Site Critique Fidelity.com By Brooke Baldwin November 2007

2 Table of Contents Homepage Homepage Center Content Global Navigation Login Page Layout Executing a Task Summary Appendix

3 Relatively simple design layout with like material grouped together. Most relevant information displayed above the fold (disclaimers below.)

4 From a users perspective Fidelity hasnt done a great job here of differentiating between Accounts & Trade, Investment Products, and Retirement & Guidance. The only way for a user to learn more about each area of the site is to click on the link. This incorrectly assumes users know what task they wish to accomplish and may deter users from their goal and add confusion to the topic of personal finance for novice users. The homepage global navigation could be improved by clarifying the verbiage and adding descriptive text to the onmouseover behavior (this would also help visual readers for impaired users). The quotes and search boxes are redundant; an advanced search link should be provided instead. The Contact Us button is not clear enough nor distinct enough from the Customer Service link directly below. These elements should be consolidated and differentiated from the finance related navigation.

5 The main section of the homepage is dedicated to marketing the brand and advertising their value proposition to perspective users. Fidelity.com has given higher (and thus better) placement of relevant links to reach out to the largest existing user population. This is demonstrated by the order that they offer services and information. Meaning, the most valuable places on the center part of the screen are geared towards the biggest user group.

6 Users get the best of both worlds with this login section. Novice users can login to a general landing page of their accounts and power users can log into a specific area of the site. For applications that service power users this can be an effective way to bypass layers of navigation and meet the needs of users as they become more knowledgeable about the subject matter.

7 These problems can be resolved by developing either a 4-column or 3-column layout (but not both), standardizing placement and labeling of elements, improve consistency of fonts (size, bold vs. non-bold, and color), and designating a color palette and what order of importance is placed with each color (primary, secondary, tertiary). One glaring weakness of the site is the deviation from a standard look and feel. The user is not provided with consistency so with each new area the user is forced to reevaluate where the most important information is located, if colors signify new or different meaning and that does not provide a unified experience. While these deviations may be relatively subtle they subvert the overall image of brand.

8 The site makes it very easy to take action on a trade account but again the user is confronted with a non-standard layout and a center section that does not fit within the pixel width of the existing page layout nor the screen. And while some of the actions are verb-oriented not all options are labeled in a uniform manner. Source code reveals that page uses frames that are not labeled which does not meet 508 Compliance standards.

9 Summary The site provides –Consistent branding –Functionality for both novice and advanced users –Clearly worded explanatory text –Quick response time for server calls The site would be improved by –Consistent and logical page layout –Standard font face and size –Organized color palette –Alternate tags for navigation elements –Removing frames or explicitly labeling frames

10 Appendix Equal ratio of female and male users Average Age – 36 Marital Status - married Household Income (HHI) - $65k and higher Education Level – college degree or higher Amount available for investment - $7000 Little to some knowledge of investing N.B. Assumed for the purpose of this review. Fidelity.com User Demographic