Thursday, September 18, 2014

Week 3 Websites Reviews

Week 3 


Potential Problems of Websites



I’m not a race car driver but as a novice wondered what I would get out of this website. Click….eye-catching, contrasting colors that pop with their well placed logo banner centered at the top which appears on all pages.  Have touches of organization with navigation panels on the left and top. However, my eyes are quickly drawn to a “Feature” graphic and  “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” in contrasting colored large fonts.  The information on who and what they do was in a smaller font size that I ignored it at first. The main focus on their home page should have been more emphasis on their company’s vital information and brand. Perhaps adding an image of a race car would be visually appealing and an attention getter. The articles and photos/videos under “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” would fit better in the “News” section with a teaser on the home page drawing viewers to go there. Also, the center alignment of the text in the articles made it difficult to read that presents a somewhat unprofessional design. Moving content to left alignment would be follow the natural left to right direction of reading. They should add a “Back to Top” option to be user friendly. Add social media icons for customer engagement and promotion of their products.


Why are majorities of tools or parts websites have an elementary design? This website appears to be a company on a small budget for a website. It’s too busy with so much information jammed on one page. They don’t have a logo that would help with branding purposes. Main content would be more readable if the font size was larger and left aligned. They should divide the information, e.g. About Us, Testimonials, Products into separate links with a navigation panel for ease of use and better organization. Adding more colors to be more visually appealing and better placement of information would improve this website. Again, add social media icons for customer engagement and promotion of their business.

What was done right



You immediately get a sense of their reputation and credibility. Very clean and crisp high-tech, professional design. Their navigation panels make it easy to go to where you want to go – click and go. Aesthetically, the visuals/images are excellent, colorful, appealing and attention grabbers. Exceptionally well designed and user friendly. It was well thought out that you can easily maneuver your way around the website without getting bored. You can drill down to specific detailed information anywhere on the website in any one section. Most of your questions could be answered by browsing throughout the website. Branding is obvious with the recognizable, ubiquitous Apple logo on every page.



I wanted to experience this website as a potential buyer of a new car. Will Toyota convince me to test drive a car? Good decision to have the main focus centered on home page “flashing” the different 2015 models available with images, videos, and “Explore”  along with a promotion of 0.0% APR financing.  Several navigation panels to select from to help me make an intelligent decision on what type of car I would purchase. Excellent content throughout the website, well thought out design with a number of options for a potential buyer along with an owners site. Excellent choices in color, size of fonts, and alignment of content to distinguish the importance and focus of information.  It’s obvious they had a substantial budget to market their brand on their website. The overall aesthetic, clean, professional looking, and wealth of detailed information convey their purpose to ensure their customer has an excellent experience that supports their credibility, full attention to a customer’s satisfaction, and a perception of trust. Yes, I’ll take a test drive.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Dorothy,
    I liked the way you reviewed the Toyota website as a way to convince you to take a test drive. It's nice to have lots of money to be able to do things right when it comes to promoting your business. Car companies have no shortage of cash these days so they should be able to get it right. So, what kind of car do you drive?! ha ha Apple always seems to get it right, don't they? They keep it simple, yet always are able to produce an elegant design. thanks!

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  2. On http://www.gforceracecars.com I found the colors to be eye catching as well, but perhaps to the wrong things. Immediately, my eye was drawn to the large bright green font that said "Gregorini Captures First ANDRA National Top Doorslammer Win!" which led me to believe initially that this was an informational news site on racing. I agree that this news information would be better suited in a section other than the front page so that the emphasis could be placed on what the company actually does, supply parts!

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  3. You can't go wrong with a Toyota and their website reflects this all the way. Toyota has the money to do all the right things to reach their audiences with graphics, photos and layout. Donn Says it right Toyota has no excuse to not have a website with very high standards.

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