Effective Web Site Analysis

Most people use the Internet to look up information, seek entertainment, and/or shop for products. Depending on how a web site is set up, the user's need could be fulfilled or the user could become frustrated. It is important that a project team keeps their user in mind at all times to ensure that they fulfill their purpose of searching on the particular web site. The top ten characteristics of an effective web site is it must have clean navigation, clear product information, detailed background information on the organization, a variety of search options, clear text, value added design, news releases, contact information, interactive features, and visual appeal.

According to research on effective web sites, Camden County College has fulfilled the top ten requirements. The web site is located at www.camdencc.edu. The navigation is clean and easy to use because there are several hypertext links that the user can choose from. To increase the clarity and organization of navigation, each hypertext link serves as a category and houses related topics under the main link. The main categories are future students, current students, academics, registration, career training, continuing education, and distance learning. In an interview, Association of Support Professionals Executive Director Jeffrey Tarter said (2005) that extravagant pages run slow. In addition, he said that each department within the site should have their own design standards. "I've seen this even with very big, sophisticated organizations. Every little department has its own content and its own graphical standards and its own turf on the Web site. That's awful for someone trying to navigate," Tarter said.