Evaluation Findings
The evaluation carried out on the site has brought to light the following points:
- The bottom navigation bar extends to far to the right of the page. This is caused
by the addition of the 'admin' links to the bar. As such, it would only be seen
by an administrative user who was logged into the site, and not to standard users – the admin link only becomes available when logged in as an administrative user.
However, the problem could still be fixed for admin users. The best way to do this
would probably be to reduce the size of the menu text and reduce the padding between
the menu items. Alternatively, the bottom menu could be removed altogether, although
this may cause more usability problems than benefits.
- The content area of the pages can seem quite narrow, especially on higher resolution
screens. However, a major issue when designing websites is ensuring they will fit
on a variety of monitors and resolutions. So while the page may seem narrow at high
resolution, it will fit perfectly at lower resolutions.
The way the page is designed ensures that at lower resolutions, users are not required
to scroll horizontally, which would have a large impact on usability.
- One user stated the following: “Menu bar is at the bottom
of the page (in fact, I didn't notice it for about the first 5 minutes of using
the site). Menus normally appear at the top of a page or screen which would feel
more natural.”
This is an interesting point, as the bottom menu bar was only added as a convenience
for users when they reach the bottom of a page. It seems that this particular user
managed to miss the main navigation menu on the left of the page, which is strange
as this is one of the main locations for such a menu. The point about menus appearing
at the top of a page is valid, but this point should also include menus appearing
on the left of the page.
Future Work
In its current state, the Forrest Hills website is missing a few elements which
would need to be implemented before it could be used as a live e-commerce site.
Features such as the search function and contact form would be relatively simple
to implement, while the e-commerce function is much more complex. The original idea
was that the site could be developed to allow the purchasing of entitlements online,
but due to the legal complexity of selling/leasing land and the large sums of money
involved, it would be better to just allow buyers to either place a deposit or register
their interest in an entitlement.
If it was decided that deposits would be taken, then an entirely new system would
have to be implemented to handle secure payments. This was obviously not within
the scope of this project, but would be required for a live website. This would
then lead to the requirement of displaying much more detailed information about
an entitlement, including multiple pictures. The user would then be able to select
an entitlement and 'drill down' to view more information about it.
Also, the Content Management System could be developed further. Currently, it allows
the administrator of the site to add/edit/delete the entitlements displayed on the
site, but this could be extended to allow the editing of the other pages. A CMS
would allow the admin user to easily update the site by entering data and information
into text boxes. This would then be stored in a database and displayed on the site.
It could be easily updated by the admin user by logging into the admin area and
altering the text in the appropriate text box.
