Task 1 Understand the uses and features of websites Alice Barry

Website 1 http://www.littleheath.org.uk/page/default.asp?title=Home&pid=1

Purpose The purpose of the Little Heath School website is to inform people about the school. For example there is a hyperlink on the website called information and one called news and events. In the news and events hyperlink the person looking at the website would see news about little heath and events happening. Also, on the website there is information for the pupils, parents and staff. On these hyperlinks it informs them about different things. For example it informs pupils about the curriculum and praise and rewards. Whereas staff can see information about working at Little Heath. For parents there is information about attendance, uniform and parent pay for example.

Target Audience The target audience for the website is parents of the pupils that go to little heath, pupils at little heath and parents and the pupils themselves who are thinking of coming to little heath. The website has to be suitable for both adults and young adults. I know this as the website has specific sections for parents and for pupils. The website looks professional and not childish. I can see this from the font layout and the colours of the website. It is suitable for teenagers and for adults.

Construction Features On the website there is many hyperlinks so the person on the website can navigate around the website easier and can find what they would like easy and quicker than if the website did not have hyperlinks. It also makes the website look more organised and professional as the website has been well thought out and everything is not all bunched together. There is a search box on the website which makes it simpler and easier for the user of the website to navigate around the website. On the contact section of the website there is a Hotspot. It shows you where Little Heath is on a map. This Would be convenient for anyone visiting Little Heath.

Interactive features On the Little Heath website there is loads of email links for staff at the school. This makes it easy for parents and pupils to get hold of staff at Little Heath if they need to easy, and simply. There is also a contact section, where there is all the details the user of the website needs to be able to get hold of Little Heath School. There is also phone number if a user needs to contact the school. The website makes it clear on how to contact the school. Little Heath is not an E-commerce website as you can not buy anything from it, it is an information website. To improve Little Heath Website could have a section where you can buy the uniform. Also Little Heath Website does not have an online forum. They could have one for pupils to query over homework. Little Heath School Website does not have registration either.

Aesthetics Little Heath School Website uses reds, whites, and black colours for its website. This makes the website look more professional as they are not childish bright colours, and correspond each other. Also the website fits in with the logo and uniform for Little Heath, which works well. The layout of the Little Heath website is good. It is clearly laid out and is easy to navigate around. There is not too much on one page. If you went on the website for a specific thing, you would find it easy. The website has been clearly thought through on how to make it clear and easy for a user. On the website there are many photos of around Little Heath, on every page at the top there is a slideshow of the same handful of photos. There could be more photos so there is a variety of photos. There is also some photos on specific pages, for example about We Will Rock You. The photos give a snapshot into what Little Heath School is like, which is good for a user of the website. The text is of an easy to read font, for example in the snapshot above. It is not too fancy, or too plain. The size is good as well, as it is not too small. If someone had a problem with their eyes, they would not struggle to read the website.

Accessibility Some users may struggle when using the website. When hovering over an image on the Little Heath website there is no alternative description, there’s no caption either. This can be difficult for some users, if they can not see what is on the screen.

Improving user experience On the little heath website information is updated. For example if the school was closed for the day, such as if the weather was too severe for anybody to come in, the school will update its home page for people to check if school is open or not. Also, on the Little Heath website there is a calendar, on this there is key dates, including the last day of term, exam dates, and parents evening. These dates are regularly updated, with any changes being updated or new dates entered. On the website there is also ‘news and events’ this page is also regularly updated with current news and events at little heath school. People who visit the website can also view and select information based on what they’re looking for through the use of a search bar and many hyperlinks making the website easy to navigate around. These features make Little Heath website a dynamic website.

Strengths There are many strengths to the Little Heath School website. For example, the website is easy to navigate around. There are many hyperlinks so the information on the website is not all bunched in one. This makes it easy for the user to find what they’re looking for easier and simpler. Also, the website looks professional, with the colours and font. The colours are grey, white and red. These are not childish colours, and appeal more to older children, and adults. The font is clear and easy to read, it is not too fancy, or too childish. The website is suitable for the target audience through this as well. The website is good as it achieves its purpose of informing. There is lots of information on the website. This information is suitable for the target audience. The website is suitable, and convenient. It achieves its purpose by informing. It has a lot of information on the website. There is also many email links around the site, this makes it easy for anyone to contact the school. The homepage is laid out professionally, with important details including a phone number on the first page. For the Little Heath website you do not have to have flash professional to view or use the website, even to view the photos. For example on the my maths website, you have to have flash professional. For the Little Heath website it is easy to just view the website on a mobile phone or an IPad or tablet.

