Website Review
In this document I am going to review and analysis 5 different websites, evaluating the effectiveness of the site, through its use of colour, layout and content and then finally giving my verdict on how effect the site is on a whole and how suitable this website for its purpose.
I will also comment on how I think these websites could improve.
The first website I am going to be evaluating is http://www.amazon.co.uk/
This website is a very large website with the intention of selling products to consumers. This website has a very large range of products to sell, and thus has a very large target audience.
This website is very basic, with a very basic colour scheme and basic text used throughout. This is probably applied as by keeping it simple, and basic it isn't trying to appeal more to a certain target audience, for example 12-18yr olds looking to buy an ipod.
This website seems very busy, with a lot going on at one time. This makes the website look very messy and amateur. On the other hand buy having a lot of images, and various news and offers scattered across the page it does draw the attention of the user, and makes them take a second look.
This website also uses a lot of navigation systems, in order for the customer to ideally find what they are looking for. This navigation helps solve the “messy” exterior of the website and is ultimately very useful.
Overall I would say that the Amazon.co.uk website is suitable for its purpose, though it could be better.
This website has a large target audience, and manages to appeal to all of this audience by keeping the website simple or at least simple enough so that people can find what they are looking for rather easily, thanks to the navigation system and a internal search engine.
This website could be more suitable if the front page, which is what the users initially see, was less busy, and more focused and “clean”.
I’d give this website **** 4 stars!
The next website I am to evaluate is http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
This is another very large website, which also has a large target audience, though this website has a very different purpose, as this website aims to inform people and keep people up to date with current affairs and news headlines. This website uses various different media to display information, including images, video and audio sources.
This website is laid out very well, and looks very inviting by not looking too busy, but at the same time being able to provide a lot of information.
The target audience for this website would probably be people aged 18+, and so the BBC news website have aimed their website at this target audience, by using formal text and laying the website out in a basic manner.
This website is very suitable for its purpose as it very effective aims and appeals to its target audience, by keeping a simply website, though stilling having enough information and forms of media to be aesthetically appealing.
If I were to improve this website, to make it more suitable, and appealing, I would possibly add a few more images, and maybe add a bit more colour to the website. Just to make it slightly more appealing, while still keeping the simple theme.
I’d give this website *** 3 stars!
The next website I am going to evaluate is http://www.skysports.com/
This website aims at a more specific audience than the previous two websites I have evaluated, though this audience is still very wide.This website aims to inform audiences of sporting events, including football, rugby league, rugby union, golf, formula 1 etc.
This website aims to inform the audience by giving up-to-date sporting stories from around the world.
This website is very appealing, and similar to the previous website, uses various different media, as well as using a consistent colour scheme throughout the whole website.
This website is very suitable for its purpose, as it is highly appealing, and very informative. The ideal target audience for this website would be sporting fans, of any age. By using a good combination of colour, and using largely informative text and a wide array of images and video this website becomes very appealing, while still being able to give a lot of information, making this website very suitable and highly effective.
I’d give this website **** 4 stars!
The next website I am going to evaluate is http://www.halifax.co.uk/home/home.asp
This website is much different to the other websites, and has a much smaller user base, mainly because it is primarily an internet banking website, which isn’t as accessible than the previous websites I have evaluated, other reasons are that there are many other internet banking websites, meaning that this website is only really relevant to people who have a bank account with Halifax, or are thinking of creating a bank account with Halifax.This website is laid out very basic, and uses very basic text. This website doesn’t need to be as appealing as the previous other websites, and you can tell that Halifax had this in mind when creating this website, as it is very simple and rustic.
A lot of information is displayed on this website through forms of navigation and interactive buttons to link the user to a certain area in which they may need more information.
This websites target audience is users who use Halifax banking, or may want to join Halifax, and this website aims at this target audience by having a lot of information, as well as some information on areas which it is better than its competitors.
If I were to improve this website I would make the website more focused, by taking away some of the colours, and focusing on a more specific theme, as it seems to be lacking one currently.
I’d give this website ***’ 3 and a half stars!
The final website I am going to evaluate is http://www.computerandvideogames.com/sites/xboxworld/.
This website is the most focused of all the websites I have evaluated, as this website is aimed directly at xbox 360 owners, with up to date reviews and articles related to new xbox 360 game releases and news. This website is very well suited for its target audience, as it contains a lot if images of xbox 360 game play with articles and reviews. The text on this website is mainly informal as it would primarily be aimed at 16-40 year olds.
The colour scheme on this website keeps with the colours of the xbox logo, light green, grey and white, throughout the whole website.
This website also aims to inform, and promote, but unlike other websites which aim to do the same thing, this website is made to be very lively, similar to the Amazon website. A lot of images and text are used on the front page of the website, making it look very lively and busy, but instead of this being a negative it is in fact a positive, as it makes the website look appealing to the target audience. The target audience would want to see a lot of images of xbox game play, and this website does that very effectively, ultimately making it very effective and highly suitable for its purpose.
I’d give this website **** 4 stars!