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**pinbrook** · 29-Mar-2005, 10:57 PM

for me theres not enough definition, by this I mean all the items on the page are arranged but theres nothing to separate header from body, from left nav, right nav etc.

I like the groomwear page http://www.kjbeckett.com/acatalog/gr...cessories.html

things are divided here by colour, much more cohesive

Hope this helps

**jont** · 29-Mar-2005, 11:12 PM

Originally posted by paulbeckett

Thanks to a lot of assistance from many people within this forum I have not got my Actinic v7 site to a standard I am happy with.

I trust the "not" should have been a "now"!!

The section "by accessory" leads to a section with the text icons - the same icons appear several times yet actually link through to different products.

Nice use of the "next" and "previous" buttons rather than having a mass of products showing on the one section.

I would be inclined to move the "free UK delivery" icon from the top left to just above the "low cost worldwide" icon to group these and free up the most important part of the page... the top left corner.

If I am going to be very picky I would look at the amount of white space at the bottom of the page.. something is forcing most of the pages to have the vertical scroll bar and there is nothing to scroll down to.

The related products and the extra info works very well indeed.

**paulbeckett** · 30-Mar-2005, 08:37 AM

Thanks - I will look to incorporate these comments.

Yes the By Accessory icons do need to be completed - haven't got round to this (I am not so hot a drawing!)

Do you think I need a back button - and is the Up a Category required? Not sure if/how people use these buttons.

**SusanF** · 30-Mar-2005, 03:40 PM

Hi Paul,

I recently concluded an MSc dissertation project, which looked at consumer trust in e-commerce. The project considered how usability issues can affect the perceived trust a consumer may have in a web site. I think this can be extremely important for a new business trying to get going online. Anyway, I reviewed your site using the Trust-Usability Model which came out of the study � I hope the feedback might be useful.

Overall, your site did very well, having 83% of usability elements surveyed (the majority of web sites tend to have around 70%). The only missing element in the Ease of Use category was that you do not highlight the (free) shipping costs at the basket or early checkout stages. Although you do have this posted elsewhere, people do like to see shipping costs at this point rather than having to find it on the site (I haven�t reached this stage with my Actinic site yet, so don�t know how easy this is to do!). Otherwise, all elements for ease of use are incorporated well with lots of easy navigation and search options.

In the security category, again you cover just about everything. The one missing element is that you do not show clear and transparent usage of personal data. Although this seems a small point, it can help to build overall trust.

Where the site falls down slightly is in the Site Branding and Credibility category. In the study, this was shown to have more of an affect on consumers� attitude than Security. I don�t think the purpose of the site is well enough defined on the Home page. I saw a picture of a jacket here, but on using this as a keyword search got nothing returned. How about moving your strapline from the bottom of the page to immediately underneath the logo? This lets the prospective customer know immediately what they are likely to find on your site. You don�t include an About Us page as part of your top navigation � and the About Us details you do have are very sparse. Anything which can make the customer feel that yours is a personal service can help. Information about the company, how old it is, why it was started etc, can all help to build a picture in the consumers mind.

I hope you don�t find these observations too pedantic. I was amazed when we carried out the research, how much these elements can affect just how the consumer views an e-commerce site. Of course, maximising trust does not actually get you sales � only product can do that � but it can help someone to make the decision to buy. A final note, all consumers surveyed showed that ease of use was the most important category, however, the touchy-feely side (branding and credibility), although quite important to everyone was definitely more important to females than males. If you think your customers will be females buying for partners, then it really will be worth putting more effort into this area. Hope I haven�t waffled on too much.

Regards,
Susan.

**pinbrook** · 30-Mar-2005, 04:33 PM

Hi Susan

Great reply....

would you mind posting a synopsis of the Trust-Usability Model. I'd like to apply it to some of my sites to see how they fare.

**george** · 30-Mar-2005, 04:42 PM

Sorry to intrude, but I'd also like to add my compliments on a great post SusanF.

**SusanF** · 30-Mar-2005, 10:28 PM

Hi

Thank you for the kind comments. I�ll try to give a brief synopsis of the Trust Usability study and hope Actinic don�t mind, as it�s not exactly a v7 support topic :-)

The project looked at existing research on defining consumer trust, in particular online consumer trust. From this, three factors emerged as having a major impact on the decision on whether or not to trust � these were Credibility, Ease of Use and Risk. These factors were used as the basis to consider elements of current best practise in usability that might, if implemented, then influence consumer trust perception � the Trust Usability Model. (The project didn�t look at usability as a whole, but only those elements that could contribute to trust).

The usability factors included were briefly:

Usability guidelines for site branding and credibility:

1. Purpose of site clearly defined on home page.
2. Home page includes name, logo and tag line. Home page is professional looking. Whole site is designed in a similar manner to the home page.
3. Professionalism throughout the site. No spelling mistakes, broken links or outdated content. Site URL matches company name.
4. Easily found About Us link, including company details and history (possibly with photographs), plus any community links or charitable donations.
5. Easily found Contact Us link, complete with physical world contacts, not just an e-mail address.
6. Home page shows affiliations with trusted third parties. (Note: This was the only usability attribute that did not seem to make any difference to trust, when actually tested. Separate studies have also been unable to show a positive link.