Weaknesses Even though there are many strengths, there are some weaknesses. For example the website is not an E-commerce. To improve the website the website could be an E-commerce, the website could sell things, such as uniform. This would be easy for parents to order uniform. The website could also be adapted to make it easier for some users if they struggled to see what was on the screen. On the website there is no online forums. There could be one for pupils, to discuss homework for example. Or parents to ask common questions that may be asked. Also, for that on the website there could be a page with most common asked questions, with answers, so it is easy for parents and pupils to have a common question asked and they do not have to contact the school for something small. On the website there is a slideshow of photos, on this slideshow there is the same small handful of photos, there could be more of a variety of photos.

Conclusion On the Little Heath website I liked that the website was easy to navigate around. With the use of hyperlinks and not too much information all on one page. The website is also easy and clear to understand. The font, colours and size of the website makes it easy to read the information. The website also looks professional, which makes a good reputation for the school. Overall, I think the Little Heath school website is a good website. It achieves its purpose importantly. In my website, similarly to the Little Heath website I would like to use hyperlinks because it makes the website look more professional, and thought through. It makes the website look neater, not overcrowded and easy to navigate around. I would like to have a professional look if my website is aimed at adults. Also, I would like to have an easy to read website. It will have a good colour scheme, which does not clash with the colour of the font, it will have an easy to read font, and good size of the text. I would like to stay away from bland colours and too much writing on one page, I would also like to have online forums for the users.

Website 2 http://www.readingfestival.com/

Purpose The purpose of the Reading Festival website is to promote Reading Festival. The website is to inform people about Reading Festival. There is information about the line up of Reading Festival, as well as the history of Reading Festival.

Target Audience The target audience of the Reading Festival website is festival lovers. If somebody is in to festivals, they will search festivals, if they come across the website they will need to know the important details. Also, another target audience is people above 12. Children under 12 can not go to Reading Festival untended, so their parents or older friends would be the one to look at the website details. The website would not be suitable for young children either. This is because there is a lot of writing on the website and not many photos, so a very young children especially would not understand the website. There is also a risk if a child was using the website they could go on the link which takes you too the website to buy a Reading Festival ticket. The child could also click easily on a link to instagram, facebook, twitter or youtube.

Construction Features There are hyperlinks on the website which make the website easier to navigate around. It makes the website seem neater and more professional as not all the information that is on the website is all bunched on one page. The website is easier to navigate around as if you went to the website to look for a specific thing you would be able to find it quicker and easier than if there was no hyperlinks on the website and all the information was on one page. On the Reading Festival website there are no forms for the user. On the website there is action buttons when you hover over the hyperlinks, they change from white to yellow. This is good for the user as they can see clearly what they are about to click on and do not click accidently on something they don’t want. Another construction feature on the website is hotspots. A hotspot is an image that is hyperlinked. On the logo down the side of the page, there is a hyperlink. If you click on this it will take you to the home page.

Interactive features On the Reading Festival website there is many email links. This makes it easy for the user of the website to contact someone if they need help. This is relatively easy to find in the ‘contact us’ section of the website. However on the reading festival there is no registration. There is no place for the user to sign up or sign in to anything. On the Reading Festival there is no direct E commerce. However, there is many links, which directs the user to a different section of the reading festival website, where the user can buy things. For example, tickets. To buy tickets there is a bold hyperlink at the top of the screen. This hyperlink takes the user to a page on the reading festival. The user picks their option, and then the user is redirected to a different website, to finalize their purchase of reading festival tickets. There is also another section of non direct e commerce. There is a hyperlink on the drop down on the homepage called ‘shop’. This hyperlink will take the user to a different website based on reading festival to buy what they would like to buy. There is an online forum on the reading festival website. This is easy to find in the top right corner. It is clearly labelled ‘forum’. This makes it easy for the user of a website to find answers for their queries easily, quickly, and simply.

