WebSite Evaluation/Week 3 ReflectionsII

The two websites that I have chosen to evaluate are Happycurls.com and Adobe.com.
I used the website evaluation criteria find at http://www.library.duke.edu/ in diigo.

1) HAPPYCURLS: Authority -Who wrote the page? What are the author's credentials? Can you verify the author's credentials? Could the credentials be made up? Did the author include contact information? Whose web site is this? What organization is sponsoring the web page? This page is a social networking site so the need for credentials is basically out of the window - people share information about products and concerns and everyone writes about their questions, experiences and problems encountered with natural hair. Although it is not clearly evident who created and sponsored the site, in this case I don't believe that this information is important because of why this website is used. I did notice a copyright symbol at the bottom - it had "Charles Hill" behind it - I'm assuming he is the sponsor?
ADOBE: Authority: This is Adobe’s website and contact information is easily accessible at the top and bottom of the page. Adobe clearly establishes their legitimacy and credentials. Throughout the website there is information about their investor relations, partners, designers, developers as well as annual financial statements and legal information. There is even an option on the website for the viewer to listen to a replay of their earnings conference call – well alright now! This is important in my eyes because making this information available to the public is like saying – “hey – we are legit – we don’t have anything to hide”. The site also includes their corporate code of ethics, code of business and guiding principles. - …Awesomeness….Go Adobe!

2)HAPPYCURLS: Purpose -What is the purpose of the page? Why did the author create it? Who is the target audience? I'm assuming that the purpose should be clearly stated when a viewer navigates to this page. Actually, I never really thought about it because I know the purpose of the page (informative) but someone who is not familiar would probably have a hard time figuring out what the site was all about. Hmmmm...interesting. As stated earlier, the page was created to give members/users a place to voice opinions, experiences and concerns about natural hair. Very easy to read with a mixture of pictures and topics. Topics are separated by borders, with the most recent blog/post presented at the top. No ads or animations.
ADOBE: It’s clear that the the purpose of this page is to advertise Adobe products to prospective buyers of Adobe software. Everything on this site is all about Adobe. They have Adobe technical software as well as Adobe training programs provided by Adobe professionals. They are in the software industry what Walmart is in the retail industry. Go Adobe!
3) HAPPYCURLS: Currency - Is there a date at the top or bottom of the page? Is the information up-to-date? All information posted by posters/bloggers are time and date stamped. Well done.
ADOBE:There is no information in regards to when the page was last updated but I’m not really worried about that too much – Adobe has already established their authority with me and I am pretty much secure with their functionality. They really can do no wrong at this point – okay? LOL
4) HAPPYCURLS: Objectivity - Is the author being objective or biased? Information presented here is definitely subjective - based on opinions and feelings of the blogger about a particular subject.
ADOBE: The information contained in this website is factual (prices, Adobe News, information about products and services, training programs).
5) HAPPYCURLS: Support - Does the author support the information he/she uses? Is the support respectable? This site frequently references other articles, videos from external links.
ADOBE:- Adobe offers training and certification through seminars, online classes, and professional development workshops. Adobe also cites outside sources for education (Lynda.com) . While any trainings that are directly related to the Adobe team are directly linked from their site, this site (Lyda.com) is not…things that make you go hmmmm….! They also span across several different industries – they provide software and tutorials for the education, health, financial industries..and many many more…can I say that Adobe is “da bomb”!

HAPPYCURLS: Overall design is awesome - good contrast of colors, graphic repetition on home page and succeeding pages, good alignment of text, graphics and good use of space for posts, proximity - all relevant text is situated together. Good design principles at their best! Critique - there is no way of knowing who the creator of the website is or how to get in touch with her. I visit this website frequently so I know who this is - I found out after playing around with the website for awhile. Overall - thumbs up.
ADOBE: I learned so much and gained so much respect for Adobe from this website evaluation assignment. Not only did I reference evaluation tools to evaluate this website - i learned alot about ADOBE - the company. This website is easy to navigate through, follows good CRAP principles, and is very informative. Love it!