Task 1 Understand the uses and features of websites Olivia Attree

Website 1

Purpose and Target Audience The purpose of this website is to provide people with games they can play through storing them in a games database, whilst learning skills such as reaction timing and logical thinking. In addition this site provides fun for children but convinces teachers and adults that it is educational through using ‘Maths’ in the website name. Its main aim is to entertain. The target audience of this site is kids and teenagers from around age 11 plus. This is the games are too difficult for younger children, however to simplistic and uninteresting for most adults, with games such as crazy taxi.

Construction Features This site has many hyperlinks to each different game, and categories for different types. An example being a link to ‘ all games a-z’. There are no forms on this website which supports how it is for a childish audience, as young people may fill in forms wrong or fill in forms inappropriately. There are advertisements which are used to encourage you to click on those sites to help fund the website.

Interactive features The cursor is interactive with moving shapes which move faster depending on the speed of the mouse, and trail along following its location There is an address to submit games and ask questions, however it is not a link to avoid spam.In addition there is another link to report any accidental unsuitable adverts.

Aesthetics The colours on this website work well together. This is because the background is a plain colour (black) with different colours to show other information which complement each other and stand out. However the large range of colours with no real theme makes the sight look slightly disorganised and immature. The layout of the sight is okay as it provides easy links to different parts of the sight. However there are many links to different things which could become confusing so the amount should be reduced. The graphics are average however not very interesting. They are eye catching but not completely smooth and consist of basic shapes which requires little effort and is a bit immature for the target audience. The text on the site is also quite childish and basic which makes the site look more unprofessional.

Accessibility There is an accessibility feature when hovering over the main title of the site which shows the sites slogan- Come for the games...Stay for the lessons. This would be useful for people with poor eyesight as they may use screen readers which will read this out.

Improving user experience The site improves user experience by having bright colours to suit its audience and engage them well. In addition the games are sorted well which makes the site easier to use as games can be easily found and played.

Strengths Strengths of this site include the hyperlinks which organise the different parts of the website well. The moving cursor makes the website more fun to use for those who are younger. Contact details are provided for those who would wish to improve the website.

Weaknesses Weaknesses include that there are some but few accessibility features. A second weakness would be that there are no forms so people have to try to contact the site in ways which cause hassle. Lastly the site has many adverts which are often adverts not appropriate to the age range, such as life insurance which is not needed by children using the sites.

Conclusion To conclude the website uses many features. One which I feel does not work so well is the large range of colours. Although this successfully makes the sight stand out, it seems unprofessional and makes the website look very ‘home-made’. This is something I would like to steer clear of and maybe use something with a theme of some sort, to seem less messy. I also feel the advertisements were not that effective, and if I was to include them to fund my site, I would make sure they were age appropriate. I also felt the absence of a form made the website less accessible as it made usage more complicated and inconvenient. Overall I think this website was good for its purpose of being a games database but can be improved in many ways.

Website 2

Purpose and Target Audience The purpose of this website is to inform people of the latest news shown through a revolving slide show of top new stories and post the most recent ones before most other websites. It collects information from all around the world and posts it to keep people updated. The target audience ranges from some teens who may be interested in the news to many adults who are normally much more concerned and effected by current affairs.

Interactive features There is a form if you wish to contact them which improves usability and will make people wish to speak to them more because it doesn’t involve complicated methods of . There is also a sign in page which is useful for users who regularly use the site and can register if they are not already a user.

Aesthetics The colours of the site are themed to be black white and red which makes the site seem very simplistic yet professional through civilised colours. The site is well laid out with all important links situated at the top of the site in one place so things can be easily accessed, which will encourage people to use the site more being able to easily find what they’re looking for. The text is all of similar basic fonts which match the colour scheme. This helps to keep the website looking organised and professional, and will encourage more people to use it, suiting a wider audience.

Accessibility The site uses text which appears when the logo is hovered over, showing ‘ British broadcasting corporation’. This is useful for those with sight problems as screen readers can use these texts to inform the user of what is on screen.

Improving user experience The experience is improved by using moving bars to display even more latest news along with scrolling pictures. The user experience is also improved by corresponding colours which make the site look overall professional and easy to use.

Strengths The colour theme makes the site seem very sophisticated and professional, which it would need to be to provide something as significant as world news. The moving slideshows and sidebar help to make the site more useful as people do not always have to click on specific pages to see the most interesting stories as the newest and most interesting stories are displayed in front of the user upon arrival at the site. Stories which are happening now are highlighted with ‘Live’ at the start which again shows the most recent stories and what are currently being reported on, which would be useful for those who wish to stay as up to date as possible.

Weaknesses A weakness would be that things of different levels of significance are not shown in different texts. I feel it would be better to include important things in bold or larger writing, for example the hyperlinks are only slightly different to the text and does not have a large distinction between the two. There is no clear part of the website which offers translations. The website would be better with something offering translations as the site shows world news which people from all different backgrounds and languages may wish to read. A weakness would be that the website is slightly unimaginative, and considering it is a well known company, it would be expected that there would be more adventurous ways of displaying things rather than a simplistic way of showing pure text and a simple slideshow.

Conclusion I liked that the site had a colour scheme which makes the site seem professional, I would consider using this on my own site to improve the overall maturity of the site. I also liked the parts of the site which were moving, such as the scrolling bars and things that display information that changes (such as the slideshow). I would consider doing this so you do not have to have a new page for each piece of information as it can stay in one place and just change accordingly. Overall I think the site, however simple, suits its purpose well and is a good website.