Blog 15 - Web Critique & Analysis

I reviewed two sites - Le Tote and Stitch Fix which are two sites that deal in paying a subscription to receive styled clothing in the mail. However, they are different in that Le Tote lets you wear and return the clothes whereas Stitch Fix styles the box for a nominal fee and you keep what you want, return what you don't.  The styling fee is then applied towards whatever you buy.

Here are some of the observations from the sites:

Le Tote -

• They communicate this is a styled clothing box for a fee where you can wear the clothes and then return them when you're done.  
• Its obviously for women only and excludes: men,children, and anyone who doesn't want to shop online.  
• Its easy to determine how the site works.  They have a "how it works" video that lays it out very well and all their text makes it clear what they're doing. 

Stitch Fix - 

• This site is very similarly set up to Le Tote.  So all the same bullets above apply; however, there is way more information available on the homepage about what the program is and how it works.

Both sites are very easy to navigate and find more information about.  It's also very easy to sign up and take the necessary actions.  HOWEVER, you cannot see any products or samples until you sign up.  So you HAVE to sign up in order to see more information! 

Both sites are also bright, classy, stylish, and easy to use. This is important since these sites cater to women and fashion.  Their audience is obviously those women who have more of discretionary income that want to change their wardrobe more often but either can't style for themselves or don't have the time.  Therefore, having a clean/classic/feminine site is a central theme of both. 

I like both sites but I do think that it's a pain that you MUST create an account to see anything more. I think they ought to offer sample photos or something that gives you a little bit more.  But then again, you're way more likely to sign up and pay for a box when you already have an account. Check out the homepage for the sites and see what you think!! 

Both sites use javascript and some web kits.  

I think these sites make shopping online much easier. Not only does the service make it easier in general to shop online, but its less overwhelming than going to Macys or Nordstroms.com and scroll through hundreds of pages to find what you're looking for.  

Plus, they offer you some customer photos so you can see the products on real customers which is really helpful.  I love both these sites and their services!! 

Blog 14 - UI, UX What's the difference?

I think this graphic is a great way to represent UI vs UX.  I saw it and thought - YES that's a perfect way to put it in simple terms.  For the most part we have all eaten ketchup and though the product on the right is the very same as that on the left, we all know the difficulty of the glass bottle.  As you pound away on the bottom of the ketchup trying to get just a little sauce onto your plate or food.  Until we resort to the good old knife in the bottle which is not very hygienic and doesn't provide that much ketchup anyway.

So then you get the squeeze bottle - same product with an entirely different experience. It's simple, easy and fast!  You get what you want, when you want it without a big fuss or mess.

So UX is the user experience while UI is the user interface.  While both of these refer to different things they do work together to provide a user with a "whole" experience.

You have to make sure the product works and provides the service/functionality that it should, but you also have to take into account how the user will feel as they're using the service.  If you don't design both well, then you're going to lose to a competing product.


Still confused? Well check out some of these resources to help put it into perspective.

http://blog.careerfoundry.com/ui-design/the-difference-between-ux-and-ui-design-a-laymans-guide/ 
http://eyeondesign.aiga.org/whats-the-difference-between-ux-ui-design/
http://usabilitygeek.com/the-difference-between-ux-and-ui-design/

Blog 13 - Inspiration!

I get inspired by websites and blogs or sites like Pinterest. I am not by nature a natural designer so I don't tend to come up with the ideas on my own but need to look at other sites or color schemes that are already put together.

In my day job I work as a systems business analyst so I don't get to be very creative.  Once upon a time I was an Instructional Designer so I did do more graphic type work and set up templates and the like - but after being years removed from such "stuff" its not as easy for me to design like I used to.

So why reinvent the wheel?!  In my HTML classes I have learned of new sites that offer you HTML color schema and I use Pinterest a lot as well as google searches to see what's new and different now. The bottom line is - DON'T FRET!  There are plenty of resources to help you along the way.  Your best bet is to keep up your skill set and keep learning!!

Blog 12 - Final Project Research

For my final project I am working on a website that deals with a small side business that I run on Etsy with my sister - Halo Halo Designs.  Its a women's fashion and resort wear company that offers specialty products in limited releases.

The main site is https://www.etsy.com/shop/Resortglam since its easy to market here as Etsy has a large customer base already.  This offers me the ability to sell products without having to pay for google ads, etc.

