Overview of IBM.com
By reviewing the website, the visitors meet only the desired results. The strategy, intent, and purpose are very clear because they contain ordinary and advanced search engines, especially when one would like more and in depth information from the website. For instance, IBM has incorporated the use of cloud computing in its system, this is supported by the fact that: “whether you work remotely, manage remote teams, or need one place to bring colleagues, partners, and vendors together, our offerings help you transform your business into a social business” (IBM: Why IBM SmartCloud for Social Business 2012, p.1)
Discussion
On strategy, intent, and purpose, the primary action on each website is clear. For example, when examining a worksheet, the client wants to achieve specific tasks and goals when visiting and using the websites as the search engines. The website does not display the icon for identifying the well written and adequate graphical representations that a client may need to find out. However, the website allows the client to use keywords in finding such as software products.
This means that there is no direct way of finding specific software products (Raskin 2000, p.63). Secondly, the website allows online shopping and buying of software products. The website even indicates software products, which are on offer and the savings in terms of percentage that the buyer would be entitled to when he/he buys the products online. Therefore, the websites address the client’s dilemma on whether he/she wants to buy the products online, request it from the library, or go a buy it in the bricks and mortar store because such options are available on the sites.
On design and functionality, there is the innovative use of text, graphics, and web-based tools making them more of a brochure than normal websites. For example, a normal website does have the required information on the home page. However, for the website given, the home page does not have all the information but contains a set of interactive web-based tools to make the person find the desired information (Sears & Jacko 2007, p. 49). Therefore, one might not get the required products on the home page.
The navigation of the website is clear. This is because the interface gives the visitor the chance to navigate the page and make necessary corrections before proceeding with the search. It is possible for the informed internet users if visitors arrive at an internal page via search engine results, they can immediately understand where they are in the site structure and how to navigate to a top-level page. For example, on amason.ca, once the user has typed the keyword and pressed “search”, the search engine gives various options related to the information that the person wanted. From here, the person can use the web-based tools to navigate the page so that he/she could get the right information. Also, the person can navigate the page backward or move forward when looking for a specific item (Raskin 2000, p.52).
Navigation is not persistent or consistent. Notably, it changes without reason depending on what the user wants to find out. For example, when merely looking for information related to particular products, navigation is consistent. However, when doing different functions such as online buying, navigation changes, and sometimes, visitors who are relatively new to using the website can become lost.
Visitors are not easily, or not able, to complete all three tasks because they differ depending on whatever the user is looking for. This hinders the persistence in the navigation of the website, meaning that each item would shape the nature of navigation that the user should apply. Links and buttons are clickable on the website. There are links with related information to that of the user. Those links are displayed on the current page and the person can click and find such information that may assist him in his search (Sears & Jacko 2007, p. 26).
In the website, audience-centric keyword phrases are used during navigation. This means that there is no particular taxonomy that is applied, neither are there internal labels and language choice. Notably, each search has specific keywords that the user has to insert so that he/she realizes the intended results. For instance, if one is doing online research on social issues, it would be non-practical for the person to use legal, medical, and religious jargon in the search.
He/she has to stick to the social aspects, especially those related to the particular search. Also, a word choice that is not related to the primary search information would give undesirable results, thus could lead to confusion during the search (Sharp, Rogers & Preece 2007, p. 87). In such cases, the person cannot get useful information and might discredit the website for lacking information about the website.
On issues relating to readability, the website pages are simple to read because there is a good use of headings and subheadings, bulleted lists, and bolded text that could be used as key phrases in finding more and right information. The highlights are properly arranged in columns and rows and a list of categories, in which the software products are classified. However, it would important to recognize and state categorically that the website IBM.com has more graphics.
The contents of both websites are up-to-date. The new content is displayed and dated. Also, some of the software products and their latest prices, discounts, and mode of payment are displayed for prospective buyers. Moreover, the buyers are allowed to make online inquiries about software products and even make orders (Shneiderman & Plaisant 2010, p.38).
