A Detailed Analysis of a New Website Idea - Report Example

?PROJECT EVALUATION REPORT By Table of Contents Introduction At the present, the applications of information technology are seen in almost every walk of life. In fact, the latest tools and technologies are being used in all areas of business and social life. Additionally, software applications and tools developers and manufactures are paying a great deal of attention on development of high tech technology based platforms. In addition, this increasing competition also has a serious impact on the development of the website and its operational effectiveness. In the past few years the online business and e-commerce platforms have changed traditional business practices. The new online business arrangements are becoming more reliable and simple to use to attract a large number of people for online shopping and deals. In this scenario, the web based platforms are offering an excellent support for improving the quality of traditional business working and operations (Dix et al., 2003; Turban et al., 2005; Whitten et al., 2000). This report presents a detailed analysis of a new website idea. This website is about presenting multimedia material for public. The basic idea of this website is to develop an e-commerce business. This website will contain a wide variety of contents which can be viewed and downloaded by the website users. This report covers an evaluation of a web site: http://a-alfuhaid.com/. This report will present an analysis of some of the important web site features and aspects. This report will also assess aims, objectives, requirements, and design and application level aspects of http://a-alfuhaid.com/. Aim and Objectives The word multimedia is composed of two words in which “Multi” denotes a lot of and “Media” denotes presentation of any form of information. So we can say that multimedia is exhibition of some form of information in any format. This can also be taken as presenting information using a wide variety of techniques to get across those ideas (Brown & Hurt, 2004; Georganas, 1997). In addition, digital and interactive multimedia paradigm offers an interface through which the digital media can be accessed by making use of a computer mouse, keyboard, on screen buttons, touch screen and text entry, facilitating a user to make decisions with regard to what happens next with particular multimedia. In this scenario, interactive multimedia can also encompass many forms of multimedia including graphics, text, animation, video and sound in the way we want (Brown & Hurt, 2004; Net Industries, 2011; Wenger, 2008). Moreover, the multimedia is mostly used in the entertainment and the fine arts inductor. In addition, it is extensively used in movies and animations. However, the production of the video games also involves extensive usage of the multimedia. Additionally, the education sector has also started recently making use of the multimedia technology for the better information delivery and learning. In fact, all the industries and businesses are now increasing the heavy use of the multimedia technology that provides help to present information to their shareholders and coworkers. In this scenario, they use multimedia technology for advertising, offering worker training, and selling products to the whole world with virtually limitless internet-based technologies (Brown & Hurt, 2004; Net Industries, 2011; Wenger, 2008). Figure No 1- Digital Multimedia source [http://piotech.wsd.wednet.edu/techtwounits/01presentations/task1/01intro/multimediaIntro.html] Thus, seeing the increasing use of this technology in all the fields of life we have decided to implement a multimedia website. This website will offer online multimedia support and material. This website will be named: http://a-alfuhaid.com/. The major aims and objective of this website development is to offer following major multimedia contents: Online multimedia support Online Pictures Online e-cards Online poems Online music Blogs The above multimedia contents will offer us a great deal of capability to better start an online business where we can offer our multimedia contents. Rationale The term multimedia refers to all kinds of media employed in electronics, mainly through computers, where we make use of computers to present graphics, text, animation, video and sound in a combined approach. Basically, the technology of multimedia was long publicized as the future of computing and information technology revolution. However, the multimedia systems were not so common until the 90s because of the expensive hardware requirements. In this scenario, the improvement of performance as well as reduction in cost, made it possible to have better technology in place. Almost all Personal Computers (PCs) are now able to display video, audio, images and all types of multimedia using the resolution available in the system. These resolutions rely on the power of the computer's microprocessor and video adapter those are extensively evolved nowadays (Brown & Hurt, 2004; Net Industries, 2011; Wenger, 2008). This report presents the evaluation of http://a-alfuhaid.com/ website for the sake of initiation a web based business and ecommerce platform. Target Audience A-Alfuhaid.com will be an online multimedia platform that will offer a wide variety of multimedia contents online. This website will be based on a number of multimedia technologies and tools to entertain a wide variety of users. In this scenario, the major users of the A-Alfuhaid.com website are listed below: Youngsters Childern Poetry lovers Natural beauty lovers Music lovers A common person with any age group loving nature and artistic material Analysis and Requirements Phase In this phase we will present the major requirements of new web based A-Alfuhaid.com website. This section will outline analysis and requirements for the overall system development and application. User Requirements User requirements of the A-Alfuhaid.com website are some of the major aspects of the website development. Here we will elaborate how system users want to see the system. Some of the major requirements are listed below: Rich entertainment Wide multimedia collection Better user support Simpler interface Easy access For the collection of requirements