Usability guidelines for security:

7. Easily found Privacy Policy, including details of usage and security of personal data.
8. Easily found Security Policy, indicating security processes in place to ensure safe consumer transactions.
9. No mandatory requirement for customers to register with the site before making a purchase.
10. Clear and transparent use of personal data.
11. Personal data explicitly not sold on to third parties.

Usability guidelines for ease of use:

12. Ease of navigation including the ability to search both by categories and keywords.
13. Standard usage of common terms and icons.
14. Transparency in pricing. Costs should be easy to find and must include shipping costs.
15. Order tracking implemented and clearly described.
16. Easily found policies for delivery and returns.
17. Full descriptions of products for sale, including thumbnail pictures and with larger images also available.
18. Images must download quickly.

The UK online greetings card industry was chosen as an appropriate test base for this proposed model. In general, there are few big brand players in this sector, but many small, relatively unknown companies many of which reside solely online. A survey of UK greetings card sites found no web site where all Trust Usability attributes are currently implemented.

A test web site was designed to include all 18 Trust Usability attributes. (This is www.CardsAtYourFingertips.co.uk - hopefully not available for much longer in its original format as this will become my first Actinic web site!). To test the viability of the Trust Usability model, this site was compared with four other real greetings card sites, each with different percentages of the defined attributes implemented. The results of the consumer comparison survey undertaken last summer agreed with the Trust Usability model and demonstrate that by implementing the usability attributes identified by the model, an e-Commerce business (regardless of having a known brand, or not) can increase the perceived trustworthiness of their web site.

Jo, if you are interested I would be happy to e-mail you a copy of the full document � it makes a great cure for insomniacs!!

Regards,
Susan.

**KarenBM** · 31-Mar-2005, 07:39 AM

Originally posted by paulbeckett

Hi

Thanks to a lot of assistance from many people within this forum I have not got my Actinic v7 site to a standard I am happy with. As always there are more things to do - but I would also be interested in the forums opinion of the site.

If you are able to review the site and comment I would appreciate it.

www.kjbeckett.com

The front page fragment (e,g, main block) needs redesigning (and will be in the next few days) but once you click past this I am interested in any improvements that you can suggest.

Many thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

I will give you my opinion as a seasoned Internet shopper. Yes your Home page needs a little more definition, and I agree that it is a good idea to clearly define the various section, otherwise it can be perceived as one big mess. All you really need to do is enlarge the center table so it fills the main body of the page - currently it is offset to the right, which looks a tad messy. I would use percentages in the table as it would look the same on any screen size, rather than pixels. I have a 19" LCD screen, so maybe I am seeing something you are not?

That said I love the way your products are laid out. Your shop is intuitive, and easy to navigate. Images are clear and descriptions encompassing. The related products would certainly entice me into buying more. Again I would suggest clearly defining the header and side bars to give a more professional and defined look.

Your FAQ page is comprehemsive and clear. I agree that a little more about your company would be welcome, other than that I think you have everything covered.

Great job Paul, congratulations

Kind regards
Karen

**paulbeckett** · 31-Mar-2005, 09:18 AM

Susan and Karen - many thanks for these useful points - they are really VERY helpful and I will get to work on this asap. An improved front page, and inclusion of an About Us page will be completed asap.

Page Definition?

A number of people have now comented on defining/seperating the main body, left hand nav and top nav. This is clearly something I need to do. I had been trying to give the site a very simple uncluttered feel (all white), a botique'ish feel - that wouldn't distract from the products (which I see as the stars) - and therefore I wanted to minimise blocks on the page.

Perhaps I can have the left hand nav and top nav an ever so slightly different colour (light grey) - I will give this a go.

Many thanks for all your comments - please feel free to keep them coming.

**pinbrook** · 31-Mar-2005, 10:51 AM

Jo, if you are interested I would be happy to e-mail you a copy of the full document � it makes a great cure for insomniacs!!

Hi Susan

Yes please I'd love to read the full document. It sounds very interesting.

I find this forum can help with the insomnia, but your doc will mean I don't have to get out of bed!!

**garyhay** · 31-Mar-2005, 11:00 AM

I would love a copy of that document too. Sounds very interesting

**dscontroller** · 31-Mar-2005, 12:52 PM

Hi Susan,

I too would also be interested in a copy of the document, please.

I feel a little sad that a couple of weeks ago I posted a similar request on this forum, asking for assistance and a review of my site. Objections were raised that it was on this forum and a request that it be moved to Any other business, which it was duly transferred there.

To date, no one has answered my request so this report may help me identify some possible causes.

David

**garyhay** · 31-Mar-2005, 01:57 PM

David

Give us the URL again or a link to your thread

**dscontroller** · 31-Mar-2005, 02:24 PM

Hi Gary,

Thank you for this!

The link is http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=12999

David

Originally posted by garyhay

David

Give us the URL again or a link to your thread

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