So I did a Five-Second test on the Home Page of limebarb.com. Limebarb is a professional cosplay group and i figured I would do there’s because someday me and my friends want to do the same kind of thing they are doing. (along side my design business of course) Anyway here’s what I think about limebarb’s website!
The page is kind of cluttered and a little difficult to read at first, but the most important section (cosplay commissions) is at the top and probably one of the first things the user will see which is good because that’s what they want to look at usually. They have a “take a tour” option which is kinda nice for new comers because they can get a quick slide show of Barb’s work. But I would kind of like to see a place for a gallery where you could go through at your own pace and view pictures of their work, maybe even with pictures of the characters they are based on for those who are not well versed in Anime. It is important that the costumes look well made, but it’s also important they look ACCURATE, and the user shouldn’t have to google the characters to see if they are.
Now as for the two site’s with successful home pages, for the first one I chose http://www.myspace.com. One of the main things I like about the Myspace home page, and myspace in general is that you can personalize it. You can make it show your personality and describe who you are. Also the layout is very nice on the home page. A greeting at the top, all navigation you would need is at the top, easy to find, but also placed into sections throughout the entire page. They put the status update right on top upfront so that it’s easiest to get to because that’s what most people do on MySpace, the app’s are clearly posted on the right and any alerts on the left. And under your own status is everyone elses so it’s easy to see how your friends are doing. Probably the only thing I would change is the fact that when you click on your mail button it doesn’t just take you to your mail, it takes you to any notifications you may have. sometimes all i want to look at is my messages, not my app invites and such like that.
For the other successful website I choose http://www.cosplay.com. This website is devoted entirely to cosplayers and cosplay photographers. Their home page is very well laid out. Sign in right up top, search bar right up top, and the first thing that catches your eye is the photo’s of cosplayers in the middle, the showcase one’s on top do a good job of pulling people in, with the best work on top i feel like future coplayers will see it and become inspired to be that good! and that’s what we do! Then the other cosplyers under that, along with new members and such to help keep the community going. All the navigation buttons are clearly listed at the top, easy to follow. possibly my favorite part is that only cosplay add’s can be found here. I know that doesn’t have much to do with the website itself but i know i hate going to a website and seeing an add that has nothing to do with what i’m doing. I was watching a video on YouTube about the PS3 game Left 4 Dead (a zombie killing game for those who don’t know) and all over the page and in the beginning of the video there where add’s for maschera! That just make’s no sence. anyway, back to cosplay.com. There’s always been one thing that does bug me about cosplay.com’s homepage. There is no way to access YOUR account directly from the home page. You can log on but you have to go to the marketplace, or forums, or cosplayers tabs to get to your account which is a little annoying. It’s just to difficult to find your profile.
Now as for Unsuccessful websites, i had some difficulty finding them because when I’m surfing the internet if I click on a site and it’s confusing or hard to navigate through I just pass over it. I don’t really give it a chance at all. I’m the visitor web designers fear I suppose. But I did some searching and found a pretty bad one. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/ I’m guessing this is the official website for the Bermuda triangle. The website is filled with information about the lost ships, theories, history all that kind of stuff. It could be a really cool website. Unfortunately the home page is a mess. There’s just so much stuff on it you can barely see everything. The links to other parts of the site are oddly placed and difficult to read because there are images behind them. The first thing you see when you get on the site is a transparent map of the united states on top of what is supposed to be a globe with north america on it. It’s really just a giant image mess. And if you scroll down the bottom section is information about the Bermuda triangle that would be interesting but the images on it are so many and so large that it’s difficult to read the content. All in all this website just doesn’t seem very well thought out. I would definitely take out most of the pictures and shrink whats left if i where re-making this site. I would move the links where they are more easily read and noticed.
Next we have by far the worst website out there. It’s actually kind of ridiculous that someone made this. http://www.frnz.de/ this isn’t an english website but that doesn’t give it an excuse to look the way it does. The home page, first of all, takes a while to load. Way more than a webpage should. But when it finally loads you realize why it’s so slow. The navigation bar is comprised of animations that are links, the background on almost every page is an animation, the text is huge and on the home page all the text is on top of each other! I think maybe part of it IS the background! Then there’s text everywhere on top of each other on top of the background, there’s a link half on the border, half on the background so that you can’t even see the beginning of it. The text is all different colors and not really formated at all. I have to say though that at least the “home” button is obvious. Although a bit of an eye sore. This website would just need to be completely redone it seems. The background should be a normal UN-MOVING background, without text in it. The navigation bar shouldn’t really be pictures let alone animations, and the text needs to follow some kind of color scheme and have a format. I kind of wonder if this website is actually supposed to be a joke. I hope so.
Well I guess that’s it! Hope everyone enjoyed it!
-kit
