Week #3 Two Websites I Use Frequently

 

 http://www.corvettecentral.com/

 

1.  Why are they effective?  The site has an easy to remember name.  The home page is laid out rather well.  I like how you can easily shop your body style of Corvette by clicking on a link, and you will be redirected to all Corvette parts for that particular body style.  I like how you can view recent articles dealing with GM, etc.  I also like how they put new items on the home page letting the viewer know there are new items added. 

 2.  What specific principles of good design do they include and why?  The site is organized with a well balance of text and pictures.  Each product for sale has a picture and a short description of the item.  The navigation of the site is easy to follow and it is consistent throughout the site.  Navigation links taking you to different Corvette body styles is key to locating parts you need.  It would be difficult to find what you are looking for if the site was not arranged in this manner.  Also on the home page there is a site map you can easily scan through to find what you are looking for.  If this site was poorly designed then I would not waste my time looking for parts no matter how cheap they were from the competition.

 3.  What makes you come back again?  The fact that the site is well organized, very eye appealing and easily to navigate through, I will always come back to shop from them.  The products are good quality and fairly reasonable in price.

 4.  What could be improved?  When they include new products towards the bottom of the page, they can use darker borders around the picture and description so it does not look like it was just thrown on against a white back ground.  The top of the homepage is well crafted, and it appears towards the bottom of the page it is hastily made.

 

 http://www.hobbylinc.com/Plastic_Model_Military_Figures

 1.  Why are they effective?  This site is well constructed, and there are thousands of products that interest me.  Anything to do with hobbies is offered from this site.  There are also pictures associated with the product so you can get a better idea of what you are about to purchase.

2.  What specific principles of good design do they include and why?  The site does not take up the whole page, and every piece of individual information has a border around it.  It is easy to view the page.  There is a nice balance between text and pictures.  Links are provided to further customize your search by type and time period.  The navigation of this site is easy to follow as well, and at the bottom of the page there is a site map.

3.  What makes you come back again?  The site contains thousands of products I could potentially use depending on what I want to make at the time.  Most, if not all the manufactures are listed in this site.  It is a one stop shop for anything I need.  Most important of all, the prices, I found, cannot be matched by other sites on the web.

4.  What could be improved?  The only thing I think they could improve on is breaking down the products further by specific time periods, and every manufacture and product that make it for the time periods as well.  This way, you will not spend hours scanning many pages looking for what you need.