Week 4 Post 2 | My Website Critques

After my last post about what websites were doing wrong, I'd like to talk about two websites that do things right.  The concept of "right" can be summed up with only two definitions; it's aesthetically pleasing and it's easy to use.  These two websites do these two things well, and enjoy the benefits of good traffic that comes and stays a while.

YouTube
Everyone knows YouTube, and while it's well stocked with cat videos and how to's, YouTube is actually very thoughtfully designed.  Upon loading, visitors are greeted with two rows of recommended/subscribed videos in the center of the screen.  The eye immediately goes to this area - and that's a smart move on the part of the YouTube designers.  By putting the content that you're most likely to engage with front and center, you're more likely to click.  They add more value to these recommended videos by including clear uploader-provided titles and timestamps right along the video and also having them autoplay for a few seconds if you mouse over.  This can help users make quick judgements about if they want to watch the video or not.  Then, as the user scrolls down a bit more (below the fold), they are greeted with a single row of newsworthy videos.  Then, below that, it's back to the recommended videos.  All of the videos are arranged into a neat grid based on your screen size (or a single column on mobile) - making a colorful, graphical repeat as you scroll.

As an accessory to the visuals of the videos, users have very fast access to custom searches by way of a persistent top search bar.  This search bar is easy to use, and has a keyword match function as the user types to help narrow down what videos to search for.  This search has a side effect of sometimes autofilling suggestions that the user may not have thought of, leading to interesting explorations through YouTube.  Account maintenance, playlists, and quick links to subscribed channels are easily available though a left side navigation bar on the home page.  The overall design is simple, with a clean grid layout and simple typography that utilizes excellent typography to clearly highlight what information is important.

The user experience is also enhanced for video watching - with the availability of several view modes users can choose how they prefer to watch, and additional functionality tucked away under various easy to find buttons controls playback speed, captions, and translations.

As for improvements, YouTube would benefit from not forcing certain playback features on users, such as the autoplay feature.  As many times as I've disabled it, it still sneaks back to enabled and that's not always what I want.  Its user metrics for recommendations could also use a little tinkering, as over and over again it recommends the same videos I'm not interested in or videos that I've already watched.

All of this user-centered design and ability to customize the experience helps YouTube to deliver an excellent experience for its visitors - regardless of if they're there to find something specific or just to waste time.

Zillow

Real estate site Zillow also does an excellent job in user design as well.  Upon first loading the site, visitors are greeted with a peaceful, stylish photo of a home that changes on occasion to keep things fresh.  Today, that photo is a dusk photo of a peaceful Cape Cod style beach bungalow - immediately making the visitor ponder summer nights at the shore around a cozy fire and s'mores.  The photo effectively gets users thinking of the possibilities in their real estate searching and ultimate purchase (if they get that far).  A search box is prominently placed over the photo to encourage users to get started in their search.  The site features little more above the fold aside from some basic navigational elements.  Below the fold Zillow provides information on how they work as well as links to mortgage information - helpful additions to users who are just beginning a real estate purchase and may not quite know where to start.

Upon performing a search, users are taken to a clean, grid-designed result that features a prominent map search feature as well as individual real estate listings organized into several rows.  The listings also feature quick information with an eye to typography - it's easy to get their address, price, and status, as well as know if there's additional sales features available like a 3D tour.  It's easy to adjust the map, search parameters, and click into listings to get more information.  Helpful flyouts provide more information on moused-over areas so users can get quick info to help them decide whether to click into something or not.

Zillow works much like YouTube in that it lets the content create the visual interest.  There's very little decoration or design to the site other than its strong, easy to navigate layout.  One downfall of the site, though, is that its blue color for branding is somewhat harsh on my screen.  I feel like it competes for visual attention with the other important elements on the page, and that is a bit distracting.  I also find that the overlay-style real estate listings require more scrolling than I'd like - making them into their own page like Redfin does allows for more columns in the design, and therefore more content up higher.

All in all, there are some heavy hitters in the online real estate market and while they use similar features, one way they can differentiate is in design.  Zillow achieves this easily with a heavy emphasis on featuring imagery in a way that helps them to do the talking.