in nature and consists of a neutral color palette. The layout of Texas roadhouse uses an out of focus background image and then uses a lot of images as links to navigate through their page. The five important things Krug states in his chapter are clear visual hierarchy on every page, naming and graphic conventions, breaking pages into clearly defined areas, obvious clickable links and minimal noise. In these terms, I believe that Applebee’s was more successful in following a correct guideline. Applebee’s uses hierarchy navigation through its tabbed and rollover scrolls. Everything is named accordingly and has a place that fits. Unlike Texas roadhouse however, where rollover clickable images are more emphasized, Applebee’s lacks noticeable click action. Also in terms of noise, Applebee’s is more calm in a sense that it isn’t busy. Your eyes can flow across the page at a good pace without getting distracted.
In conclusion, Applebee’s is a more effective website. Good color palette, strong sense of unity, little noise, all links lead to a reasonable page. There are also a lot of extra features that help the user navigate better like a search bar, an order now roll over tab, and prices on the main page. Overall it is very inviting and fun which helps promote the atmosphere of the actual restaurant.

https://www.texasroadhouse.com/

http://www.applebees.com/?

Danielle Bobish

June 28, 2016

Web Design

 

Review #2

The website I chose to review from www.onepagelove.com was Coffee Finder. Coffee Finder, is a web page that promotes scrolling and clicking based on mood and personality. The design itself is simple and attracts high end users through the use of bold script fonts and light condensed fonts.

The website itself has a limited color pallet and is attracting a more feminine crowd. A light peach adds color to the page in specific points, while the format remains bland in white, central focus. There is very little texture on the page, everything gives the vibe that it is crisp, clean and organized. When scrolling down, you are taunted to play a game of Mad Libs in which as the user describes his or her personality, a fill in the blank clickable option is presented. You can only choose from the options they provide, and in return, the formula that calculates your answers will direct you to a new page for where you can find the type of coffee you prefer and where they are located. This form of interaction is somewhat short with a few simple clicks, but it gets the job done. I almost feel like there could be more, however it is interactive and fun. It keeps the user clicking.

 

http://sfcoffeefinder.com/

Danielle Bobish

June 15, 2016

Web Design

 

Review #1

The website I chose to review is www.chegg.com. Chegg is a website designed for students to rent, buy or sell college books for a fair price. Book rentals are amongst their most popular feature, but they also offer scholarship opportunities, tutors and test preps.

The navigation of this website is fairly easy and requires little to no clicking on the main page to discover where you want to go in a short amount of time. For starters, the main page features a roll-over effect on the tabs appearing from left to right. The far left titles the page and proceeds with available features the site offers; such as books, study, tutors, test prep, internship and colleges. As mentioned before, the central focus on this site is book rental and buying, so they have engaged the viewer in the center of the page with a search bar that also has hints on what to ask. Similar to Google, as you type, suggestions appear with graphics for easy navigation and understanding. In my example, I chose ‘Don’t Make Me Think: Revisited’ by Klug. Once I have clicked on the image of the book that I wanted, it took me to their pre-checkout screen. Here I was given easily navigable and readable options like rent, ebook and buy. The nice feature this website has is the prices next to the options, as well as the savings you potentially earn. This is a thoughtful gesture that encourages the buyer to make the purchase and gives them the piece of mind that they are getting a good deal. After you have added the item to the cart, you can see everything that you have added and proceed to checkout. Using a universal green, people are able to identify how to proceed and where. The checkout button is green and the fonts (in general) are probably Helvetica because it is standard.

In conclusion, this site is very easily navigable and requires little to no thinking. This website is also user friendly on a mobile phone or tablet and has little change in the process of navigation. The color scheme of this website is neutral and is nothing to bright or flashy. The font is readable and a little bubbly, which adds to the friendly vibe it gives to its users. Besides the title, the other fonts are mostly Helvetica (I believe) and are easy to read. If this site had terrible fonts and where unreadable, it would make the navigation process much harder. A good website requires few clicks, yet at the same time clicks are money. I believe Chegg did a good job on making this website student and user friendly based on color, font family, text size, backgrounds and navigation.