Home Page Designr
I preformed a 5 second test on this website. the first thing that caught my eye was the flash picture
pop-ups in the upper left side of the page. Although they are the same pictures every time, they add a sense that the site is for or
about pictures. After that I was able to see the text right between the pictures, which looks very nice and readable.
The next thing I noticed was all of the black negative space, which I neither like nor dislike, which just seems to fill up
the extra area. The last thing I noticed about this homepage were all of the different links on the left side. All of these different links have
assorted colors and fonts, which can be an eyesore for some people (especially with the black background). one thing that I didn’t
really notice in my 5 second test was the copyright information, which is not up to date and located in the center below the photographs, and the extra two lines of text.
while the text isn’t necessarily needed it does offer help when your about to navigate through the galleries of pictures. If I were to
improve this site I would first set up the three pictures to randomly generate some from the galleries, to add a new experience every
time the site is refreshed or revisited. Next I would re-group and re-design the links to the left, to add usability and get rid of any confusion.
I would also try to highlight the copyright and extra text a little more, instead of them kind of floating out in the black space. No logo of any kind anywhere.
I liked this Websites Home page, because it is simple yet gives you all the information you need, all in
easy to read and easy to see text. Also, if you actually visit the site, there is a little animation of the red animal on the magnifier kind
of leading you around the page. At the very top is a list of all file formats this program works with, and in the very center it gives a list
of some of the features it provides. The page is centered on the screen, with just white space on either side, but it is not such a stark contrast that it makes it hard to look at. The home page has the current version posted and links to download the current version, also mirror sites to download it from. Although there could be some more color, there isn’t much that needs changed on usability for this site. Logo is in the top right.
The last site I looked at was for BitTorrent. This site is well designed for usability and easy to navigate, since it’s basically one page. The flash in the center gives you a good understanding of what BitTorrent is and does, and a big green download button to the left helps you get it. There are advertisers in the bottom right of what networks support BitTorrent, but these are not pesky links. Also there are other more in depth pages located under the flash, that are there for first time users, or those interested in BitTorrent. Once again a lot of white space, but the flash keeps your eye centered, at least until you have looked through it all, and it is very informational. Overall I liked this homepage the best, and don’t see a lot that needs to be changed. Also the logo is in the top right like most sites.
