~Blogging Instructions for Posting~

Make sure that you use Firefox when posting. It likes Blogger more than Safari. In the Dashboard, choose New Post under TCOM 351.

After you are in the post and you wish to make something a link, make sure you highlight it. After this, you go to the top, After the font, then the bold, then the italics, then the color, there is a globe with a chainlink on it. Click this, then paste in the link you have copied from your browser when you last visited the site. Click 'OK', finish the post. Publish it and you are done.

And for another warning, PLEASE do not post a Flash site. It's almost happened every week despite what Dr. Dailey has asked for. I looked through the code as asked for one and it was still a flash site. We are looking for sites that have to be made through regular page building. Slideshows are okay, but main navigation and content must be non-flash.

Thanks!

Vince

NEWS!

BBC News publishes constantly, so their website needs to manage a ton of information. The navigation is easy to use, and utilizes a few interesting modules - like the "most emailed" news items.

bbc news

It is missing a bread crumb trail though.

Paul Symons

Straight to the point

The Global issues website is a really good website. It is easy to navigate and very simple.


http://www.globalissues.org


Jordan Taylor

Nice Tagline

I thought this site had a good tagline for one of its collections. It also has a very simple home page.

http://www.ae.com/web/index.jsp

Usability?!?

I don't have any clue how I came across this website, and no idea what the site is about but I've never seen a worse cluster. It's an interesting concept for a site but this is horribly done. (just keep clicking)

http://www.wk.com/#/

Web Design can Lie

Say what you want about Scientology, but I like the way their website is laid out. It makes them seem very helpful, with the picture testimonies and all the information about how Scientology can apply to your life.

http://www.scientology.org/

Just goes to show how design can be deceptive of real-world function, just like credit card identity thieves that pose as real companies just to rip you off.

MITS

I would be extremely surprised if the creators of the website for the Mits Buses (www.mitsbus.org) did a usability test, but their site is simple and easy to navigate. There is a good amount of information and it is laid out in a very practical way.

Designers

I found a web design guide.
http://www.webdesignecommerceguide.com/

Family Services

I was doing a web critique for another class and I thought that you might want to pick this one apart.


Family Services

Halo 3 coming soon

Halo 3 website

I chose this website because of what was said in chapter 8 about the difference between designers and developers. I would say developers had more say in the design of this website. The features are amazing. I have never seen anything like the monument tour before. The problem is that the features are "too creative." The navigation is alien and hard to figure out. It is easy to miss content because you don't understand how the interface works. The site is awkward and clunky with the countless load screens.

Simple and Easy

This week I chose the site for a company called Mark of The Unicorn (MOTU). They're a producer of audio hardware and software. While their site is simple and has no frills, their navigation makes it extremely easy to find everything you're looking for.

Usability Testing

Chapter 9 talked extensively about usability testing and its importance. After reading the chapter and the example provided by Krug, I thought that I could run a usability test if I needed to on a bare bones budget. I was surprised that hiring a professional to do usability tests could cost as much as $15,000. So I decided to check out a company that provides usability testing.

Usability Sciences is one of the companies that I found that provides the service. Not surprisingly, their website is easy to use. On this section of the website, it mentions their fees: "Fees range from $15,000 to $75,000+, depending on scope and complexity."

All of a sudden I want to get a job a usability tester...

Fusion Allicance

I am posting about a company that designs and does usability testing for various corporations around the Indianapolis area. Their website is flash based, but it's a nice compnay. Fusion Alliance

A Web Designer's Web Site

Since Ch. 8 talked about the battle between designers and developers, I thought I would look at the sites of some designers to see what they looked like. I choose Virginia/California-based Web Designer Epsilon Concepts http://www.epsilonconcepts.com/. This site has a bright colored, fairly clean Web site, with flashy animation in the main banner. Those elements are consistent with features contained on designer's Web site. The pages also take some time to load on my computer, possibly because of the animation. One annoying thing about the site is the fact the banner animation starts over again every time a new page is loaded.
- Gabe