Looking at the home pages of the website, visual cues are showing that the sites are regularly maintained or up-to-date. For example, there are pope visual adverts, which keep on changing. This indicates that the website is being maintained regularly. Furthermore, the latest price updates are shown and keep changing, thus a clear indication that its maintenance is done on daily basis. In IBM.com, there are no visual pop-ups, but the appearance of the software products in terms of the color of the products. The other feature such as offers, software products of the season among other latest attributes is shown.
When the design of the website is examined carefully, they reflect the company culture and profession. For instance, IBM.com gives the various categories of items that they offer online such as software products, e-Reading, lifestyles, paper shops, gifts, toys among others. Alternatively, IBM.com gives options for the user to search for software products, software, electronics, and others. Besides, the items are arranged in an orderly manner and other related links are provided. This makes the websites have a professional look. Likewise, privacy policies, copyright and legal notices, terms of use give the websites a company and professional outfit (Shneiderman & Plaisant 2010, p.76).
About the visuals, the user notes that the layout, colors, typeface reflect the purpose of the site, company culture, and visitor’s expectations. This is because; the tools are somewhat user friendly. Sometimes, even the new user might find the websites easier to use.
Notably, visuals portrayed to give the proper ingression of the items that the client wanted to see in his worksheet. Additionally, most of the things including the query for searching information are perfectly aligned either in the user’s expectations or purpose of the text. Even though the visual presentations and contents of the website are more user-friendly, some interactive components should be incorporated to give the users (Sharp, Rogers & Preece 2007, p. 28). Some of the visual contents are represented as shown below.
Types of consumer experiences that brands focus on to open and participate in the social website include engaging, networked experience, on-demand of the users (Grudin 2012, p.57). The networked experience is about self-expression, ego gratification, portability, community, and meaningful change. On the website, this includes things like ratings and reviews, crowd-sourcing, and consumer-generated content, which are expressed very well in IBM.com. On the other hand, IBM.com creates the networking experience through the blog posts, where the readers could express their opinion in line with the client’s interest in seeing some ratings and comments about the products.
The on-demand experience is about efficiency, ease, control, accessibility, and instantaneousness. In essence, this includes things like on-site search, store locator features and RSS feeds. As given on the website, they have a well-developed search engine that can find a lot of information related to the keyword(s) inserted.
Considering the client’s worksheet, this might satisfy his/her expectation on matters relating to searching the software products using the keywords, getting the prices of different software products to compare them, and make decisions based on the findings. It might also help the client to get the software products quickly, know whether the products are on soft or hard copy and another variable of different items offered on the website.
Another important aspect of the OPEN brand metric System is the users’ experience with acknowledgment, dialogue, customization, privilege, and popularity. Therefore, considering the website, IBM.com has helpful features, which include the “Contact Us” page, individualized recommendations, and surveys. This seems to answer the client’s concern on areas such as readers’ recommendations on different software products, the popular ones, and the visual representation as shown in the websites (Dix, Finlay, Abowd & Beale 2003, p. 27). IBM also has user-friendly features that enhance the client’s experience.
Recommendation
To improve on the IBM website content, it is important to incorporate more specific key words to facilitate faster retrieval of the required information. As a result, this will save time for searching the required contents. Even though the company has an online support system, it should also incorporate the use of modern features such as “Skype”, which are more user-friendly.
Conclusion
In summary, the IBM website has various important features that are necessary for the user/client interaction, for instance, the OPEN brand metric system components that make it possible for the users to engage in an interactive dialogue. This has been made possible through the “Contact Us” page, where communication between the user and the company can be made possible. The company has also online support system features, which facilitate interactive communication.
References
Dix, A, Finlay, J, Abowd, G & Beale, R 2003, Human-Computer Interaction, Prentice-Hall, New York.
IBM: Why IBM SmartCloud for Social Business 2012. Web.
Grudin, J 2012, A Moving Target: The Evolution of Human-Computer Interaction, Taylor & Francis Taylor, New York.
Raskin, J 2000, The Humane Interface: New directions for designing interactive systems, Addison-Wesley, Boston.
Sears, A & Jacko, J 2007, Human-Computer Interaction Hand products, CRC Press, Boston.
Sharp, H, Rogers, Y & Preece, J 2007, Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Boston.
Shneiderman, B & Plaisant, C 2010, Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Pearson Addison-Wesley, New York.