5. Let’s talk Websites

Matilda Brooks

Examining the website: Eco Projects Australia (https://ecoprojectsaustralia.com.au/) gave an insight into the audience this company is trying to appeal to; labourers, project managers and/or councils, and how their message may be communicated to this audience with a better understanding of website functionality. This type of audience may appreciate a more condensed array of information, to communicate a more concise message. Within the website, three separate pages explore the projects worked on by this company. This could be reduced to one concise page with images and headings of the projects, without the clutter of the information. If an individual does want more information the images may be interactive, and once clicked will display a new page with information about the specific project. Sharpless (2006) indicates that some sites are so cluttered with information the user may misunderstand or miss the message altogether (Sharpless Smith, 2006, p.111). The Eco Projects Australia site features a lot of cluttered text, which gave me, as the user, less interest into reading on. Cutting down this information and making it concise and to the point may appeal to more users, and distribute a more concise and meaningful message. The overall functionality of this website is appealing, yet could be improved for the goal of the user. Szewczak (2009) discusses the goal of the user in his book, he explains that users primarily seek information when visiting a website (Szewczak J., 2009 p.97) Furthermore, he explores the importance of usability in relation to the goal of the user (Szewczak J., 2009 p.94). Usability or functionality of a website help assists the user in achieving their goal. Another aspect, which may dissuade the particular audience when trying to achieve this goal, is the social media buttons. These may be more useful when they are larger. The LinkedIn button does not take the user to the actual Eco Projects Australia LinkedIn profile but instead takes them to the dashboard of the LinkedIn site. This site (LinkedIn) is a valuable source of information for any user and may assist in achieving the goal of the user.

References:

Smith, S.S. (2006). Web-based instruction: A guide for libraries. Chicago, USA: American Library Association.

Szewczak, E. J. (2008). Selected readings on the human side of information technology. Hershey, USA: Information Science Reference.