The two websites that I looked at for the third review were Burgatory.com and Sixpennkitchen.com. When visiting Sixpennkitchen.com, I immediately noticed that the logo of the restaurant was displayed to the left corner as is typical for websites, but it was not that much larger than the other text on the web page and the logo seemed to blend in a bit with the main navigation bar. Burgatory.com was a bit different in the way that the page length was altogether shorter and the navigation bar was to the right side of the webpage. I noticed that when on a separate page, both websites have the feature that if you click on the logo in the left corner, you are immediately taken to the home page. Both of the websites include a site i.d. , utilities and sections on each page but neither one includes a search bar anywhere. Both of these websites include the feature that if using the navigation bar and clicking on something like the menu, the title would then be highlighted in order to show a visitor where they are on the website. Neither website above has an overload of extra words or information, Burgatory keeps their pages simple with little content and more of a basic design. While Six Penn Kitchen is a bit more sophisticated with their website, including more of a description under such tabs like the Events part of the website. Although both websites contain imagery that is interesting, Burgatory is on a higher level when it comes to catching a visitor’s attention. Their images of the Burgers at the restaurant are up close, interactive and larger than even the logo on the home page of the website. This gives the visitor an idea of what Burgatory is really about and what makes them Burgatory without using text or a basic welcome and introduction on the home page. These burgers on the home page also give Burgatory the chance to let the visitor navigate to the menu by running their mouse over the burger being displayed and clicking the menu dialog box that pops up. On the home page of Six Penn, you cannot click on any of the images or navigate any other way besides the navigation bar at the top of the page. This makes their website a little less interesting mostly because it isn’t as interactive to a visitor. When looking for the utilities at the bottom of the site, I noticed that neither site included one. For the needs of the two businesses, this seemed to be alright and did not change the use of the website when it came to navigating through it. Altogether both of these websites are mostly successful for their own individual uses, style and needs for their businesses.
Review 2
For the second review, I chose the single page website Letterboxd from onepagelove.com. Letterboxd is the social network for film lovers and the page that I had visited was a yea-rend wrap-up for 2015.
As discussed in the textbook, the usual setup for a website is that the logo will be in the top left corner as Letterboxd had. To the right, there was a three line icon which usually means there is a list that can help navigate the site. Although Letterboxd was a single page website that scrolls up and down, the drop down list took me down to whatever movie was discussed further down on the website instead of leaving the page altogether or scrolling through everything. The fact that the website had a list made it easier to use. To the left of the list icon was the year 2015 with a tiny arrow icon next to it. If clicked, the arrow allowed you to choose the year you wanted to look at all the way back to 2012.
As I started to scroll down the website, it began with the highest rated movies. Instead of just showing a picture from the movie, the website seemed to have blocked section off where first there was a clip of the movie being shown, but as I hit the down arrow, a quote and picture of the poster from the movie were shown with a solid non conflicting colored background. If the website was just composed of the movie clip, it would be harder to read and figure out the information or what the actual movie poster looked like.
The next section is comprised of Highest Rated films in several different categories. The problem with these sections is that the image in the background that seems to be from the film, is a bit distracting, it makes the movie seem more interesting than having just the title listed, but if the image was a little smaller or off to the side, it may be easier to read the information listed.
When it comes to the text on the website, there are several different sizes and fonts included, but the majority of the fonts are white in color and very similar to each other. The simple color of the font makes it easier to read against the solid color backgrounds and the movie images. If the titles behind the movies were back, they would not be readable or noticeable to any viewer. The paragraphs are small and not overwhelming with information like some websites include, with many of the blocks only containing a one sentence quote.
The website is altogether designed well. It combines the idea of having simplistic aspects when it comes to the solid color blocks and almost all white text, but also keeps it interesting with the images and clips from the movies. The navigation is simple enough to get through without a hassle or difficulty in finding certain categories on the website and the layout is easily understood.
Review # 1
Overstock.com
For the first review, I chose to visit the website Overstock.com. Overstock initially focuses on selling returned and surplus merchandise on the online website. I have used Overstock to buy small miscellaneous items from time to time but have not used it or visited it in a while. A short while after launching I knew that Overstock.com attempted to simplify the website name to O.co but by doing this, several users were confused and struggled to get used to the change showing that simplifying something does not always make it better as stated in the reading. While scrolling down the home page, the images that are actual links to sales and categories are a positive addition to letting a user know what the website has to offer instead of just listing the sales in a categorical and somewhat boring order.
Next, the color scheme of the website is clean and easy to read with white as the background, red accents and black text. At the top center of the screen is the search bar, with the tabs listing the several categories for the many items just below. One thing to notice is that the tabs are not alphabetically listed on the website but that did not seem to be a problem. One thing that I would change about the website is some of the sizes of some of the text or categories on the pages. Although it is a nice font and simple, a large amount of the text is the same size or relatively close to each other, making it a little harder to find what I am looking for immediately.
I used the search bar to find the item that I was looking for on Overstock. The search results popped up with ways to narrow the search by price, size or even brand. I quickly found the item I was looking for and clicked on the image depicted. I was then directed to the item description which included a drop down list with the full word for the sizes, the quantity as well as the colors I could order the item in. The shopping cart button was in the top right corner and was small but like most of the other shopping cart icons on a website. After clicking it, the checkout button, differs from the rest of the site’s color scheme being that it is green instead of the theme of red, white and black.