Structure and Navigation System of the EBay Site - Essay Example

Website Review (eBay) The world has now shrunken owing to the great leap of achievements seen in the communication industry. The internet being the greatest discovery of the millennium is fueling growths that would have been un imaginable earlier. Over the past ten years internet has paved way for more activities being done online, day to day. The e-commerce has spread its wing around the world, bringing in people from all parts of the world, providing opportunities for them to interact with each other. Any organization or business empire that wants to meet more people and build its network is now mostly depending on the internet, building their own website. The importance of the website cannot be undermined, as it acts as the gateway to the company and as a mirror that reflects the company’s values and principles. A report from BBC adds value to this statement by revealing its research that, a person decides to whether or not to proceed with the site in less than a fraction of second. This essay now tries to analyses and review a website, eBay (http: //www.ebay.co.uk) that has now become an icon of success story of web based companies, trying to bring out the purpose of the site, is it datable driven, the purpose of being so, the navigation structure it provides and the graphic option etc. finally the essay aims to provide some recommendation felt would improve its website. Purpose of the site: eBay.com is managed by the American company eBay incorporation, an internet company. eBay is an online shopping and auctioning website that allows people to buy, and sell all sorts of goods and services world wide acting as a third party. In addition to the main site, now eBay has expanded to become localized sites as in UK, US, Ireland etc and also owns other businesses as pay pal and skype. The company was started based on the ideology that despite the differences as language, culture and economic status , people are one in their quest and craving to connect, discover and interact. The experience when analyzed looks to provide satisfaction along with the other goodies. With this background, eBay was started with a vision to create and foster world’s first global economic democracy – literally speaking, crating a peoples market where anybody can buy and sell anything for a fair price. With the expansion of technology and the interconnecting speed of internet, the eBay, has produced a social commerce where there is "a powerful combination of commerce, communication and community that enhances traditional buying and selling." eBay is basically an auctioning site or shopping portal that brings in buyers and sellers together. Everyday it updates the list of items to be auctioned or sold along with the description of the item and the remarks about the seller. At the given time the auctioning begins with the seller deciding the highest bidder to finalize the sale. The eBay provides options for making easy payment, online through its Pay pal account. Then with a extra shipping charges the sellers ships the thing auctioned. Here things ranging from unused things to gadgets and antique are sold but its reliability and the level of fraudulence is still questioned. But nevertheless it is one of the site visited by 16 million people on a single day. Why the site is Database driven: The e Bay website is dynamic- meaning is database driven as against the static webpage that has to be updated manually. To handle million of customers demanding for different information at different point of time, eBay uses a dynamic database driven website to give the users access the site for buying and selling products worldwide, and to track data, to email its users- buyers and sellers, to tabulate and follow up commissions, to allow searches within the site, to keep track of count of that days advertising hits, page views and finally to generate user reports and lots more. In eBay the database is stored on a secure server is enabled to be accessed by authorized staff through computer from any part of the world simply by accessing a website address. By granting and regulating the access permissions, the database can thus track its affiliates, user sessions, access previous customer purchase history for preferences and tastes. To understand the use of dynamic website for eBay let us see what exactly happens in the website of eBay each day. The process on eBay's web site starts with the seller of an item filling out a form with the required information about the product, which then immediately goes directly into the database. Then the auction starts, with the item placed in public view. For the buyers the information about the item is made available to eBay's search engine, which searches the database for items that match keywords entered by potential bidders. When a bidder places a new bid on the item, the bid price and the bidder's E-mail address are stored in the database. Each time the item's web page is viewed by a new potential bidder, the current bid price is pulled out of the database, along with the rest of the information about the item, and displayed. This page is created "on the fly" using the most current information in the database. Each bid that is received on the item triggers an E-mail message to the previous high bidder, letting them know that they've just been outbid, and that they'll need to increase their bid on the item if they really want it. This process continues until the "Ending Date & Time" is reached. The auction is then closed, and the seller and current high bidder are both notified by E-mail. They work out payment and shipping details on their own from there. The entire process is automatic — it functions without the intervention of anyone at eBay. It's made possible by some very effective programming by eBay web designers. The power of these applications stems from their accessibility and usability: thousands of users can access the same data at the same time without the need to install any additional software on their computers. The technologies used here are as PHP solutions, ASP solution and application, MS SQL solution and application and MYSQL solutions and application. The links between database and narrative in the site: Now we could see how effective the website of eBAy is. The eBay that is visited by millions of users a day is highly applauded for the proper effective narratives and links. The narratives are the description of things that is expressed in an ordered manner through a database. The narratives present in the website explain how the user can best use the portal to obtain maximum information. The site contains both self explained and sorted narratives. The site is self explanatory with each narrative in the site as various categories of items, search, buy, sell option, pay pal, skype option all are self explanative and provide easy access to the database. Also the eBay offers various online help features, including a library of self-help resources, e-mail contact forms and "Live Help," which lets users chat with customer service representatives via instant messaging. The structure and navigation system of the site: The navigation structure for any site is very crucial and it needs to carefully balance the needs of usability with the needs of search engine optimization. The eBay site offers to satisfy both the ends and criteria. The navigation among the categories is best placed on the left side of the page, in line with many studies proving the left to be more eyeball attracting. Wisely the categories, with 32 hyperlink and major divisions as shop, eBay motors a separate head and the search are all placed on the left side. Now the right side has the sign in, registration and safety instructions tab that is much isolated and less crowded. Another strong point in the website is that the advertisements are in mild color; through added little commotion is still better. The main navigation tool as buy, sell, and help are placed in top right looking distinctly. The drop down menu’s of them are also in smaller fonts and easy to navigate. The pay pal tab that has to be used for the payment is placed at lower end that could have been still more prominent. In general the structure is very user friendly with an easy navigation, each hyperlink leading into finer details and links, with the data getting downloaded at a faster time. The suitability of the graphic design: The site since is not to contain too many pictures or flashy icons at the outset, the main page of the website has very few graphics. It actually suits the purpose of this site, with more descriptive narratives in the main menu. Then when clicked into categories nad then to individual required items, the photographs of those commodity listed for auction is seen. These photographs of stamp size looks neat and tidy and give a clear picture of the product. But finer details cannot be observed with it. Another glam feature here is that when necessary and clicked it gives out a larger picture of the same. Also another feature is that when the user moves through the hyperlink, each page gives additional information and advertisement, thus saving sanity in the front page. Recommendations for improvement: The website of eBay is well structure, easily navigatable site with user friendly version of screen. Though the eBay is acknowledged to be the best site available for online auctioning and bidding, still it has room for innovation and betterment. The tab of buy , sell, help can be made more bold. The pay pal description tab could be placed in more visible portion of the site. The list of item, price etc can be made still more compact for viewing. References: 1. eBay , retrieved on 2008, http: //www.ebay.co.uk 2. eBay , company information, retrieved on 2008, http://news.ebay.com/about.cfm 3. eBay Fact Sheet (PDF). eBay. eBay Inc. (2006-03-31). Retrieved on 2007-11-09. 4. eBay Developers Program. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-28. 5. eBay.com Feedback Policies - Overview Read More