I have surveyed the online websites. I have also gathered information about some of the major website system development firms by interviewing people and common internet users. Technical requirements Web technology Latest Wordpress website development model Adobe Flash Jquery Java script API Plugins Blogging software Latest Wordpress website blogging model Web 2.0 technology Blogs Multimedia sharing Social network support Social media technology Blogs FLICKR connectivity TWEETS connectivity Wordpress WordPress (Version 3.4.2) Functional requirements I have outlined below some of the major functional requirements of the system: Online photo sharing Online music sharing Online blogging support Social media interaction Multimedia updates Survey and critique of similar websites Picasa.com is at the present one of the major worldwide multimedia supporting and sharing platforms. This platform supports a number of types of media formats. Shutterfly.com is also one of the popular websites for online multimedia sharing and distribution. This website offers a great deal of capability and support for the online media sharing and distribution. Beta.photobucket.com is an extremely interactive website that offers a wide variety of features for online multimedia sharing, uploading and distributions. I have assessed similar websites to better assess A-Alfuhaid.com website requirements and effectively contribute to system design. Design Phase Web designs Web layouts The A-Alfuhaid.com website is based on a professional looking interface that offers an efficient depiction of the multimedia contents. The main user interface is based on black background and white font interface. The main page appears with the flash photo gallery demonstrating major contents of the website. Here we will have tabs of website those offer a great deal of capability to navigate around the website. Wireframes A-Alfuhaid.com website’s wireframe is presented below: Conversation maps Website conversation map is presented below. This map demonstrates the major system interface, communication and interaction of the system: Storyboards The main system story board Skelton is presented below. This is showing the system’s way of interaction, communication and presentation. Structural chart I have outlined the system’s structural charts which show how web pages are listed from top to down. This chart shows system’s working hierarchy: Categories of information The website of A-Alfuhaid.com will offer a variety of information for sharing. It will offer poems, quotes, feeling memories, opinions and information sharing through blogs. Paper prototypes In the sections above I have outlined some of the important aspects regarding system design. The system wireframe shows the main system paper prototype. This interface design aspects offer more enhanced and effective system structure and working platform. Formative evaluation of designs The overall design of the A-Alfuhaid.com website will be assessed here. The overall website color, font, and presentation style are extremely professional. The page navigation is excellent, and smooth. System loading speed is also good and makes user feel better about the system functioning and operations. Implementation Phase Functions and features of the website and the justification The functional system will offer the following features: Online communication Photo gallery Music gallery E-cards Blogs Social networking support Fleeting Memories Poems News Screenshots Main Interface Music Gallery Poems Social Network Support About Page E-Cards Evaluation Phase User evaluation The user interface of A-Alfuhaid.com is a very good looking and professional that offers a high-tech technology overview of its current multimedia contents. In this scenario the website offers a great deal of high level user interaction and feasibility of usage. Additionally, the website promotional images include a wide variety of natural images. The main image that opens at the initialization of website is about the feel of enjoyment, next image is about the support and third one is about the multimedia contents experience. These all images offer a greater support and capability of enhanced user insight into the A-Alfuhaid.com nature of multimedia support. The main website theme also conveys this message that A-Alfuhaid.com is offering its multimedia for all types of users and areas. The overall website is very consistent with the image projected on the Web site and the message and overall information presented. The overall promotional images and information presented is really much consisting and fulfilling the overall message of the website’s advertisements. Client evaluation The A-Alfuhaid.com is marketing its multimedia through different kinds of advertisement methods and ways and providing the users with a great deal of high level support in transferring, downloading and having experience of rich multimedia in incredible way. This overall scenario leads to better information presentation and better message distribution to the users of the A-Alfuhaid.com website. Technical evaluation The web site is supportive for a wide variety of multimedia formats like music, photos, poems, e-cards, blogs, social networking, etc. These all technology based systems offer high-level support for the all areas those are presented in the web based marketing scenario of the A-Alfuhaid.Com website. In addition, A-Alfuhaid.Com has also integrated the other forms of marketing multimedia communications like email marketing, social network, blogs, blogs news alerts and lot more. These aspects lead to better website handling, promotions and information presentation at A-Alfuhaid.Com website. Human Computer Interaction (HCI) evaluation Navigation Website navigation is similar to an implementation of table of contents in a document. At a glimpse a web user should be capable to be familiar with where they are at, where they have been, as well as where they are moving. Alternatively, all navigation aspects should respond to query: Where Am I? Additionally, the web navigation should as well include the classification we have planned for our system consequently we can be able to recognize the content of our system. For a flourishing system navigation design, it is