Week 2:
So this week, I decided to go for a more positive website review. Although it was fun exploring such a mess of a website, it came to my attention that looking at a well designed website would also be interesting. In addition, it would give me the opportunity to say some positive things, which is always a good thing. After all, writing week after week of negative web site reviews would just get depressing. It's good to mix things up, throw some good in with the bad. Who wants to read nothing but complaints? Not too many people I know of, that's for sure. So here are some praises, not complaints, about a website I found particularly well put together.
Sticking with the Washington theme, I chose to review a tourist website for downtown Seattle. (Don't ask me why I've chosen two consecutive websites from Washington. I live across the country, and have never even been to the Evergreen State.) I found this website after perusing different sites that had been nominated for various awards. This one site caught my attention. I knew I liked it because I had the urge to stay on the page and explore. This is always a good sign. When you find yourself intrigued or curious to do a little poking around on a page, you know the website has succeeded in doing it's initial job, which is hooking your attention. So now that I had been effectively hooked, I took the time to examine the site. Here are some reasons why I liked DowntownSeattle.com so much.
This website is very well organized. When you first open the page, your eye is immediately drawn to the picture in the top center of the page. The city of Seattle is beautifully displayed in a well lain out manner, with a clear caption that portrays easily readable text. In addition, the picture changes in slides, becoming another picture of houses along the water, and then successive postings about upcoming events. Each one of these slides has a place you can click to 'read more,' written in the bottom left of the picture. I find this to be an extremely smart design. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing to look at, and thereby encourages the viewer to stay on the page, it is well organized so that someone can easily find more information about an event if they want to do so. The rest of the website is also nicely organized. The menu is very obvious, and there are only a handful of tabs so that the choices of where to get information is not overwhelming. When you hover over each tab, a drop-down appears, allowing you to select whichever option you please. Scrolling down, there is a 'happening now' tab, with a list of selections you can click on such as 'News,' 'Twitter,' or 'Blog.' Overall, the layout and organization is fantastic. I had a very easy time navigating my way through the site.
Why else do I like this website so much. It's simple. The background is white, and the text is written in colors that are easy to read. There is no clutter or extra fluff around the pictures or the menu bar, which makes it very easy on the eye. I did not feel weighed down or overwhelmed by the site, a feeling I definitely experienced visiting the website I reviewed last week. The simplicity of it makes it user friendly, which is smart due to the fact that many of the people visiting this site may be from other countries, and English may not be their first language. At the same time, however, the site is not so simple that it is boring, or bland. To the contrary, I find the simplicity refreshing. It adds to the site's visual appeal, as well as it's easy navigation. My last reason for liking DowntownSeattle.com so much, is that scrolling is kept to a minimum! So many of the other websites I looked at required a long scroll down the page to view all of the information. This is a major turn off for a website. DowntownSeattle.com did an excellent job keeping their website contained so that very little scrolling is required. Well done Seattle web site creators, I commend you!
If I were to make any changes to this website, the one thing I would do is emphasize the 'search' bar. I only noticed this feature towards the end of my investigation of the site, as it is easily overlooked in the upper right hand corner of the page. I would bold the 'search' text to make it stand out more, and increase the size of the search box. This would help viewers to see the search feature, and therefore allow them usage of this helpful tool.
I most definitely would want people to visit this website. It is easy to navigate, even for people from other countries, and it provides useful information right from the home page. The website offers a wide variety of helpful news, as well as useful resources. And time won't be wasted trying to find the right menu tab or which link will take you to further information. Visiting this site would be a very smart move, especially if you are planning a vacation to downtown Seattle. If that is not currently on your plans, I would still recommend taking a look. You may just find yourself starting to plan a trip to Washington. This website is just that good.
http://downtownseattle.com
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