Similar companies include http://thebeachpeopleco.com though they really don't sell clothing they do sell beach blankets/towels.  There is also http://tolanicollection.com/ who offers a lot in womens fashion that could be used as beach and resort wear (though more on the pricey side).

Larger competitors are: EverthingbutWater and even stores like Nordstrom or Forever21.  However, since these are not small boutiques, I do not consider them as immediate competitors.

For this blog - I will specifically focus on Tolani as I believe they are the closest in competitor. Tolani offers a lot of different products and is very organized.  Their site is specifically set up as their own website whereas I use Etsy which is a template page.  There isn't a lot of "flavors" for those of us that use Etsy as the main page for their e-commerce.

Their site offers a lot of high end items and communicate travel, luxury and one of a kind items. It's similar to the  message I want to convey in my products; however, I try to curtail my products to a different price range.  I wanted to offer unique products but at a price affordable to the average woman. More expensive than forever21 but nothing like Nordstrom.  I think that Tolani competes in a higher end market against bigger designers found in some of those name brand stores.

Eventually Halo Halo would like to be on it's own e-commerce site but that requires more customers and followers who are going to shop your site directly by going to your www site.  I'm just not there yet.

Blog 11 - Net Neutrality

So what is Net Neutrality? 

Well in laymen terms it is the principle that internet service providers should provide access to all content regardless of the source without blocking or favoring of particular websites.   The bottom line is that its our right to communicate freely online. It prohibits the slowing of certain sites and speeding up of other (favorable) providers.  

Net Neutrality evens out the playing field - meaning that small businesses, start ups, and entrepreneurs are treated equally by providers.  Meaning that a bigger business like Target can't pay more to speed up their site while deliberately slowing down their competitors.  But it also ensures that you can access all content on the web without restriction.  

But what if there wasn't any net neutrality? Well there are a few possibilities that people have posed: 

- Providers could charge you on a "package" style basis similar to what you pay for TV. If you happen to go outside of your package you would be charged more OR you wouldn't be able to access certain sites outside of your subscription.  

- ISPs would be able to restrict what users can see which would remove the idea that the internet is an open forum 

- ISPs could slow up some sites and slow down others.  Whose to say that companies with deep pockets or political candidates wouldn't pay to receive such benefits? 

Ultimately, it might also mean that ISPs would have an easier time shutting down or limiting access to peer-peer sites as they could totally restrict those sites or slow them down to the point they're useless. 

Blog 10 - Favicon, what is that?

Ever notice those Icons that appear in your web browser tabs or web address area? Well that's a Favicon!

These small icons (16px x 16px) are associated with a website and used as a graphical representation of the browser. It's like easy branding.
It's also an easy way to save space on a site, browser, or favorites bar since they don't take up that much space.

Favicon formats have .ico, .gif, .png and .jpg extensions so they can be supported by typical photo editing software whether it be opensource like paint.net or Photoshop. However, if using something other than a Favicon-html kit then you have to be sure to save your file formats with the .ico extension or using type="image/ico" so that all browsers will recognize your favicon as you want.

Most mobile sites don't have favicons or aren't supported. Usually you simply end up with some sort of short cut or thumbnail and these aren't always pretty. However, touch icons are those "pretty" icons that show up on your iOS products like iPhone and iPad that look similar to a favicon but are bigger.

Once you've created a favicon, you simply add the icon to your head elements via <link rel='shortcut icon' href='favicon.ico' type='image/x-icon'/ > and the browser should render it appropriately.

I'd love to try this out if I have time in one of our upcoming projects.  Fingers crossed!!!!

Blog 9 - Semantic Markup

Semantic markup are those "things" you add to your HTML code such as <header> <footer> <body> <div> <spans>, etc. that allow you to one) easily organize your text and two) provide you an easy way to style your design.

Without the use of the semantic markup your page would simply be full of various paragraphs, headers, etc. that would need styling.  In order to style those elements individually you would have to either do it inline or create a lot of different tags in order to separate your content for styling.

Additionally, as your webpages become larger, more complex or span multiple pages - you will want to label your sections in order to easily identify them for editing (and also styling).

Last but not least, semantic markup helps with search engines and indexing. Your markups help tell the search engine what your context is and how it should be indexed.  And if you've ever worked in web you know how important indexing is to get your content out there in search results or in trying to remove it (which is easier said than done)!