Apple and Microsoft are two companies that produce similar products. They are involved in production of softwares and hardware products that they sell to their final consumers. Like any other company, the two companies have their own websites that help them to run their activities effectively. Even though the two websites are similar, they have several differences. The aim of this research paper is to find out the differences and similarities of the websites of the two companies.
It is important to note that the two companies deal with different types of customers. In this case, it means that the websites are designed to reach the target customers. For the Microsoft Company, the products are sold to both business and individual customers. They give licenses of their products to this group of individuals. On the other hand, apple sells its products to individual consumers without the need of issuing licenses. They have to market and then sell their products directly to the customers.
Home page of website is important in that it determines whether the visitor will stay in the site for long or not. For the apple company, a recent product is always displayed. Other three products of the company are also shown. News that is important for the customers are also displayed. It has a huge main ad that aims are grabbing the attention of the visitors. Generally, the website homepage is well designed to attract the attention of the customers and market the products of the company. The website has very few advertisements hence one is not distracted by unnecessary information.
That of Microsoft is designed differently. It has one large picture of one of its products. The other two pictures are small and put on the right hand side. This is not effective in that an individual has to work hard to notice these two other pictures of its products. However, the large picture on the website is effective in attracting the attention of the visitors. Another weakness of the website is that it has so many information at the bottom. This is because the company aims at advertising its products to different customers. This information is boring and discourages customers from reading it considering that it font size is small.
The flow of information in the apple website is the best. It directs one from one point to another. To get more information, one can click on learn more or more details. On the other hand, that of Microsoft has no good flow. If one clicks on learn more, 8 links are availed making a customer decide on what he/she should follow. The fact that the customers work hard to obtain information means that they may be discouraged in most of the times to get more information. Generally, too much information on their site is not encouraging.
The readability of the text in apple website is good. It is designed with pictures to capture ones’ attention. White space is enough to ensure effective contrast. There are headlines to highlight important information. Even though the words are small, they are readable. On the other hand, Microsoft website has many headings with different colors. This confuses the customer since it is difficult to decide what to read. The white space is also small such that there is no contrast between the words and the background.
As compared to Microsoft navigation bar, that of apple is more consistent in that it remains there regardless of the subpage that one moves to. The navigation bars of the two websites are large but that of Microsoft changes as one move from one sub page to another. In addition, that of apple has huge dropdown menu as compared to that of Microsoft. The navigation bar of apple is better in that the major items of the website remain in the navigation bar regardless of the sub page one moves to.
In conclusion, the two websites are different in many ways. Even though they are similar to some extent, it seems that apple website is more advantageous as compared to that of Microsoft. Even though the companies deal with different customers, Microsoft website has many weaknesses that need to be solved to meet the needs of the customers.
References.
Dmitry F,(2009). Apple vs microsoft- A website usability study. Retrieved from; http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/apple-vs-microsoft-a-website-usability-study/
Dojc, Y., & Krausova, K. (2011). Last folio: Textures of Jewish life in Slovakia. Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University Press.
