Progress Report: Project 4 Web Solutions

1. Progress Report: Project 4Web Solutions

2. March24-26, March 31-April 2, April 7-9, April 14-16, April 21-23 Email Interviews (Jennifer) Genre analysis (similar sites) (Jill) Usability Testing (Andrea Kayne) Accessibility Analysis (Andrea Alburtus) Outlining Report (Work as a Group) Final Report due Prepare Presentation Draft Due Presentation

4. Genre Analysis Findings • To compare the Outdoor’s Club website, we looked at three other websites in this genre. They were: http://www.msu.edu/~skiclub/http://www.msu.edu/~badmint/ and http://www.msu.edu/~bbclub/ • The main findings that were found to help change our website for the better were: • 1) Bring a message forum to our website, for better communication. • 2) Having a side navigation bar, or just more then one navigation bar in general to help navigate the user. • 3) Home page link at the bottom of the page, or a top of page link. • 4) Having contact information on every page staying in the same consistent spot throughout the whole website. • 5) Having the home page be a lot more informative then it is.

5. Usability Findings • Comments and Suggestions from users tested • Drop down menus • Links on homepage- smaller defined sub pages • Compatibility for other browsers • Up to date calendar • Better legibility • First Impression • Simple, boring, messy • Overlap content on page • Annoying • Interesting • Website Use (1 Difficult- 5 Easy) • 50% rated as a 2 • Informative (1 unhelpful- 5 informative) • 33% rated as a 5 • 33% rated as a 3 • User Task Confidence (1 unsure- 5 confident) • 33% rated as a 5 • 33% rated as a 4 • 33% rated as a 1 • Interest in Joining • 83% interested in joining after viewing the site

6. Accessibility Findings • Accessibility across browsers • Function the best in Internet Explorer • Firefox and Safari- create overlapping text and cutoffs- problems with the design elements • Accessibility for those with disabilities • Hearing impaired- none because there are not any audio or video • Visually impaired- because the site is so text based fairly easy for a text reader or magnifier. • Excessive scrolling can cause problems • Calendar is also a concern • Contrast • Okay • Colors can cause some problems with simulated colorblindness. • Use of CSS Sheet • Good start at being compliant • Need to better utilize some of the elements • Example the header and footer • Use of white space- especially in the right column

7. Sustainability Findings • Sustainability is important for the OC website because the main purpose of the OC website is the attract and recruit new members. • New members need to find information quickly and easily. • The site needs to appear up to date and sustained- lest prospective members may get the impression that it is dated and therefore not reliable. • The use of the “Outing Club” and the “Outdoors Club” can prove to be confusing for new members to understand which names is the correct one that the group identifies with. • OC website Function • Inform people about event times • Needs to be recent- next events need to show up first- not old events • Executive Board basic information • Needs to also be up to date- easy to find- Prospective members need information about the people that run the group, need to feel welcomed • Inform about the benefits of Membership • Prospective members need to be informed about benefits of membership in order to be encouraged to join. • Information about activities and sponsor discounts need to be clear and easy to see on the website. • We believe that if these guideline were followed and the website functioned as described it would have a stronger sustainability.

8. Overall Design • Design Strengths • Use of the menu bar and submenu bar for easy accessibility and reduce the clutter • Contrast with black text on a white background • Sans serif font is legible and web friendly • Design Weaknesses • Lacking uniform subheadings and headings that would promote consistency and better readability • Lack of balanced space. Everything is left aligned and there is excessive white space to the right • Not enough images incorporated into the site • Color scheme- should better represent the group as a whole. The green layout of the site does not match well with the black and white logo.

9. Recommendations  • Importance • Updated regularly- dates need to be current- increase the likelihood of new members joining ect. • Fix the accessibility issues with firefox and Safari because increasingly more people on campus are using firefox and Mac- they won’t be able to view the site properly • Photos- add photos of the club participating in activities and such to show the “personality” of the club • Color scheme- choose colors that reflect the clubs purpose (outdoors colors, active colors, rather than just simple green). • Recommend adding a message forum or a FAQ page for prospective member to reference quickly. • Easier navigation “top Page’ “ Home Page” “next” “back” • Specific page for Prospective Members- where they can easily find contact information, current meeting times, upcoming events, basic information about the club (dues etc)