Site: Cracked.com

Major Usability Problems:

While at first it may not seem as if there are too many problems with the Cracked, after closer examination, there are a few things that need to be updated and redesigned on the website.

1. The homepage is incredibly long. To reach the bottom of the page, a user would need to scroll for an incredibly long time. This causes problems because:

a. In general, users do not want to scroll too much in websites. They want the information easily accessible in the first few seconds of viewing the page. In order to get all the information the site designers want to convey on the homepage, a user would have to spend an inordinate amount of time scrolling through the page.

b. The user will bypass all the other content on the site if they know specifically what they want to reach, and that it is at the bottom of the page. While we want users to reach the information they want, we do not want them to pass up other information and content. And currently, the layout for the page and amount of content on the page encourages users to click on various links all the time.

2. The page is too busy. There are images and links everywhere on the page. This encourages moving to different sections of the website, but it is also distracting and confusing to users. It also encourages users to shift to a different page in the middle of reading the page they are on, especially because the linked pages are not always the same on each additional page that a user can view.

3. There are a lot of images on the site. It helps break up the page, but there are places that the images are not laid out well. This layout issue should be corrected by separating the images so they are not as bunched and to better convey the information in the stories.

4. There are a number of ways that the site attempts to create interactivity between the site and the users and among the different users. But these are interspersed throughout the site in different locations. These should all be centrally located, or they should at least make sense in the page.

5. The page promotes novelty, but it needs to convey that all of the varying topics are written for the Cracked site. Each page only has a small logo for the site at the top, which in general is adequate, but because the homepage is so long, users are not reminded that this is the Cracked site because the logo is not visible to them.

Similar Sites:

• Bored.com
• Collegehumor.com
• Sporcle.com
• Theonion.com

Redesign:

1. Layout the page in a different order. Remove content from the homepage that can be shown on inside pages. Make the site simpler, easier to navigate and easier to find specific information.

a. Make the homepage shorter with links to the major sections of the website and a few feature pieces.

b. Make the site simpler and less busy. The site can include a lot of information on separate pages that do not clutter the main page.

c. Lay out the images so they are not as clustered. d. Have a location on the pages for interactivity and connectivity that is uniform across the site.

2. The audience will benefit from this because they will be able to find the sections they want to view. They will be able to navigate the site more easily. They will not be bombarded with links to click on, so they can get through the information they want to view before moving on to another section of the site. They will have an easier viewing experience.

3. The client will benefit from a redesign because users will actually view all of the content they can use. By reorganizing the page, viewers will be able to view navigation bars that clearly label what information is available in each section. They will not need to scroll through a long page, which will potentially cause them to lose interest in the material before they get to it.

Deliverables:

1. Content map showing the content flow for the site with recommendations on how it should be designed for best flow of information.

2. Low fidelity annotated wireframe to show a general outline of the new site and the changes to be made.

3. High fidelity annotated wireframe to show the specific changes for the site and generally how it will look after the changes.

4. Usability study and results.

5. Mockup of the new site.

References:

This is not a comprehensive list, but I will start my redesign using a number of the websites and books listed in class. In addition, I will start my redesign research from the books and websites listed below:

1. “Best User Interface Design Resources: The Round-up.” DzineBlog. 15 Mar 2010. Web. 22 Jul 2011. <http://dzineblog.com/2010/03/best-user-interface-design-resources-the-round-up.html>.

2. Felke-Morris, Terry. Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML. 5th. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2011. eBook.