Newegg.com Assesment

URL: http://www.newegg.com
Audience: People that want to buy computer, computer related items, and electronics.
Subject: E-commerce, online shopping.
Developer:

Page Layout

Appealing to target audience - Yes
Consistent site header/logo - Yes
Consistent navigation area - Yes
Informative page title that includes the company/organization/site name - Yes
Page footer area — copyright, last update, contact e-mail address - Yes
Good use of basic design principles: repetition, contrast, proximity, and alignment - Yes
Displays without horizontal scrolling at 800x600 and higher resolutions - Yes
Balance of text/graphics/white space on page - Yes
Good contrast between text and background - Yes
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
Home page has compelling, interesting information above the fold (before scrolling down) at 800x600 - Yes
Home page downloads within 10 seconds on dial-up connection - No

Browser Compatibility

Displays on current versions of Internet Explorer (6+) - Yes
Displays on current versions of Firefox (2+) - Yes
Displays on current versions of Opera (9+) - Yes
Display on current versions of Safari (both Mac and Windows) - Yes

Navigation

Main navigation links are clearly and consistently labeled - Yes
Navigation is easy to use for target audience - Yes
If images, Flash, or DHTML is the main navigation, clear text links are in the footer section of the page (accessibility) - Yes
Navigation is structured in an unordered list (accessibility) - Yes
Navigation aids, such as site map, skip navigation link, or breadcrumbs are used (accessibility) - Yes
All navigation hyperlinks "work" — are not broken - Yes

Color and Graphics

Use of different colors in page backgrounds/text is limited to a maximum of three or four - Yes
Color is used consistently - Yes
Color has good contrast with associated text - Yes
Color is not used alone to convey meaning (accessibility) - Yes
Use of color and graphics enhances rather than distracts from the site - Yes
Graphics are optimized and do not significantly slow download - Yes
Each graphic used serves a clear purpose - Yes
Image tags use the alt attribute to configure alternate text to display if the browser or user agent does not support images (accessibility) - Yes
Animated images do not distract from the site and either do not repeat or only repeat a few times - Yes

Multimedia

Each audio/video/Flash file used serves a clear purpose - Yes
The audio/video/Flash files used enhance rather than distract from the site - Yes
Captions are provided for each audio or video file used (accessibility) - N/A
Download times for audio or video files are indicated - N/A
Links to downloads for media plug-ins are provided - Yes

Content Presentation

Common fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman are used - Yes
Techniques of writing for the Web are used: headings, bullet points, short sentences in short paragraphs, use of white space, etc. - Yes
Fonts, font sizes, and font colors are consistently used - Yes
Content provides meaningful, useful information - Yes
Content is organized in a consistent manner - Yes
Information is easy to find (minimal clicks) - Yes
Timeliness: The date of the last revision and/or copyright date is accurate - Yes
Content does not include outdated material - Yes
Content is free of typographical and grammatical errors - Yes (Due to the size of the site, I checked only the main page.)
Content provides links to other useful sites - Yes
Avoids the use of "Click here" when writing text for hyperlinks - Yes
If standard link colors are not used, hyperlinks use a consistent set of colors to indicate visited/nonvisited status - Yes
If graphics and/or media is used to convey meaning, the alternate text equivalent of the content is provided (accessibility) - Yes

Functionality

All internal hyperlinks work - Yes
All external hyperlinks work - Yes
All forms function as expected - Yes
No JavaScript errors are generated - Yes

Accessibility

If images, Flash, or DHTML is the main navigation, clear text links are in the footer section of the page - Yes
Navigation is structured in an unordered list - Yes
Navigation aids, such as site map, skip navigation link, or breadcrumbs are used - Yes
Color is not used alone to convey meaning - Yes
Image tags use the alt attribute to configure alternate text to display if the browser or user agent does not support images - Yes
If graphics and/or media is used to convey meaning, the alternate text equivalent of the content is provided - Yes
Captions are provided for each audio or video file used - N/A
Use attributes designed to improve accessibility such as title and summary when appropriate - Yes
Use the id and headers attributes to improve the accessibility of table data - Yes
If the site uses frames, use frame titles and place meaningful content in the noframes area - N/A
To assist screen readers configure the html element's lang and xml:lang attribute to indicate the spoken language of the page. - Yes

How does www.newegg.com meets usability guidelines.

Newegg.com is a very well known web site in its field of operation. It has recieved inumerous winning awards among the e-commerce comunity and related magazines, groups and companies. As the form above shows, it complies pretty much in 100% with the usablitlity guidelines.

The information is right to the point. If you are not familiar with the technical terms of computer components and electronic devices, the web site makes it very easy for you to understand and compare in between products.

The colors and contrasts are not disturbing to the eyes and go very well with the overall theme. The font types and colors make it very easy to read and search in within the page.

What can be improved.

One thing that caught my attention and in my oppinion could be improved, is to add a ittem definition. A lot of people go to those types of web sites because they know that this isa good and cheap sorce of computer components. But many of these people don't really know what is what. If they added a little section explaning the definition of each component that they have avaliable, such as memory, CPUs, mother boards, and etc.

One other thing is to make it easy to navigate trhough your account. Less steps to get from your temporary wish list to your saved wish list.

Saturday, March 22, 2008 10:11 PM