Web Site Evaluation Memo
For this evaluation I have chosen the website from the category Product/Brand Site. It represents one of the most popular brands of products for kids and their parents -
Chicco. The first impression that I received from the site www.chicco.com was rather pleasant, as the color scheme and effects chosen for the home page are calm and give a comforting feeling. In this way the approach to the target audience is chosen in the right way.
There are several navigation techniques used here. First of all, it is standard horizontal menu with drop-down lists (see Fig.1) and vertical side menu with the company’s products presentation (see Fig. 2). The style of both menus is simple, clear and concise (Ali, 2009). In the horizontal menu the active category is highlighted in blue, which is a successful decision in the context of the website’s color scheme. I also want to mention that there is a very convenient feature related to navigation – there is a menu where it is possible to choose products according to the child’s age (see Fig. 3). I am sure that for parents it is especially important, as it allows not to waste time looking through all the products to find the ones suitable for their child.
Figure 1. Main horizontal navigation menu with drop-down lists.
Figure 2. Left-side vertical menu with company’s products categories.
Figure 3. Website’s navigation elements, which allows users to view products filtered by the age of their kids.
In different categories there are also navigation elements, which help orient oneself on the website. For this purpose, standard vertical menus are used, which are simple and pleasant in design.
In my point of view, the navigation techniques successfully suit the website architecture, although it is necessary to state that the site map, although organized effectively with the help of expandable lists, doesn’t include all the pages present at website. For instance, there is a category For Parents in the Chicco Family section of the website, which includes four links to other pages, while in the site map there are no elements displayed for this category. The same goes for the Osservatorio Chicco in this section.
As for the website content, it is possible to single out several categories, which have their peculiarities:
1. Pages with products overview (see Fig. 4). I think that they are organized in the right way, as there is everything necessary for parents to make their decisions. First of all, there is a large image of each item, often from several angles, as well as product description and codes. It is possible to enlarge the picture even more to see the slightest details. There is a common pattern for the content of such pages – a short description of the product, written effectively and satisfying the interest of the target audience. There is also a possibility to view related products and compare them, which is convenient for users.
Figure 4. Standard product overview page.
2. Page with description of the Chicco Company and its related centers. In this category I can single out two subcategories – description of Chicco and description of baby research center Osservatorio Chicco. Here the content has information purposes and is designed so as to assure potential clients that the company is worthy of their trust. I think that on the whole, the content is well-written and has a lot of interesting information presented in a suitable form. Here there is no special template for pages – each of them is organized in a way that is the most suitable for the topic.
3. Page with content that may be interesting for parents. This type of pages presents the ones like a tool for choosing a name for a child, coloring pages, etc. I think that the content here is well-developed, although organized in not very convenient way. I will further comment on the weaknesses in the recommendations section.
So, on the whole the Chicco website is a good sample of a promotional site. It has a convenient navigation section and well-developed pages with description of the company’s products. Still, I want to offer several recommendations, which will mostly concern the overall site architecture and organization:
1. First of all, it is necessary to keep site map up-to-date, as it is recommended in the Internet marketing guidelines. Today there is a considerable part of content not included in the site map (“Importance of Sitemaps,” n.d.).
2. I’d like to say that the organization of content into section is not flawless. For example, Osservatorio Chicco section deals with one of the most important company’s constituent parts. Still, it is in the section Chicco Family along with useful content for parents. For usability purposes, I would recommend to subdivide the two types of content (useful for parents and information about the company) into separate sections (Hanbury, 2011).
3. I would also design some typical structure for the pages with useful and information content, as it is not pleasant and often confusing, when in the content of one type there are different page layouts and the information is organized in absolutely different ways (“How to Create,” n.d.).
I am sure that if my recommendations are taken into account, website will become much more user-friendly and along with its current features will represent a perfect resource for parents.
References
Ali, K. (2009, April 16). 30 Exceptional CSS Navigation Techniques [blog]. Retrieved from http://sixrevisions.com/css/30-exceptional-css-navigation-techniques/
Hanbury, K. (2011, February 7). 5 Steps to Creating an Effective Content Mix [blog]. Retrieved from http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/02/content-mix/
How to Create Effective Content For Your Website. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://onlinedesignbureau.com/how-to-create-effective-content-for-your-website
Importance of Sitemaps. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.webconfs.com/importance-of-sitemaps-article-17.php
