Analysis of bigwavesandtalltales.com

Date of analysis: 04/11/2007

This page is the result of an assignment from my GRCP230 Web Authoring class in which our instructor, Marc Tringali, requested an analysis of the web site bigwavesandtalltales.com

Quick link menu:

Initial Thoughts:

Remember that 'thrown up in a hurry' pun I eluded to in my first web site analysis? This web site begs to have this said about it... It appears this site was thrown up online in a hurry, and I mean that in more ways than one! To put it mildly, it looks as if the author of this web site ate this design for dinner, became violently ill and uhm... unswallowed his design all over this web page.

The links on the main page appear as if someone mixed them up and just threw them onto the page. They are disorganized and seemingly out of place, adding to the overall inconsistent and disorganized feel of the web site.

I am very unimpressed with how slow this web site loads. Not surprising considering the volume and size of all the images contained on the main page. At first glance it was completely unclear to me what its purpose is. I initially thought it was some surfer dudes collection of all the totally knarly waves he's conquered.

This web site leaves much to be desired in the visual appeal department for several reasons:

This site does rely on the extensive use of graphics for its look and feel. I counted 11 graphics on the main page alone. Pretty much the entire site is nothing short of a photo album. The welcome page is very heavily weighted with graphics and light on the content side, adding to the overall unbalanced and disorganized feel of the site. This drastically reduces the usability of the web site because my eyes are drawn more so to the images than the content.

Personally I would like to see way less images and more content not only on the main page, but on all the pages. The home page content should describe at least a little the web sites purpose, a brief introduction if you will. If there is an introduction on the front page, I cant read it because the black text is extremely hard to read on the dark blue background.

Speaking of text, nothing about the text is consistent. The text seems to change shape, font and color quite often and irregularly. The text should be buttoned up using CSS scripting.

One thing is for sure, this site is VERY inconsistent Going from page to page, each left nav bar seems to be in a world of its own. Hanging out there in space somewhere. Also, the nav bar magically changes button text with each new page you visit. Another bad inconsistency.

By the way, Rollovers? They are about as ubiquitous as the many wonderful and pleasing aspects of this web site None to be found.

Shopping Cart:

The shopping cart for this web site is easy to find, which is nice. There is a 'Books & DVD's' link to the shopping cart in the left nav bar. The link is clear and concise as to its meaning, to sell items.

After waiting 4 minutes for the images to finish loading, I discovered that the web site sold DVD's and Books, just what the link implies. The name of the link is effective in conveying what the web site has to offer a potential customer (if the main page doesn't scare them off first...).

The shopping cart appears to be just as disorganized as the rest of the site. Boy, if the author was going for disorganization as his consistent. theme, he should win a web site of the year award!

Back to the topic; I am pleased to find the nav bar on the left is fully aligned horizontally, FINALLY! However, the jumble of different sized pictures just don't work well. On the lighter side, at least there is no repeating background on this page, that's nice.

There was no hunting around for the shopping cart on this site, but I do find myself hunting for my Dreamweaver 8 and CSS books so I can throw them at the author of this site... If these books don't make an impression on his face or skull, at least they may make an impression in his overall design abilities. Hopefully.

Adequate product information?

Product information is practically nonexistent on this web site Yes there is a product name and price on the shopping cart page, but that's it. No description of what the book or DVD is about. The main theme of the site seems to be that of attracting those who wish to go on a surfing tour or something, not selling DVD's.

Suggested improvements:

A custom header.

Better nav bar design.

Remove the repeating background.

Better organized and more thorough content.

Rollovers! Even a few would do some good for this web site

Make use of CSS scripting to improve the look and feel of the site.

Product descriptions. A better defined shopping cart, any details could be greatly beneficial in this case.

This web site would also benefit from a decent header image that incorporates several of the existing visual elements in some of the pictures.

Maybe even start over, with a completely new layout. I would probably start by designing a new layout with a bluish color theme that hints to aquatic colors. I would straighten up the left nav bar on the main page.

Relocate all the links in either the left nav bar and sub menus, or create a second horizontal nav bar at the top of the page containing the rest of the links not found in the current nav bar.

Clearly the author or client desire to show the world the pictures they've taken. There is a fair amount of decent and, in some cases, breathtaking pictures that are just begging to be put in an image gallery and blown up to full size at user discretion. Relocate all pictures to an image gallery. This site could benefit in some way by utilizing such a system, at least it would help the site be more organized.

Web site Summation:

This web site has a very disorganized and inconsistent feel to it. It starts out bad, the middle however goes from bad to a promising and rather overwhelming worseness, followed up by an even more enlightening ending of... bad design. Overall, it's bad... just bad.

I think someone should tell the author of this web site that 'consistency' is more than just a word you use to define the right 'feel' of your clam chowder. Put down the chowder and the surfboard and pick up those two books I threw at you earlier... mmmmkay? Mmmmkay.

On the positive side however, this web site does a wonderful job making me feel REAL GOOD about my current level of web authoring skills. In that sense I give it two thumbs up.

One thing I did like was the 'Tall Tales Studios' page. I don't like its design, but what I do like is that it has a slight hint of organization to it. The nav bar is aligned vertically and doesn't have weird colors for the background. The background picture is simply stunning (only because I love sunsets). The photographer could have used a lower ISO, different F-Stop setting, and/or a higher image quality setting (if they used a digital camera) to eliminate some visual noise, but overall it's a GREAT capture of a sunset. The content just to the right of the nav bar is a little easier to read with the bright sunlight in the background, but it still could use some improvement.

I can see that the author of the web site was trying to go for a design that enticed surfers and those who like the ocean to buy their products but realistically I wouldn't buy from these guys simply because of the disorganized look and feel of the web site This tells me that their product, shipping process, and even possibly the billing process could potentially be the same. That is a big concern.

Bottom line, DONT do this. Consistent. disorganization is not a widely accepted or appreciated practice.