important to recognize the interface also. In addition, the system interface is the intermediary between web contents and users, an interpreter and guide to the difficulties of a system. In the graphical interface of the Web, interface design has to work with assembled visual meaning (Fleming, 1998; Dix et al., 2003; Poteet, 2007). In context of our system, we can say that the navigation of A-Alfuhaid.Com website is excellent. All given links are working. The page to page transfer is simple and easy. There is no blocking among page navigation. The page loading and transfer speed is also good. Therefore we can say that A-Alfuhaid.Com is efficient and has improved navigation capabilities. Usability Usability is a technique to determine interactive user experience connected with a user interface, such as a website or software system. Without a doubt, a user-friendly system interface design is simple to explore, supports clients’ tasks and objectives proficiently and efficiently, as well as is pleasing and appealing to utilize. A system interface’s level of usability can be determined through its capability to attract expected users of the system to contribute in a usability testing meeting. All through a usability test meeting, a user is given a sequence of jobs to finish with the system in context, without taking the help from the researcher (Usernomics, 2011; Nielsen, 2012). From usability point of view Alfuhaid.Com website also offers a great deal of support and capability. All pages are offering useful and entertaining information and also presenting a great deal of support for the user interaction. All features presented in website are efficient and well organized. Accessibility Accessibility fundamentally outlines that people with disabilities are able to make use of a product. In fact, accessibility is all about making user interfaces operable, perceivable and logical for people with a broad variety of capabilities. Additionally, it includes all types of disabilities, or practical limitations, comprising auditory, visual, speech, physical, cognitive as well as neurological disabilities (Henry, 2007; Lynch & Horton, 2004). In this scenario, Alfuhaid.Com website is extremely accessible. Its font style is visible. Size of font and way of information presentation are arranged in a well defined way. These all aspects make the website more and more efficient and supportive for all kind of users. Consistency and standards Consistency and standards in system design state that users should not need to wonder in different situations, words or actions denote the same thing. Basically, consistency is a basic system interface design principle for working user interfaces. However the thing that surprises is that it is really essential to clarify this principle. Certainly, web users want the response to a given act to be what they anticipate; or else, they would have performed something else. In user communications, the unforeseen is pretty a great deal similar as the unwanted (Zuschlag, 2010; Martin, 2010; Tognazzini, 2012; Lin & Levin, 2010). In case of Alfuhaid.Com website, the most significant aspect is consistency. Consistency is about meeting user expectations. The simply method to ascertain user prospects is to perform user testing. The overall page design and interaction style of Alfuhaid.Com is excellent. Similar design and theme is followed all through the web pages. The color scheme is consistent and simple to handle and manage. Conclusion A web site is a vital tool for distributing contents and information in any format. At the present, the use of multimedia contents to convey business messages is increasing. In fact, the multimedia supported material and contents are used in all the kinds of web sites. This report has presented a detailed analysis of Alfuhaid.Com. This web site offers a wide variety of services such as online picture sharing, poems, music and many more. The web site is supportive for various formats. This web site conveys its message by making use of attractive multimedia contents. This report has evaluated the web site from various perspectives. From the users’ perspectives this web site offers excellent services and features. References Brown, R. & Hurt, B., 2004. Task One - What is Multimedia. [Online] Available at: http://piotech.wsd.wednet.edu/techtwounits/01presentations/task1/01intro/multimediaIntro.html [Accessed 28 November 2012]. Dix, A., Finlay, A.J.E., Abowd, G.D. & Beale, R., 2003. Human-Computer Interaction. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall. Fleming, J., 1998. Web Navigation: Designing the User Experience. 1st ed. New York: O'Reilly Media. Georganas, N.D., 1997. Multimedia Applications Development: Experiences. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 4(3), pp.313-32. Henry, S.L., 2007. Accessibility in User-Centered Design. 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[Online] Available at: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html [Accessed 26 November 2012]. Poteet, C., 2007. Objectives in User Interface Design. [Online] Available at: http://www.siolon.com/blog/objectives-in-user-interface-design/ [Accessed 27 November 2012]. Tognazzini, B., 2012. First Principles of Interaction Design. [Online] Available at: http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html#consistency [Accessed 27 November 2012]. Turban, E., Leidner, D., McLean, E. & Wetherbe, J., 2005. Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy. New York: Wiley. Usernomics, 2011. Articles and Resources for Usability and Usability Testing. [Online] Available at: http://www.usernomics.com/usability.html [Accessed 26 November 2012]. Wenger, D., 2008. Planning the multimedia project. [Online] Available at: http://www.advancingthestory.com/2008/10/11/planning-the-multimedia-project/ [Accessed 24 November 2012]. Whitten, J.L., Bentley, L.D. & Dittman, K.C., 2000. Systems Analysis and Design Methods 5th Edition. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Zuschlag, M., 2010. Achieving and Balancing Consistency in User Interface Design. [Online] Available at: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/07/achieving-and-balancing-consistency-in-user-interface-design.php [Accessed 26 November 2012]. Read More