14. Analysing a web site

In order to design a good web site, you need to be able to analyse other web sites to work out what makes them effective.

Some points to consider are:

1. Does it meet its overall purpose?

If it is a sports site, does it cover the sport well? Are there crucial parts missing or things that would make it better?

2. Do you trust the information it provides?

You would expect a reputable site to only include accurate and truthful information. You should be more cautious of informal sites such as personal blogs as they haven't got the same pressure to be always accurate.

3. Does it speak to the audience properly?

By this we mean is the language and tone of voice appropriate for the main audience? For example you would not expect a web site for primary school children to use complicated language. And you would not expect a serious news site to use slang.

4. Is it up to date - is that important for the site?

Many things change very often in order to be useful: weather forecast, cinema listings, concert details and so on. Other things will never change: past football results, archived news stories and so on.

5. Is it unbiased (or acceptably biased)

You would expect some sites to be reasonably unbiased. For example, an encyclopedia site offering hard facts and figures. On the other hand you could accept that a site is biased because of the nature of the site. For example you would expect a celebrity fan site to be gushing about the celebrity and not include much (if any) criticism.

6. Is it consistent in design and navigation?

Does it have clear and easy-to-use navigation along with good-looking graphics and colour scheme (sometimes called its 'house style').

7. Is it easy to use?

For example an ecommerce site should have an effective shopping cart and an easy-to-use payment system.