user interface critique

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tricia Decker tricia Decker R 662: Writing for Digital Media R 662: Writing for Digital Media bsite UI Critique bsite UI Critique 10/2012 10/2012 www.patriciamdecker.wordpress. www.patriciamdecker.wordpress. com com This website is a This website is a combination of a combination of a professional writer and professional writer and graphic designer’s graphic designer’s portfolio and a portfolio and a lighthearted, illustrated lighthearted, illustrated collection of recipes. collection of recipes.

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Page 1: User Interface Critique

Patricia DeckerPatricia DeckerPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaWebsite UI CritiqueWebsite UI Critique2/10/20122/10/2012

www.patriciamdecker.wordpress.comwww.patriciamdecker.wordpress.com

This website is a combination of a This website is a combination of a professional writer and graphic professional writer and graphic

designer’s portfolio and a designer’s portfolio and a lighthearted, illustrated collection of lighthearted, illustrated collection of

recipes.recipes.

Page 2: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

This network map will be in the corner of each of the critique pages,

and highlighted boxes will help you identify where the content

being discussed existsin the larger context of the website.

Page 3: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Home Page

This is the main content section which introduces the idea of the food blog and portfolio combination.

While descriptive, the large lump of text is distracting and off-putting. Additionally, the lack of graphics or illustrations seems problematic for a designer and cook hoping to appeal to hungry visitors

These strange buttons are the result of using an outside program to install

external fonts. While the fonts are nice,

these are distracting and take away from the site.

While the graphics in the header are nice choice and do a good job of illustrating the site’s purpose, the lack of color and the level of white space here leads to a segmented feeling instead of creating a cohesive bond between the page elements

Share buttons are a good idea on any site

Page 4: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Website Navigation

This is the main navigation menu for the site. While it is clean and fairly easy to understand, the “text-only” nature doesn’t highlight the separation between the pages, and the navigation menu highlights the awkwardness of the portfolio and recipe blog combination.

A better approach would be to have a gallery menu that highlights the recipes

This is a recent recipe feed which is available

on all the pages. While this is essential,

nothing about the text here makes the reader want

to see more of the recipes

This search function allows the user to search

by category of recipe.

It’s a good and useful feature,but not compelling. If it were

combined with a more graphical navigation option, the visual aspect

might not be so important

This search function allows the user to search

all recipes.

Hidden underneath the drop-down menu is a link to the owner’s LinkedIn page.

It’s an odd choice to have here,and highlights the awkwardness of

the dual purpose instead of helping with smooth integration

Page 5: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Recipes

Clicking here navigates to this page

This page produces in full the last several recipes posted by the owner.

This does create some problems as longer posts dwarf

smaller ones and make theuser scroll endlessly down the page.

Page 6: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Recipes

The user scrolls down the page through several recipes,finally reaching the last one.

These navigation controls appear after each recipe on the page,allowing the user to leave a comment on the recipe and

telling them what category the recipe falls into.

If the user still has patience, theycan view older entries. But this navigation

item appears laughably low on the page, and is likely to never be used.

Page 7: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Individual Recipes

Each recipe has their own dedicated page, which has to be either

searched for individually or clicked on in the “recent” section

of the website navigation bar.

The title of the recipe and the date always show up at the top, helping the user know what

they’re looking at. Images add some welcome visual

interest, but there could be more of them. And in this case, there isn’t

an illustration of the final product (a serious mistake).

This identifiesthe category therecipe is filed

under.

These share tools allow the sharing of each specific recipe,

a valuable tool.

This navigation allowsthe user to navigate recipes

in chronological order,which is a little silly.

Page 8: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Individual Recipes - Comment Field

Comments are displayed here,at the bottom of each post (along

with the number of commentsthat have been posted).

This form allows users to post a comment. It allows them to put intheir name and address to helpthe owner of the website identifyand filter comments, and allowsthe user to share their commenton social networks. Additionally,

users can subscribe to any furthercomments made on their post.

Page 9: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

About Me

This section is aboutThe owner of the site.

While interesting, it doesn’t have muchto do with cooking

(something that wouldbe easy to integrate),

and it gives off a feelingof total separation from

the rest of the site.

The share links here are somewhatstrange, since the content on thepage is essentially a biography.

Links in the text lead to interestingexternal sites, but some of

the links (such as the one to LinkedIn)are repetitive.

Clicking here navigates to this page.

Page 10: User Interface Critique

Network Map

Recipes Recipes Recipes

Recipes Home About Me Portfolio

patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page

Portfolio

Clicking here navigates to this page.

This section containsprimarily writing and

graphic design samplesfrom the website owner.

Clicking on any sample leads the user to the

full version.

While this may be avaluable feature

for the owner, it seemsstrange to exist as its ownpage. Perhaps this pagecould be integrated with

the “about” pageto make both more

Interesting.

Page 11: User Interface Critique

Patricia DeckerPatricia DeckerPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaWebsite UI CritiqueWebsite UI Critique2/10/20122/10/2012

www.patriciamdecker.wordpress.comwww.patriciamdecker.wordpress.com

In conclusion, this website has potential but In conclusion, this website has potential but due to an overall lack of graphics and failure due to an overall lack of graphics and failure

to create an appealing and sensible to create an appealing and sensible navigation feature that both highlights the navigation feature that both highlights the

recipes while integrating the portfolio aspect recipes while integrating the portfolio aspect the website owner desires, the website falls the website owner desires, the website falls

short of reaching its potential.short of reaching its potential.