Effective Human-Computer Interaction - Example

Usability Report Course: Institution: Instructor: Date: Usability Report Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Usability Report 3 Make-up of website Audience Members 3 a.The Website was developed in a more creative, and exploratory manner. 7 Features 9 a.Link to Social Media 9 b.High sense of reliability 10 Conclusion 10 References 10 Introduction Effective Human-Computer Interaction is very important with regard to the usability of a given website. The web site being reviewed in this paper is; http://www.westcoastcustoms.com/. This is a website for west coast Customs Company which deals with remodeling of vehicles. The company is based in Corona, California. The website has information with regards to the west coast company and their business in remodeling of cars. The company has been reported in the website to have done well in this regard and intends to expand its business through taking in more innovative staff who would take it to the next level. In my opinion, they have developed a good website that simply helps the audience to have a feel of who they are even before finding out more about their business. The paper reviews and reports about their website, how effective or ineffective it is with regards to the human-computer interaction of the targeted audience. Usability Report As part of the review, you should investigate the makeup of typical website audience members (user profiles), issues with the site (referenced where possible) and note possible solutions to rectify issues for the identified audience. Screen capture to illustrate your points. Make-up of website Audience Members The website has been developed to capture a wide range of audience through with a specific target of the working young people, and the mature people who own cars, and may demand the services of remodeling their cars to look the way they would like. The typical website audience is the middle age and young car owner who are attracted to the services of remodeling their cars. This is very clear through the pictorials that have been posted in the home page of the website. Most of the young target market would be attracted to the cool models that have been posted in the cover page of the website. Indeed, anyone by default who has visited the site would be able to ascertain that the company has much to do with remodeling of cars. Good use of color, and relevant explanations may also point the kind of audience members that the company targets to reach through the website (Spiliotopoulos & Papadopoulou, 2010). In addition, the website has also been tailored in such a way that it is not gender biased. This is through the tenses and the tone that has been used. The website has referred to the potential clients and has detailed much about the WCC shows where individuals are eligible to participate and win prizes. The kind of remodeled cars that have been exposed by the company in the website reveals that the company has targeted both the young people and the elderly. Models of the old cars, as well as those that have been remodeled which may be used by the young and middle aged people captures one’s eyes upon getting into the website. Images such as this describe both the company and their works in a more explicit way. Retrieved from: < http://www.westcoastcustoms.com> In addition, the website has been friendly to the older adult users in various ways. The designers of this website [http://www.westcoastcustoms.com/] have put much allowance with regard to the variability by which the users especially the older adults may be able to access important information from the website. They have done this through posting brighter images that enables the older adult users to be able to see well the activities that takes place in the company, the new models that have been remodeled and are out in the market, as well as other relevant activities such as the WCC motor shows that are performed occasionally. The use of bright color as opposed to dull colors helps this kind of audience to be able to have a view of the pictures that are developed and posted in the website. This is very important since the company is a car remodeling company and the models that have been previously remodeled plays a significant role in attracting other potential customers to seek this kind of service (Spiliotopoulos, 2010). The fact that the company has employed relatively larger fonts in the texts that have been posted alongside the remodeled cars is a plus with regards to capturing the attention and attraction of the older potential customers. Most important the website has not featured much distracting animation in its pages. This means that the users of the site would be in a position to go through the work without any kind of distraction. This is also an additional benefit to the older audiences who may not go well with websites with many animations that distract attention to the user who would want to gather a pool of information from a given client. It is clear that this website is a balanced one with regard to its intention to capture the eye of its audience to the work that has been previously done. The audience is able to see the variety of selected remodeled cars. The website has also achieved much with regards to reducing anxiety and fear of computer usage. This is through posting enticing pictures of the remodeled models which have been worked on by the company. These pictures will first of all attract the attention of the users of the website by the nature that they are enticing. In addition, the designers of the website have limited the amounts of words that have been posted into the website. The implication this has to the users, is that it will reduce the fears of the users to go through the website especially if they are not conversant with English and or are of low educational levels. The website has also allowed for information exploration through giving backup information about the company, what they do, and the shows that they host. This has been done with keenness whereby few words in paragraphs; have been captured. This is with the