User [OR NOT] Friendly

As a graphic designer, I know some about successful websites and design concepts. As I was reading the "Notes on Usability", my wheels were turning and I automatically began thinking about all the websites I've been on and loved or hated. I browse the internet alot so I've seen a lot and found this project to be quite easy.

First off, I chose Monster.com and Craigslist.org to be very user friendly sites.

Monster.com starts out with the phrase "Let Monster Work For You" which would be where newcomers would click. The site takes you through a step by step process to create your free account. Once your account is created, you are given suggestions of what to do next. Once you've been through this, you get a great feel for the design and feel comfortable coming back another time.

Craigslist.org to me seems one of the easiest sites to use ever. There is no distractive backgrounds, banner ads or unreadable text. You simply choose a city to search by, then select a topic to search by and you are given results to simply browse through.

For non-user friendly sites, I chose Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo and ePortfolio.org

I chose CT's Beardsley Zoo because its a site full of confusion. There are a ton of links and things to see, but not a very good navigation system. In order to get back to the home page, you must click on the logo in the upper left hand corner, but you would not not this unless you accidentally clicked there.

I chose ePortfolio.com after last semester's battles to create a n eportfolio. Its an ok site when you FINALLY start to understand how to use it,but getting there is tough. I found myself relying on the help part of the site for almost everything, which is NOT a characteristic of a good website. The help section is helpful, but id rather not have to take the time to screw around with it.


[to show how much i hate these things, I had to do the link write ups myself because there is not link option on a Macintosh!!! GRRR]

im out.