Date post: | 12-Nov-2014 |
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Patricia DeckerPatricia DeckerPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaWebsite UI CritiqueWebsite UI Critique2/10/20122/10/2012
www.patriciamdecker.wordpress.comwww.patriciamdecker.wordpress.com
This website is a combination of a This website is a combination of a professional writer and graphic professional writer and graphic
designer’s portfolio and a designer’s portfolio and a lighthearted, illustrated collection of lighthearted, illustrated collection of
recipes.recipes.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
This network map will be in the corner of each of the critique pages,
and highlighted boxes will help you identify where the content
being discussed existsin the larger context of the website.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Home Page
This is the main content section which introduces the idea of the food blog and portfolio combination.
While descriptive, the large lump of text is distracting and off-putting. Additionally, the lack of graphics or illustrations seems problematic for a designer and cook hoping to appeal to hungry visitors
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Home PageWhile the graphics in the header are nice choice and do a good job of illustrating the site’s purpose, the lack of color and the level of white space here leads to a segmented feeling instead of creating a cohesive bond between the page elements
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Home Page
Share buttons are a good idea on any site
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Home Page
These strange buttons are the result of using an outside program to install
external fonts. While the fonts are nice,
these are distracting and take away from the site.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Website Navigation
This is the main navigation menu for the site. While it is clean and fairly easy to understand, the “text-only” nature doesn’t highlight the separation between the pages, and the navigation menu highlights the awkwardness of the portfolio and recipe blog combination.
A better approach would be to have a gallery menu that highlights the recipes
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Website Navigation
This is a recent recipe feed which is available
on all the pages. While this is essential,
nothing about the text here makes the reader want
to see more of the recipes
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Website Navigation
This search function allows the user to search
by category of recipe.
It’s a good and useful feature,but not compelling. If it were
combined with a more graphical navigation option, the visual aspect
might not be so important
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Website Navigation
This search function allows the user to search
all recipes.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Website Navigation
Hidden underneath the drop-down menu is a link to the owner’s LinkedIn page.
It’s an odd choice to have here,and highlights the awkwardness of
the dual purpose instead of helping with smooth integration
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Recipes
Clicking here navigates to this page
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Recipes
This page produces in full the last several recipes posted by the owner.
This does create some problems as longer posts dwarf
smaller ones and make theuser scroll endlessly down the page.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Recipes
The user scrolls down the page through several recipes,finally reaching the last one.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Recipes
These navigation controls appear after each recipe on the page,allowing the user to leave a comment on the recipe and
telling them what category the recipe falls into.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Recipes
If the user still has patience, theycan view older entries. But this navigation
item appears laughably low on the page, and is likely to never be used.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes
Each recipe has their own dedicated page, which has to be either
searched for individually or clicked on in the “recent” section
of the website navigation bar.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes
The title of the recipe and the date always show up at the top, helping the user know what
they’re looking at.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes
Images add some welcome visual interest, but there could be more of them.
And in this case, there isn’t an illustration of the final product
(a serious mistake).
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes
These share tools allow the sharing of each specific recipe,
a valuable tool.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes
This identifiesthe category therecipe is filed
under.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes
This navigation allowsthe user to navigate recipes
in chronological order,which is a little silly.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes - Comment Field
Comments are displayed here,at the bottom of each post (along
with the number of commentsthat have been posted).
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Individual Recipes - Comment Field
This form allows users to post a comment. It allows them to put intheir name and address to helpthe owner of the website identifyand filter comments, and allowsthe user to share their commenton social networks. Additionally,
users can subscribe to any furthercomments made on their post.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
About Me
Clicking here navigates to this page.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
About Me
This section is aboutThe owner of the site.
While interesting, it doesn’t have muchto do with cooking
(something that wouldbe easy to integrate),
and it gives off a feelingof total separation from
the rest of the site.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
About Me
Links in the text lead to interestingexternal sites, but some of
the links (such as the one to LinkedIn)are repetitive.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
About Me
The share links here are somewhatstrange, since the content on thepage is essentially a biography.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Portfolio
Clicking here navigates to this page.
Network Map
Recipes Recipes Recipes
Recipes Home About Me Portfolio
patriciamdecker.wordpress.comMain Page
Portfolio
This section containsprimarily writing and
graphic design samplesfrom the website owner.
Clicking on any sample leads the user to the
full version.
While this may be avaluable feature
for the owner, it seemsstrange to exist as its ownpage. Perhaps this pagecould be integrated with
the “about” pageto make both more
Interesting.
Patricia DeckerPatricia DeckerPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaPWR 662: Writing for Digital MediaWebsite UI CritiqueWebsite UI Critique2/10/20122/10/2012
www.patriciamdecker.wordpress.comwww.patriciamdecker.wordpress.com
In conclusion, this website has potential but In conclusion, this website has potential but due to an overall lack of graphics and failure due to an overall lack of graphics and failure
to create an appealing and sensible to create an appealing and sensible navigation feature that both highlights the navigation feature that both highlights the
recipes while integrating the portfolio aspect recipes while integrating the portfolio aspect the website owner desires, the website falls the website owner desires, the website falls
short of reaching its potential.short of reaching its potential.