Author: Alsadah Fatima

I find that https://thenorthernpines.com/ is similar to my website. The website is simple with fixed layout that almost has no flexibility to adapt to different web browsers and devices. Their website consist of quiet colors with almost no vibrant colors, which I think is depends on the general atmosphere of the real restaurant. For texture The Northern Pines websites uses a pattern type of wood texture.

Comparing to my website, they include a slideshow that consist of several photos of their actual restaurant. I think this is an advantage that I should consider to improve my website. I tried to make my website a simple and as fast as possible, thus, I did not include many graphics.

I chose to do my review on no9park.com and olivegarden.com. First of all, I tend to like Olive Garden website more because it is easy to know it is a restaurant website. When I first opened No. 9 Park website I was not sure what is it exactly. What came to my mind first was the website is for a corporation because of the huge building background photo and the lack of any photos of food. While surfing Olive Garden website, the design serves the purpose where several food photos are presented. Therefore, according to the book, a good website should be clear and users should be able to quickly figure out where to click and navigate.

Second, Olive Garden website seems more balanced since everything is centered and visible in the first page. However, on No. 9 Park website, I had to scroll down several times to discover the content of the website. While the website is divided into organized sections, scrolling down several times make it lacking the symmetry feel.

Third, I like the colors of both websites. Olive Garden uses more of freshness and energy color which is green, while No. 9 Park uses black color that indicates elegancy, formal, and prestigious. I think that the coloring of each website indicates the identity and style of the restaurant.

I think that each restaurant website goes in different approach. No. 9 Park is a classy restaurant in which the website tries to introduce the owner and chefs, the area, and how luxury the restaurant is. This is visible through using portraits of employees, a landscape background of the city, and their classy tables. However, since Olive Garden is a trendy chain restaurant, it cares more of specials and offers, new dishes, and their mobile application. This is clearly visible by using several images to serve these purposes.

Finally, I think that Olive Garden website is more user friendly due to the hierarchy layout and the ease of navigation. When I visit Olive Garden website, I can easily navigate to where I need to go, and I can easily understand the content of the website. However, I also enjoy surfing No. 9 Park website because it is classy and quiet, but it requires the user to spend extra time reading to learn more about the restaurant.

https://milkshake.app/

The front page of the website is a dynamic webpage where the colors are constantly changing. Most of the front-page colors are active colors such as red, orange, and yellow. These colors give an energy to the website and motivate users to explore the content. The heading title (milkshake) is presented in a smooth font with a reverse text color based on each background color. However, the dynamic front page has also some dark colors which I think is a drawback in this web design because the color change from bright to dark does not provide constant mood to users. To navigate through the website, users can scroll down to browse the content of the website or a user can click on a side menu from the corner to choose what content to browse. In addition, this website design is implementing changing color schemes to provide richness and character to the content.

The second page of the website is showing some design samples that the website has to offer. These samples are automatically changing every three seconds. However, the motion of these samples is annoying because they move fast. The samples are represented in a geometric shape with smooth rounded edges. The third page of the website has a light-yellow background with a red title text and a dark navy subheading. This page allows users to interact with the content where a user can click on a right or a left arrow to browse the sample designs. The last two pages are also using light color backgrounds which match the scheme of other pages.

In general, I like the simplicity of this design. It is easy to browse this website because it has less texting which makes it easier to scan. I also like the rounded buttons that change colors when hovering the mouse over them. The only drawback I think is the use of dark background in the front interactive page. I would suggest using only light and active color to maintain consistency.

Shopping at Amazon.com is simple because the website interface design is user friendly. There is a wide rectangle box to search millions of products with one click. The searching box helps customers finding the desired product by providing auto suggestion phrases. At the upper left corner, there is a list button that opens a list of categories. These categories are the main divisions of the products available on the website. Each division is divided into smaller categories to make it accessible for users to find their desired products. In addition, the main webpage of Amazon consists of other elements such as ‘Deal of the Day’, customized recommendations, and other advertisements.

I find the shopping experience at Amazon.com to be fun and straight forward. There is less typing required to find what I need which is more convenient to me. After finding what I need, there is enough information about the product including reviews, seller, estimated delivery time, price, description, and similar products. After all, it is only a few clicks to add the product to the cart and find out the exact cost and delivery details. Because I already have an account with Amazon, the checking out process is really simple where my address and payment details are already saved. In fact, there is a button in any product page called “Buy Now with 1 Click”. This button can be customized to automatically charge a payment method and ship to an address associated with the button. It accelerates the checking out process for users to save even more time.

In conclusion, I think that Amazon.com is accessible and usable to different users. The interface uses simple words and more graphics to provide more usability to elders and non-educated users. It requires less thinking and more common sense to place an order on Amazon.com.