Critique,+Janahan+Sivaraman

Janahan Sivaraman [|eDreams]

eDreams.co.uk was a website I used to buy some flights when I went abroad a couple of semesters ago. At that time, the page was kind of sketchy (lacked credibility) and I decided only to buy tickets from that site that I could not find elsewhere. But since then, it has made big strides in its UI. It seems to have really stuck close with Schneiderman's Golden Rules. The spellings used on the page are of standard British English and I found no typos. The font color is standard, as black is pretty much default. But the size of the font is quite small. I could see it being a problem for users with impaired vision. I would suggest using a bolder font with a larger size, to increase the contrast the text creates against the background. **Middle-level aspects (consistency, error handling, writing style, menu design, etc.)** This website achieves consistency by employing similar menu structure for getting a flight, hotel or car. I do not like how the help menu is not opened in a separate browser though. It causes one to click back and forth, or open a new tab or window by oneself, to get help on the side of what you're trying to accomplish. By having it exist in parallel, you can follow help guides step-by-step without memorization.
 * Low-level items (spelling, fonts, colors, layouts, etc.):**

eDreams achieves affirmation by separating phases of the purchase by flash screens. This clearly indicates a move to the next step. It is very reaffirming and does provide a sense of relief.

A great thing that eDreams does is that it has a drop down menu even for departure and arrival airports. Usually, one has to recall the airport code to enter in the input box. Also, for selected a date, the input box has a slide out calendar, so one can check the day of the week that they leave along with the number. These types of data collection emphasize recognition over recall, which accomplishes the goal of not making the user feel stupid.

The information on the page is easy to read and conducive to human browsing. Option and navigation bars are lined up on the top and left sides, creating an F shape that many users generally use to scan a website.

The website supports the functionality of copy and pastes along with the multitouch aspects of a Macbook trackpad. These are helpful because they help speed up the interaction the user has with the website.
 * High-level concepts (information architecture, navigation, audience appeal, privacy protection, credibility, etc.)**

For small choices, such as destination or departure time, feedback is consistent with the action. The input box is filled in with the correct information. For larger actions, such as searching for a flight, the feedback is more substantive, taking users to a flash screen that indicates a laborious search of multiple databases for the best deal.

eDreams also makes it easy to fix mistakes or make changes after one has selected a particular flight. After selecting a flight option, the back button on the browser can be used to select a new flight without having to re-enter the details of the flight. Also, on the screen where flights are selected, the left menu has a variety of options to change the details of the flight. These menus on the flight selector screen enable one to change the parameters of the trip without having to completely go back to the original page, which is helpful for minor tweaks.

The user is definitely the initiator of the system. Button clicks initiate moving along in the process, and none of the pages are timed.

The appeal to the audience is made by having inquisitive looking people, differing on various pages, to convey to the user that this page is used by humans. It does achieve its goal, as it made me feel the site to be more credible that one that just has pictures of destinations.

The page does have general terms of use conditions, but doesn't have a checkbox that one has to agree to before proceeding like some other sites. But, sometimes when a site makes me agree, it gives me an uneasy feeling as to the credibility of the site.

eDreams, overall, is quite a user friendly site. It is well laid out, has good navigability, and makes users feel safe. The flash screens between steps is a really nice feature, and very stress relieving.
 * Conclusion:**

On the flip side, the help menu isn't well designed and the font may be too small for all audiences. In addition, the general terms of use are located in a block text fashion pdf, which does not make it easy to read. Making the help menu open in separate window and allowing for a search option would make it easier to use.