Web Design Expert Review

Taking on the role of an Expert Reviewer I had to review a commercial website against best practice website design principles and usability heuristics

Challenge

  • Critically assess a commercial website from a design and usability perspective

Solution

  • Review of
    1. client profile
    2. technical considerations
    3. accessibility
    4. design
    5. appearance
    6. navigation
    7. content
  • Best practice highlighted

Tools/Software Used

  • Google PageSpeeds Insights
  • GTMetrix
  • Moz
  • SEMRush
  • SimilarWeb
  • Screaming Frog
  • PowerMapper
  • Microsoft Excel

Results

After completing the review and in line with best practices, recommendation were made to improve the website design and responsiveness. Recommendations include:

Page Load Speed:
– Resize logos in HTML or CSS
– Parse JavaScript
– Minify CSS & HTML 

Images:
– Compress images
– Add missing alt text
– Add captions to images 
– Have more relevant images on site 

Website Design 
– Homepage
* Change layout 
* Move social media widget to bottom of the page 
* Rewrite content so it is more concise
– Add a Latest News section to the blog  
– Feature latest blog posts on home page 
– Streamline menu (one bar menu along the top with dropdown options)
– Add breadcrumbs