Mel Rolle's CMS 3710 Project 2 Web Site Analysis:
Dot.Comedy.com
Interface Design
...In relation to Navigation
Dot.comedy's interface design features a simple web site path that supports the entertainment design theme. Horton and Lynch state that web sites paths are “the consistent, predictable navigational links that appear the same way throughout the web site” (Navigation and Wayfinding). The navigational links for Dot.comedy's content appear as a header on the top right of the html page. By placing the navigation at the top of the page instead of on the left or right side of the content, the designers force users to focus on the main content...videos (See Figure 3.1). Thus, the site's navigation header is relevant to the entertainment design theme.
Figure 3.1
Navigational links for the site's content appear in the black boxes at the top right of the html page.
Horton and Lynch suggest that interface design should allow users to return to the homepage and major parts of the web site (Interface Design). Dot.comedy has a navigation footer at the bottom of every html page that links users to the home page (See Figure 3.2). However, navigational links to the content pages of the site only appear on some of the pages. Users could not access the Viral Videos page from the Stand-up Straight page because the navigation header is missing (See Figure 3.3). Thus, Dot. comedy's interface design is not user-friendly because it lacks consistency.
Figure 3.2
Users may select “HOME” in the navigation footer.
Figure 3.3
The navigation header that appears in Figure 3.1 is missing on the “Stand-Up Straight” page.
...In Relation to Browsing
Since Dot.comedy exists for entertainment purposes, users probably do not want to view the entire site. Thus, Dot.comedy has a search feature. Horton and Lynch argue that “the most fundamental support for users who prefer to search is to make search easily available from every page of your site” (Interface Design). Dot.comedy's search feature appears at the top right of every page. However, the search feature does not inform users of the scope of the search. Horton and Lynch suggests that a simple way to identify the scope of the search is to include it in the field label (Interface Design). For example, instead of putting “keyword” in the field label, Dot.comedy's designers should put “search this site” (See Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4
Dot.comedy's designers should replace “keyword” with “search this site.”
Mel Rolle
CMS 3710
Updated: 20 April 2009