- 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? (pp. 41-56)
I think the goal is to be user friendly just like their products. Apple is very simple and so is their website. Apple has a support page and they also have tons of tutorials and class.
- What are the functional specifications of Facebook’s wall? If you are not on Facebook what are the specs for the signup page? (pp. 72-75)
Facebook’s wall is all about being updated and the user gets notified when new “stories” are added. The book talked about frequency of updates, which with a website like Facebook, they rely on updates/new posts. Facebook also does this thing that if the user is friends with a person and that friend is friends with someone else but the original user is not, they suggest being friends. Basically, the user gets friend suggestions because they know someone who is friends with that person. I think that is what the book was referring to when they talked about prioritizing requirements.
- What are four architectural approaches to information structure? Find one example of each. (pp. 94-106)
Hierarchical – this is like a family tree. At least that is where I see them commonly used.
Matrix – any shopping website that lets the user break down the search into different categories.
Organic – I am thinking something along the lines of Pintrest just because when the user clicks on one thing it takes you to another and you end up lost for hours because Pintrest takes you anywhere. Or maybe YouTube because you could watch one video and then it suggests more and then you are somewhere in funny video abyss.
Sequential – reading an article because usually articles are read top to bottom as it is written.
- What percentage of The Huffington Post index page is navigation, and what percentage is content? What about Google, Wikipedia, and Etsy? (pp. 116-134)
The Huffington Post seems to be 100% navigation on the index page because everything takes the user to another page. I think the same thing for Google that it is 100% navigation because it is a search engine with take the user to the different pages that contain content. Wikipedia is also a type of search engine but the website actually takes the user to content within its website. On the homepage it is also 100% navigation. I would say that Etsy is probably 10% content and 90% navigation on the homepage. I say this because everything is linking to somewhere else but there are parts that do explain what the site is about and what to do.
- How does http://www.landor.com guide the readers’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important? (pp. 144-155 )
They use contrast and color and also a grid-based layout. Contrast is used to draw the user’s attention. The main focus on the page is what is already colored and all the other content is gray which provides the contrast.