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Website Evaluation

fLum0x

Golden Member
My boss gave me the task of finding every single detail that is wrong with the website I am maintaining. We have had some complaints from non-technical individuals. Because of this, we are now evaluating it and trying to reformat some details of the website. Anyways, I am looking for all kind of critiques. Anything from font size/color/spacing to navigation. If you could give a little bit of insight as to what you think, it would be appreciated. The following is the link to the website.

http://www.purdue.edu/purchasing

Also, keep in mind that some of the things (color, header, and footer) are university standards and cannot be changed. Thanks.
 
Using Firefox, I notice a strange white area above the black header on the right side, and the text that says "For Questions on the above content, contact...." is blocked out by the side image border.
 
Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Using Firefox, I notice a strange white area above the black header on the right side, and the text that says "For Questions on the above content, contact...." is blocked out by the side image border.

Also, the horizontal rule below that extends into the black header. Plus, that clock tower image on the left is way out of place. Integrate it better with some gradients or something. Make the menu text 8pt. Get rid of the cell spacing in the search bar.
 
I see how the bell tower image is out of place, but I don't see how gradiants would fix it. I have seen the bell tower image vertically centered and it looks worse. Any other good ideas? Maybe I should just find a different image or get 2 images and gradiant them together or something wierd like that.
 
The menu color would be better as white (also under the quick links). Other than that, very clean layout. 4/5
 
-Menu tabs need to be left aligned. The text runs together, too.

-Certain tabs on this menu don't expand. When this happens, the previous tab does not go away immediately. This is confusing. Fix it so that the sub-menu goes away immediately when another tab is selected, not just a tab with a sub-menu.

-You have NO header on the main page, and only a few on the others. WHOOPS. BIG MISTAKE. Make those, and make a small bit of text below so that people know what the heck the page is for if they can't figure it out by clicking on the menu item. It doesn't have to tell everything, just keep it simple. General Information could be something like "Helpful information provided by the university related to purchasing services."

-The text block is too wide. Sounds stupid when someone tells you, but a block of text should never be more than 4 or 5 inches on screen.

-The tab menu changes completely when you click on Business Procedures Manual. NO NO NO. I can't even find a way to get back! How the heck is anyone with lite tech knowledge going to figure it out??? If you have no control over this page, then don't make it part of your menu. If you MUST link to it, put it in a new window with some text that clearly says it will open in a new window... close to return to this page.

-There are a mountain of pages I'm not authorized to view. You NEED to make a custom page for this and tell me who I need to contact if I'm supposed to be in but I can't get in. Making those pages links from the main menu are bad to begin with.

-There seem to be "breadcrumbs" in the beige bar above the tab menu. Using the pipe "|" to seperate them makes them look like subnavigation. Change it to a greater than or something. Also, this is the wrong place for the bread crumbs. The correct place is above the header, below the menu.

-I just noticed that you have a left side menu that does not appear on the first page. There are also other pages that have the menu, and pages that have a giant stupid image. Consistency, consistency, consistency. Make one page design, then fill in the content, and add sub-navigation for deeper-linked pages. No page should look different from other pages except for the content and any stock images you use.

- It looks like the page was designed for 800x600 resolution and nothing larger. It looks like the right side of the header should be squeezed together with the left... the "purchasing services" graphic looks like it should be partially behind the search bar. Either way, it's horribly out of place.
 
Originally posted by: Crono
The menu color would be better as white (also under the quick links). Other than that, very clean layout. 4/5

Negative.

The design is confusing. White would be one of the WORST colors to use for this menu because it would not make it stand out at ALL.
 
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