First Post

This week in class we discussed what we liked and disliked about the way the Amazon website behaves. Ultimately everyone decided that there is just too much information being presented to the user at once and on top of that it isn’t organized in the most utilitarian way. It was concluded that the site isn’t set up for the user but set up mainly for the needs of the sellers. So I thought about a similar site that is organized better in some ways.

A shopping site I use pretty often and sell things on is www.etsy.com. The way the main page is constructed is a lot more user friendly. The left hand side has a navigation bar with a category list making it easy for the user to select what they are looking for. Then once a category is selected, for example, accessories, the left side navigation changes to display all the subcategories, for example jewelry, wallets, etc. while leaving out all previous unrelated information. Amazon does this too, however I feel that Etsy does it in a more organized way with less steps taken to actually getting there. I feel like the way Amazon is set up repeats a lot of the same things over and over whereas on Etsy because it is simplified and better organized it’s easier to navigate. 

Just like on Amazon you can create an account, save items you like and get suggestions about other items you may like. However it is once again done in an organized way that isn’t in your face as soon as you sign in. It is there for the user to navigate to if they choose to. It is also easier to keep track of what you actually like this way. By clicking ‘your account’ in the uppermost left corner you are directed to your page and the left side navigation changes to list ‘your purchases’, ‘favorites’ ‘suggested items’, etc. Once you do click any of these options the information is set up more like a list form with small thumbnail pictures in a clean and coherent way that doesn’t overwhelm the user but actually might encourage them to look through. It’s not that there is any less or any more information to be presented on either of these websites, it just shows that less is definitely more when it comes down to making the experience of using the site better for the people who are actually using it.