Web site usability

While discussing web design and website usability, the websites that were deemed “most usable,” all had one common trait, and that was simplicity. Simple web designs allow the visitor of the website to be in total control over the page.
Simplicity also means that the site has an intended purpose and the user of this site can obtain this purpose without jumping through many obstacles. While discussing simplicity of websites, I could not help but think of my most viewed website, ESPN.com. Although ESPN connects with its target audience, I am far from complementing ESPN on there “usable” website.

The target audience for ESPN.com is clearly the sport fanatic. Everything sporting related is at the click of a button and all laid out on one common site. With ESPN there is no need to jump from Website to Website to find breaking news on the worlds best athletes. Or is there? When first entering the ESPN homepage, the viewer is bombarded with breaking news, current sports scores, and of course the always important display bar running across the top of the website’s homepage.
With this much information plastered across the homepage of a singe website, this can leave the user feeling anxious and overwhelmed, if they have not visited the website before.

To further “bash” the usability of ESPN.com, this website contains numerous “mistakes” as presented by Nielsen, Spooner, and Friedman. One of the biggest mistakes ESPN excessively violates is Nielsen’s 4th mistake, non-scannable text. Throughout the entire website, text is king. There are few pictures with massive amounts of text, which inhibits the viewers interaction with the website. In relation to Spooner, ESPN.com, falls victim to crime 9, which is telling visitors to “click here.” This creates an unneeded hassle for the viewer, instead of a brief synopsis, the viewer must “click here” to interact with the text. Lastly, there is Friedman and faux pas 10, blinking images. ESPN unfortunately falls prey to this mistake. Although, ESPN provides its user with live, up to the second sports scores, there is no need to have the word live blinking in red all over the screen.

I’m not done yet. Although Nielson, Spooner, and Friedman do not point out a crucial mistake websites commit, I will. There is nothing more annoying then visiting a website and being bombarded with advertisements. To make matters worse, ESPN has advertisements that contain audio. Each time a user visits the ESPN website, they are immediately engulfed in audio rich advertisements. The bleeding doesn’t stop here; many of these ads do not allow the user to skip the ad until a predetermined elapsed time. In my opinion, there is nothing worse than audio rich advertisements.

From my assessment of ESPN.com, I do not believe this site is “useable.” However, this will not stop me from visiting this website. My love for sports far outweighs the importance of a useable website. 


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