intention to make the users not get bored with the content; but instead seek to know more through further information exploration. This has been done quite well since many of the users who would visit the sites would be attracted to the photos of the past remodeled cars, and on finding more information they would read what’s posted (Nielsen & Tahir, 2002). The website has also been well featured with links to the social media sites. This is very important for the website since through the social media sites, more people could get attracted to the site and thus build up the business. It is evident that the designers of the website featured links to social media sites that would be used by the users to attract friends, colleagues and relatives who may be potential customers to the company to enroll for the said remodeling services. Today, social media sites have developed to be fast means by which information spreads from one place to the other. They have increasingly been used to share information among people who are miles from each other, and thus their effectiveness in communicating information is not questionable. The designers of this website have featured in the website links that may link the users of the site to the users of other social media sites. The social media sites in this case which are linked to the website include; tweeter, facebook, you tube, and my space. The strengths of this website < http://www.westcoastcustoms.com> include; a. The Website was developed in a more creative, and exploratory manner. In this regard, the website has been creatively established. This is in the sense that it has been featured with search engine features that enables the users to go and search deeper about the information that is presented in the top page. The architectural design of the website was well conducted. This is because the website information has been much conveyed through the pictures of the remodeled cars that the company has developed. The designers were able to make a good arrangement of the pictures of the remodeled cars, beginning with the new trucks, then as one scroll down the webpage, other small cars have been features. The angle by which the cameras took the pictures and displayed the pictures makes it appealing to the audience. Pictures such as this would capture the attention of the target audience. Retrieved from: < http://www.westcoastcustoms.com> The website has also been well featured with home and entertainment applications. This is well illustrated with the kind of applications that are featured. The website has also provided for entertainment applications through posting the shows that West coast company hosts. It is clear that the shows have kept on attracting many of the people who love motors, and have developed interest in modeling of cars. The shows are an entertainment opportunity for the people, though they additionally have an advantage to the people who directly participate in it. The website has even gone further and provided previous cases of the same shows, show casing the models that the company was able to remodel. To add to this, further information about the motor display shows that ate occasionally hosted by the company is also provided in print. This is made right below the picture; this is to attract the audience which would have already been attracted to the picture, and also to avoid further referrals. The website has presented a good amount of information about the shows that they host. This is because such shows which often offer entertainment services attract a good number of people who are fond of modeling of cars (Jacko, 2009). I also find the website to be exploratory. This is demonstrated by how the work has been arranged. The website has been created in such a way it has been featured with applications that are transparent. I find the website easy to read and understand. This is because the moment one gets into the web page, the pictures sends a non-verbal communication of what the business entails. In addition, the designers were able to use simple language that allows the information to be easily read. This gives the audience the interest to gather more information, and seek to know more about remodeling of the cars by the company. Features Finally, the website has also been designed in such as way that it has provided for the following features. a. Link to Social Media The website is linked to social sites. They include, face book, tweeter, you tube and my space. The implication this has is that the users of the website have the option to invite other friends into the site. They can also link the site with social media through like options and so on. This makes the website more interactive. b. High sense of reliability Personally, I have logged into the website and from the actions I initiated I found the website to be reliable. I find the website to be appeasing to the user, because the actions function as it has been made to. I also found the site available all the time after getting into the site several times. Conclusion All in all, the designers did a good job in developing the website. This is because it plays a great role in marketing the services of West Coast Company. I find the website to be well designed, for it has addressed the needs of the target audience. The target audience in this case being the customers of the company, the people who are fond of car modeling, and the potential customers who may have interest in remodeling their cars. References Jacko, J. (2009). Human-Computer Interaction. New Trends: 13th International Conference. New York: Springer. Nielsen, J. & Tahir, M. (2002). Homepage usability: 50 websites deconstructed. London: New Riders. Spiliotopoulos, T.& Papadopoulou, P. (2010). Integrating usability engineering for designing the web experience: methodologies and principles. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2010 Spiliotopoulos, T. (2010). Integrating usability engineering for designing the web experience: methodologies and principles. Chicago: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Website < http://www.westcoastcustoms.com> Read More