How to Evaluate Web Sites
Evaluate the User Experience of a Web Site
- Who is the target audience of the site?
- What is the goal of the site? Social networking • Selling Products • Selling Services • Entertainment & Games • News • Opinion • Information • Politics • Art • Personal
- How would a typical visitor use this site?
- Describe how a typical site visitor would perceive the site: prestigious • friendly • elegant • corporate • fun • forward-thinking • innovative and cutting edge • sophisticated • classic • familiar • elegant • casual • subdued • flashy • formal • powerful • romantic • sensual • clean • professional • high-tech
- What kind of Color Scheme does the site use? traditional • earthy • elegant • classic • delicate • serene • calm • mellow • regal • subdued • warm and sunny • energetic • playful • welcoming • cool and sophisticated • professional • vital • black and white • soft pastels and tints • muted • elegant • robust • capricious • festive • natural • primary colors • rich saturated hues • spiritual
- What’s the basic layout? Fixed vs Fluid, Centered vs Justified. How many columns in the layout of the page grid? What happens when you change the browser window size? Example of Wireframe Diagrams
- Fixed-width layouts, where the page is defined at a fixed size, regardless of the size of the browser window. Fixed-width layouts are typically either left-justified or centered in the browser window.
- Fluid layouts, where changes in the brower’s size are reflected in changes to some or all sections of the HTML page.
In such an arrangement, size changes are typically either proportionally divided between the main horizontal sections, or all size changes
are absorbed by a single column. A common page layout on the Web has a fixed-width column on the left for navigation, a fixed-width
column on the right for ads or blog entries, and the center column is allowed to absorb all changes in the browser’s width.
- How do you navigate on the site? Links, buttons, tabs, menus, etc.
- Is there anything Special or Unusual about the site? This could be in terms of the content, or style, or technologies, or whatever strikes you as unusual.
Locate Key Info about Web Sites
- Whois: check a WHOIS service to find out who owns and administers a particular domain. This can be done through Firefox plugins, or you can check the InterNIC site directly.
- BuiltWith: this service tells you about the Web server environment for the specified domain name.
- Google: use Google to find out various things about a Web site, including which site pages are indexed (using "site:www.mendocinofun.com"), and which other sites link to a Web site (using "link:www.mendocinofun.com").
- SearchStatus (Firefox add-on): provides a lot of SEO info, including Google PageRank
- MetaTags Sidebar (Firefox add-on): more meta info
- Webconfs.com SEO Toolset: several great tools for assessing a site
- SiteScore : scores sites based on a bunch of factors
- Compete.com : compare site traffic (with caveats)
- SmartPageRank : site evaluation
- Web Site Grader: another free site analysis and comparison tool
