Website Evaluation Project: Gulf Coast Humane Society
Introduction
The Gulf Coast Humane Society is a nonprofit organization in Corpus Christi, Texas that specializes in providing a temporary home for stray animals, while they attempt to find them new, permanent homes. What makes this organization special is that they are a no kill animal shelter. Their website is designed to reach people looking into fostering or adopting pets and those looking for a safe place to surrender a pet, for various reasons.
Analysis
Design for Easy Use:
The Gulf Coast Humane Society’s website does not take advantage of it realty. There is quite a bit of empty space that could have been utilized and the sections of information and chunks of text are all found centered on each page of the site. Redish emphasizes the importance of utilizing space because it is an important design element (p. 53), however the design is not consistent with its use of space between chunks of text. She also states that the text should not be centered (p. 59), which is another inconsistency that we see throughout various pages of the site, such as the Adopt-A-Bull section of the Adopt tab and the Pawfest section of the Events page.
The site utilizes a grid to align various elements on the pages, however it is not consistent in its alignment. Some of the photos that are used do not contain white space or a border that allows them to appear to blend into other elements. The inclusion of concise columns would allow the grid to be more defined and offer a more polished look to the pages of the site.
This would also be recommended for the event pages, under the event tab: Pawfest 2018 and Buc Days K9 Court. There seems to be a lack of rhyme or reason to these particular pages. There is no focal point or pattern to draw the eye in any particular order because of the lack of organization in these areas of the site.
A better sense of this idea can be viewed on their Community Outreach page that offers a clean gridded page that separates ideas. This is more welcoming to the eye and the organization would benefit more from having this type of visual categorization throughout the website.
The overall text utilized throughout the pages of the site works well for offering legible information to the visitor. The titles contain a special, cursive font that is not easily legible and does not match the color scheme of the site. There is also an inconsistency of the font utilized for titles throughout the site. The Animals Available for Foster page has a standard font that does not stand out as a heading and the text in these sections are small, which would be difficult for some visitors to read.
Home Page:
The visitor can quickly identify what the site offers by looking at its home page. The eye is immediately drawn to the large photograph of a cat that features the site’s main sections: Adopt, Foster, Volunteer, and Donate in a large, contrasting font.
The tabs immediately above the image offer a clear indication of what the visitor can do or find when visiting this site. The logo is situated at the very top of the page, along with the contact information and address.
Redish shares not to add a paragraph-long mission statement on the home page and to encapsulate the organization’s key message in a short phrase or memorable tag line (p. 75), I feel that it may not apply to the Gulf Coast Humane Society’s website. When searching for a no-kill shelter, most of the information was important to include on the main page. Including the rest of the information that they included on the main page could have been moved to an About Us section, instead.
Pathway Pages:
The pathway pages are self-explanatory. There is no need to add short descriptions because they allow the visitor to reach their desired destination without needing to think too much about the action.
The site refrains from using jargon and makes the site very user-friendly. There are names under the event tab that would seem unfamiliar to someone scanning the site, however since they are under the event’s tab, the user will know if it is something they are interested in clicking on or not.
Breaking up and Organizing Content:
The content is organized by keeping similar topics or tasks in one place. If a visitor wants to adopt a pet, the adoption tab allows the user to select what kind of pet and takes them to a page with all of the information needed to do so, along with pictures and names of pets available. I feel that the organization of the dog adoption page is not designed with the main focus in mind, but rather places the focus of the process on the fees, primarily. By placing the photos and information of the dogs available as the main focal point, with its own enlarged section and have the written details to the left in a smaller font size, this would entice more people to want to adopt the pets by seeing them first.
It is also divided thoughtfully. Redish states that using commonly asked specific questions can assist in breaking up and organizing the site’s content (p. 104). The user can continue their conversation because the answers to the inquiries are quickly accessible through the content division.
Focusing on Conversations and Key Messages:
While there is not a lot of information, it does greet the visitor with the key message, which is they key areas of interest on the site that indicate what the site is about. It follows the inverted pyramid style by applying the information in order of relevance to the reader (p. 137). It points out that they are the largest no kill animal shelter and offers a link for donations. It then proceeds to hours of operation, an events calendar, and then a section for logos of sponsors.
As mentioned before, there is not a lot of information on the various pages of the site. It follows the “bite, snack, meal” format by not overloading the reader with more information than they need initially.
Announcing Topic with a Clear Headline:
The site utilizes few headlines that are clear to what they entail. They are also free from jargon and an excess of levels for a clear and concise statement for ease of use.
Including Useful Headings:
The headings are distinguishable from the normal text, but again could be written in a more standard font to be more legible.
The site makes use of few headings and offer clear and concise information for the reader. This can be seen in the Fundraising section in which there are only three headings: Setting up a Personal Facebook Fundraiser and FUNdraising Ideas. While they do not contain jargon, it adds the element of “fun” to the text and the idea of fundraising for a good cause. Below these headings, there are no subheadings, so there is no overabundance of headings and information.
Don’t Make me Think!:
The Gulf Coast Humane Society website is very self-explanatory through its use of images and text. There are no elements that require the visitor to stop and think unnecessarily. It is straight forward with its conciseness.
How We Really Use the Web:
The majority of the pages on the site are designed for scanning. All of the information that the user is looking for is easily accessible. The only pages that require reading are those that contain information that is necessary to the inquiry, such as the Cremation Services and Community Outreach sections, which are still short and concise.
Billboard Design:
What makes information easy to be located on this site is the fact that it follows conventions. Krug points out that users have a lot of expectations about where things will be located on a page (p. 30). The site has their logo at the top of the page and the links to various pages at the top, along with additional information at the bottom of the page.
The contact information is one convention that is extremely important in locating it quickly. It is usually found at the bottom of every page, however they have it listed at the top, below their logo.
The site makes it apparent on what links are clickable for an added ease of use.
Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?:
The links are worded perfectly to help guide the user to their desired destination. There is no additional guiding needed because the choices are self-explanatory.
Omit Needless Words:
While the site is meant to uplift the visitor, there is no excess happy talk or excess words. All of the text on the site is relevant to the information being searched and it gets right to the point (p. 50).
Big Bang Theory of Web Design:
The home page definitely provides the user with a big picture of what they are looking at. It does so quickly and clearly.
The site does not have a tagline, however Krug states, “Some sites can get by without a tagline,” (p. 98). He also shares that all sites would benefit from one. While this is certainly the case, I feel that there was no real need for one in this instance. The inclusion of one could assist with possibly obtaining more donations and sponsors.
Conclusion
The Gulf Coast Humane Society provides a website that offers valuable information without overloading the user with an excess of text. Users can visit the site and know exactly why they are there and quickly find the information that they need through the site’s easy to use layout and conciseness. While there are areas that can be developed, such as consistency of text fonts and alignment, the overall site serves its audience with a clean site to find all of the information they need.
