Reviewing websites DAVE MCDONALD UNIT 13 WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Amazon.co.uk Amazon.co.uk is an e-commerce website that sells a wide range of products to customers. The products are bought online by the customers and are delivered to the address that has been provided by the customer.

Features of Amazon The Amazon site uses a wide range of features. Amazon uses the registration and login systems so the customers history of the site can be so the site will display products similar to previous purchases. This feature increases the usability and performance of the website as the customer will be able to use this feature to get access to the products quicker without a search and it will reduce the time required to search up a specific product. There are several things you can do because of the registration feature such as view all your last orders, the travel tracker on any products not yet delivered and you can sign into other amazon run websites such as amazon cloud drive through and external link. All of these sub- features increase the performance of the website great deal by making the user feel like they have more control over their account, orders and purchases.

Features of Amazon They also have a FAQ (Frequently asked questions) page which can help the customer get a specific answer to their query. The FAQ page increases the performance of the website as it is a quick and easy way to get a clear answer to the users questions. The performance is further enhanced as the FAQ page doesn’t just bring up answers relevant to your question, the page also included internal links to the other webpages that display the users orders, returns and refunds, device support, manage your prime account, payment options and account settings. These links are shown as interactive titles and pictures which also enhances to websites presentation.

Features of Amazon Amazon makes use of a search bar right at the top of the page on a dark background so it catches the readers eye. This search bar removes the need for dropdown buttons as when you enter your keywords, a dropdown menu appears and lists all the answers available on the website which in my opinion increases the accessibility, usability and the sites performance.

Amazon’s Strengths Amazon’s Strengths: Amazon makes use of linked, interactive images which is an attractive substitute to having a webpage with just blocks of text. This has improved the presentation as just having blocks of text will make the page the boring. The search bar stands out compared to the surrounding colours and text so it is clear for the user to find. The search bar being in this position increases the usability of the website as well as the presentation. Amazon features a sideshow in the centre of the screen which advertises there special offers as well as making the website look more presentable. The FAQ page uses the same mechanics as a search engine which gets the most relative answers to your keyword and the Font of the text is big and clear. This strength means that the usability and accessibility of the website is greatly improved.

Amazon’s Weaknesses Amazon’s Weaknesses: Although having interactive images is good for replacing blocks of text, the lack information about the image or what the image is advertising leaves the user guessing. The sheer amount of images that are displayed on the homepage has lead to the time for the site to fully load to be longer than other sites. The layout of the site has lead to all the worded hyperlinks to be at the very bottom of the page and these are links to what the site is about, the FAQ page and the pages that are formatted for different nationalities.

Solutions to the problems: Solutions to these problems: To counter the lack of information on the homepage they could add captions to all images displayed. The loading speed of the site can be mended by reducing the amount of images and animation on the page. The worded hyperlinks could be added to either the top or the side of the page in forms of buttons so they are more visible to the user rather than hiding away and the bottom of the site.

Youtube.co.uk YouTube is site where people can upload videos that they have created and other people can view them through this site. The site also allows users to create an account and upload there own made videos. On top of this YouTube gives the user the chance to monetise their videos which allows them to make money of companies that post there adverts onto the users video. YouTube is meant to entertain users and offers communication through the discussion pages on people’s channels and the comment sections below videos so users can talk through the site on a certain topic.

Features of YouTube YouTube uses features such as a search engine, interactive, linked images with the titles linked as well. The search engine is at the top of the page and gives users great accessibility to millions of videos and can narrow down the amount of videos by matching the relevance of the video title with the keywords in the users search. This feature has improved the usability and the performance of the

Features of YouTube The site features a sign up/login mechanic that allows users to create and sign into their account. Once an account is creates users are allowed to upload any videos that they have created themselves and gives them access to any content that is restricted due to age or graphic scenes.

Features of YouTube The thumbnails and titles of videos are all linked to the full version of the video and offer an easy solution compared to searching up the video in the search engine and finding it among thousands of other videos. This feature has greatly improved both the usability and the accessibility of the website as the interactive aspect greatly reduces the time of keying in the video title. Thumbnails Titles

Features of YouTube The homepage displays all of the newest and most watched videos spanning a wide range of genres. The layout of the page separates to newest videos seen worldwide from the videos recommended for you is you area previous user of the site.

Strengths of YouTube YouTube’s Strengths: The accessibility to videos is greatly increased through the use of thumbnails and titles that are linked to the full version of the video. The search bar at the top of the page allows users too search for a generic tern and browse through a vast amount of videos so they can choose one they find interesting instead of having to type in a specific video title into the video finder. The sign up/login mechanic allows users to be apart of the community that creates the videos user watch and they gain instant access to any videos that are age restricted or have graphic content. The comment section under videos and the discussion section on channels allow the users to communicate with each other. YouTube’s Weaknesses: Due to the amount of video thumbnails and titles, the page’s loading time is poor. All content and communication is created by normal people so there is little restrictions to what can be said so there will be very inappropriate things said such as death threats and racial slurs. There is a lack on colour in the background and the font for the video titles is relatively small. Solutions to these problems: Reducing the amount of videos being shown on the homepage will reduce the loading time. Language settings to filter out profanity and anything that is clearly considered offensive would be very useful. YouTube’s colours are red and white but the page is 98% white and only 2% red so they could add some sort of red pattern to the background to make the site look more lively.

YouTube’s Weaknesses YouTube’s Weaknesses: Due to the amount of video thumbnails and titles, the page’s loading time is poor. All content and communication is created by normal people so there is little restrictions to what can be said so there will be very inappropriate things said such as death threats and racial slurs. There is a lack on colour in the background and the font for the video titles is relatively small.

Solutions to YouTube's Weaknesses Solutions to these problems: Reducing the amount of videos being shown on the homepage will reduce the loading time. Language settings to filter out profanity and anything that is clearly considered offensive would be very useful. YouTube’s colours are red and white but the page is 98% white and only 2% red so they could add some sort of red pattern to the background to make the site look more lively.