Site Assessment

Section One

Much of what is found in the Krug text is what is being checked for on the checklist that you will find below. For example, items such as navigation and the logo on each page are mentioned both in the text and in the checklist below. In order to not be redundant, I will try to show some ways how the website that I have been testing does or does not comply with the Krug text without talking too much about what the checklist covers.

The first part of “Don’t Make Me Think” talks a lot about the standards of content and layout that website should follow. Just like what we learned in class about text in class; that it should be scannable with only the essential words used. Carnival has done this really well. All of their phrases are short and to the point, and the best thing is you don’t have to think at all. That is, about the usability of course, you do have to think of how you can save up your money to go on a cruise.

I have actually used this website on other occasions, and for myself, it has been one of the easiest websites to use. There are many different reasons for that usability but one of them is just because it doesn’t require you to read through pages and pages of text. It is very subjective, and tells me exactly what I need to know when I need to know it. As I mentioned in the checklist, the only thing that would be better is the alignment, because sometimes my eyes have a hard time finding where they are supposed to go.

In the Krug text, the author also talks a lot about navigation, and how it is a crucial part in our web development. Carnival has implemented a fairly easy to use navigation system in their web design. However, there would be a couple of improvements that I would make. Carnival uses tabs for navigations, and just how the text says, it is slick and they are hard to miss, and while it is perfectly fine to use tabs along the top for navigation, it is also very convenient to have a navigational list along the side. The text also gives importance of having a breadcrumb trail which Carnival also doesn’t have which I thought would be very useful in exploring the website.

Overall, I think Carnival has done really well with their website, and I’m sure that they have put in the big dollars to make it that way. And although money doesn’t make a website great, it can definitely help sometimes. One thing that did confuse me somewhat, however, was the fact that Carnival didn’t use more alts and captions in their development, because I would have imagined that they would have a fairly large population of disabled guests who visit their website. So, Carnival isn’t perfect just like a million other websites but they scored fairly well according to “Don’t Make Me Think.” After all Carnival should be the best at that.

Section Two

Background Information

• URL: http://www.carnival.com/
• Audience: People in search of a cruise or vacation
• Subject: Cruise Vacations
• Developer: Carnival Corporation

Page Layout

1. Appealing to target audience {Yes}
2. Consistent site header/logo {Yes}
3. Consistent navigation area {Yes}
4. Informative page title that includes the company/organization/site name {Yes}
5. Page footer area — copyright, last update, contact e-mail address {Copyright and Contact-yes, but it lacks the updated information}
6. Good use of basic design principles: repetition, contrast, proximity, and alignment {There are good examples of repetition and contrast, but it could use better proximity and alignment.}
7. Displays without horizontal scrolling at 800x600 and higher resolutions {Yes}
8. Balance of text/graphics/white space on page {Yes}
9. Good contrast between text and background {Yes}
10. Repetitive information (header/logo and navigation) takes up no more than one-quarter to one-third of the top portion of the browser window at 800x600 resolution {Yes}
11. Home page has compelling, interesting information above the fold (before scrolling  down) at 800x600 {Yes}
12. Home page downloads within 10 seconds on dial-up connection {With the moving slideshow, possibly not}

Browser Compatibility

1. Displays on current versions of Internet Explorer (6+) {Yes}
2. Displays on current versions of Firefox (2+) {Yes}
3. Displays on current versions of Opera (9+) {Yes}
4. Display on current versions of Safari (both Mac and Windows) {Yes}

Navigation

1. Main navigation links are clearly and consistently labeled {Yes}
2. Navigation is easy to use for target audience {Mostly, with just a few confusing terms.}
3. If images, Flash, or DHTML is the main navigation, clear text links are in the footer section of the page (accessibility) {NA}
4. Navigation is structured in an unordered list (accessibility) {No, an unordered list would be helpful but they use their navigation along the top.}
5. Navigation aids, such as site map, skip navigation link, or breadcrumbs are used (accessibility) {The only aid available shows you which tab you are under, but there are no breadcrumbs.}
6. All navigation hyperlinks "work" — are not broken  {Yes}

Color and Graphics

1. Use of different colors in page backgrounds/text is limited to a maximum of three or four {Background is mostly white, could use some color but text is good.}
2. Color is used consistently  {Yes}
3. Color has good contrast with associated text  {Yes}
4. Color is not used alone to convey meaning (accessibility) {Yes}
5. Use of color and graphics enhances rather than distracts from the site {Photos enhance, but movies distract}
6. Graphics are optimized and do not significantly slow download  {Yes}
7. Each graphic used serves a clear purpose  {Yes}
8. Image tags use the alt attribute to configure alternate text to display if the browser or user agent does not support images (accessibility) {No, they would need to do that to be more usable}
9. Animated images do not distract from the site and either do not repeat or only repeat a few times {Yes, they only play a few times but they are distracting.}

Multimedia

1. Each audio/video/Flash file used serves a clear purpose  {Yes}
2. The audio/video/Flash files used enhance rather than distract from the site {Some enhance while others distract, especially the movies}
3. Captions are provided for each audio or video file used (accessibility) {No, they each need captions}
4. Download times for audio or video files are indicated {NA}
5. Links to downloads for media plug-ins are provided {NA}

Content Presentation

1. Common fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman are used  {Yes}
2. Techniques of writing for the Web are used: headings, bullet points, short sentences in short paragraphs, use of white space, etc. {Yes}
3. Fonts, font sizes, and font colors are consistently used  {Yes}
4. Content provides meaningful, useful information {No, there are only about two useful things in the content, most of it is promoting their business.}
5. Content is organized in a consistent manner  {Yes}
6. Information is easy to find (minimal clicks) {Yes}
7. Timeliness: The date of the last revision and/or copyright date is accurate  {Yes}
8. Content does not include outdated material {Yes}
9. Content is free of typographical and grammatical errors {Yes}
10. Content provides links to other useful sites {No, It doesn’t have any links to other sites; it would be useful to have links to various excursion companies at the destinations.}
11. Avoids the use of "Click here" when writing text for hyperlinks {Yes}
12. If standard link colors are not used, hyperlinks use a consistent set of colors to indicate visited/nonvisited status {The links are blue, but they do not change colors to indicate that you have visited them.}
13. If graphics and/or media is used to convey meaning, the alternate text equivalent of the content is provided (accessibility) {Yes}

Functionality

1. All internal hyperlinks work  {Yes}
2. All external hyperlinks work {NA}
3. All forms function as expected {NA}
4. No JavaScript errors are generated  {Yes}

Accessibility
          All but these four items were repeats from above.

1. Use attributes designed to improve accessibility such as title and summary when appropriate {At times, they used titles, but they could use summaries more often.}
2. Use the id and headers attributes to improve the accessibility of table data {Yes}
3. If the site uses frames, use frame titles and place meaningful content in the noframes area {Yes}
4. To assist screen readers configure the html element's lang and xml:lang attribute to indicate the spoken language of the page. {No, the lang element was not found}