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This is a quick usabilty review of hitechsol.net,
a website for software development services.
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Congratulations! This is a free usability
review from UsabilityInstitute.com. "Usability" refers
to how easy and effective it is to use a Web site. Although
it involves how a site looks (graphic artwork), it is primarily
concerned with how a site works, what you click on, what happens,
and whether the site does its job. Perhaps
this review is all you need to improve your site. If that's
the case, great. Please mention UsabilityInstitute.com if
you talk with others who need help with their site.
The following three sections provide a general
analysis of your website from a relatively quick review. Although
Web design is still perceived as a highly creative endeavor,
there are many aspects of it that call for standardization
and compliance with widely established conventions. Implementing
even a few of the ideas below can really improve a site.
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This
first section is intended for typical public web sites
(for products and corporate information), but also applies
for the most part to intranets and software applications
that run in a browser. We've been advocating many of
these ideas—in the context of general software—since
our 1997 book,
Computers Stink, but they've been beautifully
enumerated for WWW purposes in Steve Krug's book, "Don't
Make Me Think." |
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Click
for explanation |
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Hover
for explanation
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Comments |
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1. |
Logo
in top left, linked to home |
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Not linked back
to home. |
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2. |
Tagline |
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There are a few
key sentences but none that are unique statements that
distinguish HTS from other providers. Quality website design
professionals in Tokyo, Japan / Website design company
in Tokyo |
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3. |
Welcome
blurb |
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Yes,
right on home page.
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4. |
Plain
wording |
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Yes |
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5. |
No
'happy talk' |
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Most of the site
is plain wording about web work, instead of samples of
work. |
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6. |
Concise
wording |
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7. |
Visited
pages are distinguished by link color-coding |
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Most
of the links are graphics where the visitation coloring
is irrelevant, but the links at the bottom of the page
don't show coloring either. |
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8. |
"Utilities" are
easy to find |
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Contact
Us is the only utility. |
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9. |
Search
on all pages, with box and button |
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10. |
"You
Are Here" indicator |
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When you click Portfolio,
it is not highlighted. This is important because the page
title then says "Clients." |
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11. |
Breadcrumbs'
as links |
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Students and Professional Developers:
Designing a serious software application in a
browser? Don't spend time and money designing the look
and styles... there's more than you think involved!
Instead, use GenericUI,
shareware CSS and artwork that's free for non-commercial
use and indefinite trial use.
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Do your hands ache after a day at the keyboard??? This review
sponsored by RSIRescue.com ...
Summation & Next Steps
Overall Rating: Strives
/ Survives
/ Thrives
Hitech Solutions appears
to be new web shop, apparently with a successful inroad into
one line
of content, automobile sites. Very similar to a previous review
of CoreObjects.com, its challenges and limiting factors
lie not in usability but in
areas of marketing,
copy
writing,
graphics, and creating more compelling content. My comments are similar:
I'm not a marketing guy, but I'll offer my thoughts. In terms
of
usability,
yes
it
has a few flaws (you-are-here indicator, site map,
search, visited-link color coding) but these are all "compliance" and
convenience type issues, not structural or conceptual impediments
that
make the site ineffective to use.
One reads a few pages and gets the idea.
Recommendations:
- Replace the fluffy wording with screen captures or thumbnails
of completed work (approx 12 sites?). I did not try to evaluate
the linked sites, but there might be a lot of usability issues
there. If that's what you were interested in, contact me. Make
most of your site a showcase. Consider other sites that put
all of the showcase information and screenshots in a side
panel. Find a site that has a good model and learn from it.
- Show more than just home pages from your work examples.
Make the 12 auto sites look like
12
areas
of
expertise...
graphics,
hard-core
ecommerce
work, security, Flash, database coding, requirements gathering.
- Cut down the predictable wording about websites. Buyers
know most of the basics. If they don't they won't read about
them... they'd need to be sold face-to-face.
- Make your site simpler and address every usability item.
It has to be a model, but doesn't have to be complex or large.
Hope this helps and let
me know what you think,
Jack Bellis, UsabilityInstitute.com
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