BSBEBU401A Review and Maintain a Website Website Design Teacher: Alison Roberts Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE

Reading 1 Overview A small business’ website can act as a presence – offering information and point of contact The internet has become the preferred way of communication in many business setting and is now one of the primary sources of information ‘The quality of sites that populate the internet range from the amateurish to the professional, from the distasteful to the artistic and the quality of information available likewise ranges from the offensive to the inspiring.’

Activity 1 – Good Web Sites What are your favourite websites?  What makes these your favourite? Content? Usability? Graphics? Functionality e.g.: search?

Activity 2 – Examining and evaluating websites Look at the websites from the point of view of maintainability and usability. Think about the pros and cons of the following websites: www.ebay.com.au www.audiencedialogue.net www.amazon.com www.booksandcollectibles.com.au From the following websites find the current interest rates for a variable home loan. Which were easiest to find and why? Which website was the best? www.commbank.com.au www.stgeorge.com.au www.bendigobank.com.au

Customer and User Feedback What is a customer? A user? How can their feedback be obtained?

2 categories of customer feedback Feedback on design, layout and content of the website – ‘site feedback’ Feedback or information requests about the products and services provided by the organisation – ‘contact us’

Activity 3 Examine the web form as a group at: http://www.commbank.com.au then “Contact Us” then Email Us”. What are the different types of customer feedback? What methods of communication are used? What are the different form elements that have been used and why?

Web form design A simple, yet effective feedback method is to provide visitors with an online form Information submitted by the form can be directed to a central email address for easy data collection It might also be useful to start a database or spreadsheet where you record feedback under common areas such as site navigation, content, broken links, download problems etc. Encourage users to use the form however still should provide alternate contact methods

Form objects Online forms can contain a variety of different form objects. These may include: Text Box Text Area Checkboxes Radio Buttons Drop Down Menu Buttons

Collecting customer and user feedback All of this potential for cutomer/user feedback is of little value unless it is actively monitored and collected. Centralising feedback – send to one source Collating feedback – enter in spreadsheet, database – site navigation, content, broken links, download problems ext Acknowledging feedback – respond to the user