Aesthetics The colours of the Reading Festival website are very bright. The main colours are red yellow white and black. These colours do fit in with the reading festival logo, and they do make the website stand out. However, they are not very professional. The layout of the Reading Festival is not very good. There is hyperlinks and photos and writing dotted everywhere around the website. It makes it hard to find a certain thing. If a user was looking for a specific thing they would find it more difficult to find it, then compared to if the website had a better and more clear layout. There are many photos and videos on the website. These take up a lot of the screen space on the homepage, directing the attention from actual information. They are very large in size. On the drop down on the homepage, there is a hyperlink for photos and a hyperlink for videos. This gives the user an insight into what Reading festival is like. This part of the website is clearly laid out. There is some hyperlinks at the top of the page, where the user can go to the year, day, or specific section including artists and fans, that they want to. The text on the website is okay. A lot of it is in capital letters and is bold which makes it stand out. There is not many pages, where there is standard text, many pages including information and images, with captions which is short and in capital letters.

Accessibility Some users may struggle when using the website. When hovering over an image on the Reading Festival website there is no alternative description. This can be difficult for some users, if they can not see what is on the screen.

Improving user experience This website is a dynamic website which means that the website is unique and because of this it encourages users to revisit the website. For example this website has style sheets which means that all of the web pages have something in common to relate to their house style. Another example is that this website has embedded digital assets for this website as it is a slideshow on the homepage which catches the users attention as it is the first thing that they see.

Strengths There are many strengths to the reading festival website. For example, the bright colours and the bold clear writing make the website stand out. This would catch the users attention. The use of many graphics also catches the users attention. With the website being a dynamic website it makes it unique. This makes the user want to revisit the website. The website is also good because of the information on the website. A user could find out almost anything about Reading Festival from the website. Including the history of the festival, general information, peoples opinions about the festival, as well as the line up. The website makes it easy for anyone to buy a ticket, in a few clicks they can have bought their ticket. With the use of hyperlinks on the website it makes it easier and simpler for anyone to navigate around the website. This way all of the information does not have to be on one page. A user can find quicker and easier what they are looking for, by just looking for the hyperlink related. It is also good how on the website there is links to social networking sites. This means that people interested in reading festival can connect. On tablets the website is like a mobile site, it is not like some websites where you can not read them and have to zoom in a lot as they are not suitable for mobiles and tablet devices. As many people do not use laptops or computers now a days to search up information this is a convenient strength.

Weaknesses As well as many strengths there are also many weaknesses about the reading festival website. For example, there is not a clear layout of the website. There is photos, slideshows, hyperlinks and text dotted everywhere. This can distract a user as they do not know where to look first, or for what they are looking for. To improve the website the layout could be more clear. For example by having the hyperlinks close together. Even though the colours of the website do fit in with the reading festival logo, they are quite unprofessional. On a drop down on the website there is a hyperlink for photos. In the right hand corner there is also a hyperlink for photos. This would make the user wonder which one to use. They do not need two hyperlinks for one thing. The website does not all fit on the screen, you have to scroll up and down a lot as well as left to right which can be slightly annoying. The images on the website are very big. This can distract the user away from other information. The images also take up most of the space, meaning less space for text. Where the images are large, the user has to scroll up and down and left to right a lot. On the hyperlink for info. It can be hard to find what you want with so many hyperlinks. When you go onto the information page, there is no information only another page of hyperlinks. With so many hyperlinks it can take a while to find what the user really wants. It is also an inconvenience of having to be redirected to another website to buy tickets and to go to the shop to buy things. The website could have a page for this.

Conclusion On the Reading Festival website I liked the use of hyperlinks this makes the website easier to navigate around. If all the information on the website was on one page it would be very difficult to find what the user wants. The hyperlinks have clear headings, so the user does not have to search through loads of hyperlinks to find the one the information they need. Another thing I liked about the website is the promotion of Reading Festival. As soon as you go onto the website, there is big bold hyperlinks named ‘line up’ and ‘buy tickets’. There are also many photos on the website which promote the performers at Reading Festival. This is the Reading Festival website achieving its purpose. This website does have some bad points as well, for example there is no search bar. With so many hyperlinks, a user may not want to search for something for ages. With a search bar people could easily find what they’re looking for. Overall I believe this website is good. It meets its purpose and Target audience, which are great strengths. When doing my website, I would like to stay away from messy, unclear layouts. As this can make it hard to look for what the user wants. I would also like to include a search bar to make the website more user friendly, and easier.