Human Computer Interaction - of Apple Store Website - Case Study Example

Running Head: Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Name: Course: Class: Date: Tutor Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Main features 3 Homepage 3 Navigation bar 4 Usability of the Apples website 4 Conclusion 7 Reference 8 Introduction This report is on the critical evaluation of Apple store website, and objectives in this report revolve on the main features of the website, the positive and negative aspects of the website, review of the website, and recommendations that apply in making it better than it is currently. Apple store website is a consumer company, which deals with advertising, selling and giving their consumers support concerning their products. The website gets its profits from marketing and selling hardware products that are in different forms, but are mainly electronics. These products include iPod players, Mac computers, iPhone and any other electronics; all of which are on sale in their online store. The vital role of this website is to make advertisements of their products, increase the awareness of their consumers, identify potential customers, promote their products, and makes their sales online. It has features that help the users identify with its products, and help them get what they want fast. Main features Homepage Apples store website, has been keeping its home page constant since its operation. The homepage provides the user with a quick view of their products, and it mostly features their latest brands of products. The homepage acts as an advertising board where the browser gets to see what they have on their online store with only a single click. The other thing that pops up once a browser logs into the website is a consequence of three advertisements, followed by three products and after the three, some important current news pops up to enlighten the browser. The Main advertisement that the browser gets to see on logging in is huge to attract him or her to the site. The homepage also contains a navigation bar that divides the page into different business cores, which contain links to useful information about the store. This is their strategy to make sure that they market their products well without losing the interest of the browser. Navigation bar The navigation bar is in Apple’s online store is at the top of the homepage, and it is large and consistent. It is present in all the sites that the browser visits in the website. It is in different compartments depending on the business core that one wants to visit. It also contains some essential details about the site, which can be the information providing support or the store that the browser is searchingfor in the site. The bar has the logo of Apple brands, therefore, ensuring that its navigation bar functions as a branding tool. The navigation also has big drop down menus that guide users to the sites they want to visit in the website. Usability of the Apples website The website has a design structured to guide the user across the page he or she is in, and this is done with minimal effort. The site guides the browser to the next item in the page, and the browser does not have to work his or her way, in the effort of finding the content he or she is searching for in the page. This page has a good flow that makes it easy for any one logged to the website to navigate their way around the site without putting in a lot of effort and time. The picture located to the right side plus the big headline at its left side is enough to guide the user to the next thing which is the marketing publicity. The navigation bar is also an important feature, which help the user to find what he or she is searching for because it ahs the mega drop downs. The drop downs provide a group of choices to select from when choosing a certain site. Readability is an important aspect in any website, and it is therefore, vital to make sure that all the data in the website is clear and concise. Apples’ website store has done this successfully; it uses large texts in its homepage, which are easy to read, and it has a good contrast of the background and the text. It also has sufficient white space between its texts to make it visible. The other key feature that helps the user is the bold heading present to give a quick review of the contents in the store, which are always short and precise. The search feature in Apples’ online store provides the user with the information he or she wants. It is in the navigation bar, and its design is one that gives the information is searchingfor in the AJAX box, which keeps popping up as the browser is typing the information he or she is searching in the site. The results shown in the AJAX box in is in groups containing related information, and before you can finish typing the question the answers are already in the box. If the person wants to do a standard search then the standard search page pops up after entering the data one wants to find. The tool box keeps popping up every time the user enters a question regarding what he or she is looking. The type of interface that a site has plays a vital role in the perception that users have of the site. People associate attractive interface to quality products and attractive products. This makes the interface easy to use and attracts more users compared to a dull interfaced website. This is what Apples have done to make sure that they attract and maintain their users. The navigation bar is a shade of aluminum and contains indented texts, which are very attractive to users. The site has a variety of reflections that combine well with the design used, making it look unified, (Sadun, Sande, Grothaus 2011 pp 10). The level of consistency is vital in making the users understand the contents of the site. Users get to associate patterns from the website to products on sale. Apples’ website maximizes the use of consistent patterns and this helps to guide the users to the next page. This is possible through the use of aesthetics, and apples’ website uses it very consistently to make the user interface to look appealing to the users. With a good and consistent user interface, the website becomes easy to identify with; and this gives the users a point to refer to as they search for products. The unified brand seen in the website gives the user a sense of understanding of products in the website. This makes the user aware of his or her option, and can make a selection of products needed. However, there are some negative aspects in the apples site, and they include a high level of inexperience to users because they rely on quick time plug-in advertisements which are difficult for the user to comprehend. The users also waste a lot of time as they scroll down the site in search of a product because of the lack of drop downs, which usually help the user to scan the products fast. To solve this issue they have to make their ads a bit reliable by giving the users a brief history of their products and searchingfor ways to get the users to understand their products. Review of Apples’ website. The two people I invited to the website are my friends both male and female age 24 and 22 respectively. One of them is a student pursuing her master’s degree in marketing and sales with the other one is a soft ware engineer. The two friends had the same comments about Apples website usability. They commented on the homepage and the navigation, and how it helps the user by guiding him or her to find the information they are searchingfor in the website. Their views on the website are the same as mine because the features of the website are evident, and to top it up the website has a good user interface that helps guide the user through its features. The other point which does not differ is the fact that the interface is consistent, and the consistency continues throughout the pages. The website does not require any improvements as it has the features that support the user’s use of the site. This makes it easy for the user to get what he or she without going through a lot of hustle. This is a key feature that helps the user to identify with the website. The presence of a huge picture in the home page is a marketing strategy that keeps the browser focused on the latest brands of the company without having to log into the other pages in the website to search for new brands. Conclusion The Apples’ website provides the user with few choices; hence the user requires less or no thinking when going through products on the site. This is an important aspect of the website because it maximizes the usability of the website, which in turn increases the number of people using the website. The navigation page provides the user with a summary of what the whole website has, by providing the latest brands followed by newest ads in sequence. The white space used in between the texts also provides a clear visual image of the contents of each page making it a lot easy to read. This is also featured in the short sub headings that tell the browser what he or she needs to know without getting him or her bored with long explanations. However, they have to improve on the negative aspects like the use of break downs, put an effort to make sure that their users get to understand their products. All these features make the site user friendly, and this is through their ability to make their products marketable using simple marketing techniques that go a long way I attracting and keeping the user on their site. The use of the latest brands on their homepage serves as an attraction and helps the users get to know when a new product has been released into the market. Reference Gibson, D. Browser Essentials. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. Ledford, J., and Davis, Y. Web Geek's Guide to Website development. New York: Que Publishing, 2011 Sadun, E., Sande, S., & Grothaus M. 2011.Taking Your IPhone 4S to the Max: For IPhone 4S and Other IOS 5-Enabled IPhones. New York: Apress. Read More