Introduction
The webs site selected for the capstone discussion question is a Japanese vehicle sale online company. The web site is referred to as TradeCarView reached by address (http://www.tradecarview.com). The activity carried out by this e-business site involves the sale of used as well as brand new cars to different kinds of people in the world .
Website evaluation
Links used in the website to link other pages is that of hierarchical model. The home page contains links that are clearly visible allowing users to easily navigate to the desired page with ease. Users can also be directed to the homepage from any page in the website. In this case one advantage is seen as the users can be led back home in case they are lost. In order to easily identify the already visited pages in the website, the links change in color once they are opened. The users can therefore easily know the already visited pages and those that are yet to be visited. This is found to be a desirable effect that every web site should adapt. It reduces cases of repetitive visits to similar pages as well as save s on time .
TradeCarView website offers variety of vehicle products on sale. These products are many in number and therefore searching for the right product for purchase could be hard if going one-by-one is anything to go by. To eliminate this problem, the website has employed a search strategy whereby users can use criteria of their choice to selectively search the desired product for purchase. The layout has also been designed and centrally placed in order to capture the user attention as well as concentration .
Use of colors has been carefully selected. It is important to note that color use in any website determine the manner in which the users perceive the same. Some users might find it difficult to process conflicting colours like red and blue when used in a website . The website chosen has tried as much as possible to achieve color consistency as well as employ attractive colors in its design while reducing the content processing for the user. Content processing is reduced by use of less words or text content in the website. This is only possible due to the use of many images and direct to the point information. Unnecessary information has been left out and therefore a user will find ease in locating the desired information.
Design recommendation
Although the website has considered many design considerations and principles, there are still problems when it comes to loading time of a page. Compared to other e-businesses, the website takes longer to load or open a page than it should . This problem is caused by the heavy manner in which the website is presented. Images used in the website to display the product on sale are numerous in number and therefore contribute to the heavy nature of the website. In as much as presentation of images in the site is necessary for the purposes of client information and review, the same should be presented in a manner that is not likely to affect the loading time of the page. One way in which this can be achieved is by placing heavy images on the server side and only to be called when the need arises.
In addition to the web pages loading time, there is the issue of information provided being too scanty. The website developers have tried to minimize the text content in the web site in a bid to minimize user processing load. However it is felt that this issue has been overdone. There is scanty information and in most cases users do not get full information on the issues they seek. Any website should be informative enough, therefore in as much as there is need to reduce the processing load of the clients/users; there is equally important need to provide enough information to their satisfaction.
Conclusion
TradeCarView has been designed with most design principles in consideration. In my honest opinion I feel that the website is good enough and despite some of the issues and recommendations made, the website is easy to use and adequately meets the client needs.
Reference
Carview. (2004). Retrieved september 30, 2011, from TradeCarView:
http://www.tradecarview.com
Douglas, K. V. (2007). The design of sites: patterns for creating winning web sites. New York:
Wiley.
Practical website Improvement Face-off. (2011). Retrieved september 30, 2011, from Practical Website Improvement Face-Off: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi hb3328/is 201003/ai n53078736/?tag=content;co11
