Author: RavenLarkin

Domino’s will be the website to be compared to my group’s website which is a pizza restaurant. The layout for Domino’s is simple, and it is easy to read the navigation. However, their front page has a lot of information and text on it and looks too cluttered. When looking at their front page, my eyes don’t know where to look first and what to read first. There is also a lot of pictures on their front page which also makes the layout appear cluttered with too much activity for the eyes to try to register. Domino’s menu layout is nicely balanced with easy to understand ordering and easy to read text. Their main colors blue, red and white are incorporated throughout their entire website. Domino’s could have a ‘home’ button on each of their web pages at the top versus their Domino’s logo because some issues may arise where others may not know how to get back to Domino’s homepage.

Our pizza restaurant website, Za Fusion, has a different layout compared to Domino’s website. Our website is also simple, but it is easier to navigate. Users will not have difficulty finding information or reading text on our website because our website contains space, sections, and is not cluttered. The colors on our website are easy on user’s eyes, whereas Domino’s colors are a bit overwhelming. Domino’s colors are mostly overwhelming on their front page because of all the text that is cluttered so closely together, and the blues and reds that are so close together.

Our website will stand out for numerous reasons. Our colors are a darker version of Italy’s flag colors, whereas most pizza restaurants have lots of reds, oranges, blacks, whites and blues. Our website is simple, with the right amount of information without cluttering and overbearing the eyes with too much text. Users don’t need to think when using our website, and also has a ‘home’ button on every web page.

The two local restaurants being compared are Bravo and Panera. When first entering Bravo’s website, it is noted that the color of their website is easy on the eyes and not too dark or too light. The links at the top of the page are straight forward and easy to navigate and find anything. Bravo’s number and location is easily seen at the top of the page, with the hours at the bottom of the page so that users don’t have to do extra clicking to find out. Bravo’s front main page doesn’t contain a lot of wording and is spacious instead of cluttered like most other websites. Their page is organized, doesn’t have a large amount of useless text, and doesn’t require myself to do extra thinking in order to find information.

Panera’s main front page is also easy on the eyes in terms of color and contrast, using earthly tones like Bravo does. Their links have a drop down box that expands to more links that fit into the category of the main link. Their website requires thinking when finding certain information. For example, I tried to look up their hours but I still have yet to see a link for it on their front page. I had to place my mouse on locations at the top of the page, type in my zip code, and then it shows a list of stores, their distance, hours, and more information. This is a great feature, but some users may feel they have to think more in order to figure it out. Panera has a good amount of wording on their main page, with appetizing images of their food and links to important information that users may want to know about.

Between Bravo’s website and Panera’s website, Bravo’s website was easier to navigate and easier to find information for. Bravo’s website is clean, organized, not cluttered and overwhelming, and it is visually appealing to my eyes.

Tiptonic’s colors are white, black, grey and orange. These colors give a sense of sophistication and professionalism, and also make it very easy to read the text on their single page. Scrolling further down the page, there is a dark grey grid with a texture on it, with orange and white text on top of it. This textured background makes the text and image easier to read, and makes the orange color pop a lot more. The bright text colors on top of the dark grey background is very easy on the eyes and looks professional.

The background changes from textured to a solid color of dark grey, orange, or white. The change in background is successful, professional, and easy on the eyes. If the user were to stare at a textured background for a period of time, the background will start to bother and hurt the eyes. It is a nice change to not stare at one color background for an entire page and instead have alternating colors and textured backgrounds.

Tiptonic’s single page navigates by scrolling from top to bottom. The single page also has clickable links to other webpages for the user. Color is one element that makes the website easy to read and scan over. The single webpage is unified, with the theme of the colors being white, black, grey and orange, and everything appears to work together and belong together, versus things randomly being placed on a webpage. The page is balanced in terms of how everything is placed into squares of information, and the colors are also balanced.

This webpage’s design is well done. The colors match and complement one another. For example, the grey complements the orange and makes it pop more and stand out to be easy seen and read. Nothing on the page blends in or gets lost, and everything pops out and is read easily. The design’s layout is successful, because it is all broken up into different squares to show a grid system, and makes the webpage appear more interesting instead of a webpage scrolling straight down in a single box of text and information.

While reviewing Shoedazzle.com, a few complications were noticed upon first visiting the website. Upon visiting, shoedazzle’s website was confusing because there were links leading to ‘getting started’ on the website, when I was looking on where to click to start browsing the site. I looked around, scrolled down but the only way forward was to ‘get started’, which what was assumed to be creating an account. This may not be very successful because myself and others want to browse a website before deciding to make an account, and being forced to simply makes me want to close the website and browse elsewhere.

Surprisingly, there was a quiz to get the best style taste from users instead of setting up an account. Already feeling impatient because most websites allow users to browse their site right away rather than forcing them to create an account, I went through the quiz as fast as I could. The quiz is a great gesture, but should be an option for users instead of being required. Once finished, I was able to create an account and was finally happy. The full website was accessed at this point.

The navigation was easy to use and easy to find, and the website made finding everything simple without looking too far to find anything. When checking out an item, there is another page showing more products for last minute buying and to market more products. This was annoying because once a person reaches checkout, surely they want to buy the product and move on instead of being forced to look at another page of products.

The design of the website was very clean, simple, easy to read and easy to navigate. The overall design of the website and navigation worked well and was user friendly. A suggestion to make this website better is to not force users to have to sign up or go through a quiz in order to browse their site. Most users want to browse, buy, and leave. If users really like a website and its products, then they will create an account.