Module Week 7

Per our assignment, I analyzed MusicPlasma and found that it needed some serious improvements in the areas of architecture and navigation. Usability was hindered by navigational difficulties, and design was mediocre at best. Organization was acceptable; the site’s purpose was for the most part fulfilled. See list below for specifics.

Page 1-At first glance (before search)

• Homepage has too much white (or rather gray) space
  
• Some sporadic color on the page—mostly gray—not too appealing
  
• Could emphasize important words like "free" to direct readers’ attention
  
• Target audience was broad, which in this case is a positive. Part of the site’s purpose is to "broaden cultural horizons."
  
• Words should be linked such as maps or members zone for better and faster navigation
  
• Cursor remained active all over the page but didn’t take you anywhere upon clicking background or text. Only part of the page that was actually a true link was "register."

Page 2-In the site (after search)
Note: Searched for 80s band Motley Crue (who has new album and is currently on tour—figured this would be easy enough). Good results. Second item searched was lesser known 80s band, Danger Danger. Also good results. Third item searched was up and coming rock band, Z02. No pertinent results; gave wrong genre of music.

• Moving graphics necessary? Okay but a bit much.
  
• Left to right scrolling (one of my pet peeves). Why is this necessary?
  
• Results were organized and accurate for first two searches.
  
• Was having some real problems with loading if I hit back button. Would not take you back to MusicPlasma homepage. If you typed in the URL in the same window, you’d get a distorted view of the page; appeared to be a technical problem, but I’d have to try it on another PC to know for sure. Upon opening new window, problem was solved. ???
  
• Search box worked but buttons did not. It appeared that you could search by artist, movie, director, etc., but the buttons were not active. Search query was your only option; thus navigation was misleading.

I wouldn’t recommend MusicPlasma unless you were simply looking for discographies (list of albums produced). The site has potential, but in my opinion has more negatives than positives. I would personally rather use a site with a similar purpose like Yahoo!Launch.