Week 4B: Website Effectiveness

• Why are they effective?
• What specific principles of good design do they include and why?
• What makes you come back again?
• What could be improved?

A website's design that typically appeals to me is something simplistic and user friendly.  I hate when I have to go on a scavenger hunt to find what I need on a home page.  Too many animations also make me not want to bother with reading the website content. If websites don't meet appeal to my standards, then most of the time they won't get multiple visits from me.  Two websites examples that I actually like are https://www.amazon.com/ and https://www.twitch.tv/.

Amazon's website is extremely user friendly.  On the homepage, the immediate needs for the average customer are there at the top.  You have the search bar and all the important menu items.  Below the "critical" needs are some picks that appeal to the users search pattern.  The website consolidates as much information as possible in the most practical way.  The home page does have a decent scroll amount but since everything important is at the top, there really isn't a need to go lower.  Besides the great deals, I come back just to see what's new.   A lot of the ads on the home page are fun to look at because every now and then you find something you weren't expecting to be interested in.  The only thing I don't necessarily care for that could be improved is the amount of suggestions that are given.  I wish there was a way to filter suggestions for similar items I search for.

Twitch's website is a little more chaotic for first time users but once you visit it enough, it becomes very easy to navigate.  On the home page you have the search bar which is the primary navigation of the website.  On the left side, you have the streams that you typically follow which allows for easy visiting of those streamers. I also like the suggestions for the similar streams.  The color scheme is easy on the eyes and the content is well balanced.  The only thing I could think of to improve the website is to disable the auto play of a suggest video when first getting to the home page.  I don't like trying to find the stream I want to watch and having to multi task trying to find the pause button on the video playing or turning down my volume if it's too loud.