For this assignment I chose to review the websites of car manufacturers. The three websites I reviewed were ford.com, toyota.com, and bmwusa.com. I will begin by discussing the Ford website. The homepage is very colorful and consists of a large slideshow of their models. The font is bold and easy to read. I clicked on the “Build and Price” link first which led to a menu of different models and options to build and price my own car. You can choose from available models or build your own from the roof down. I found this web page to be easy to navigate, however, I also found it to be a bit overwhelming. There are so many options available that you can add to your car, and I spent a lot of time reading about how each option differed.
The different package options that were available were rather confusing as well. There is a lot of fine print with the different options, which makes the process even more confusing. I do like that you can see how your car looks with the added features. If I don’t like the style of the interior leather I can change it. Each feature also has a link for more information, and how the more expensive features differ. The finance link has a wide variety of links and information available for understanding the financing process and what application process is best for you. The website does have an “En Espanol” option you can click on that is at the bottom of the webpage. This is the only language translation option available. I did not notice any accommodations for people who are hearing and/or visually impaired. I noticed that none of the three websites I reviewed had accommodations. I am going to take an educated guess to the fact that someone who is visually or hearing impaired cannot legally drive a car.
The next website I will discuss is Toyota’s. Their homepage is very similar to Ford’s and they include a large slideshow of their models. I noticed that their webpage is not as colorful and their text and images fall on a plain white back drop. The links to other content on the website from the homepage seem to crowded together. I personally find Toyota’s homepage to be less exciting compared to Ford’s. Toyota also includes a link to view webpage content in Spanish.
I noticed improvements when I was exploring the different models and features. Toyota uses bold text and photos to advertise each model and feature. If I want to learn more about a feature I can click on it and read about it. Toyota also has the option to build your own car by clicking the “Build” option below the model. Navigating between the different features is similar to the Ford website, however, I noticed that the options were more clustered together compared to the Ford website. I found myself losing my place due to this, and I think the Toyota website failed in their build and design menu. The Ford website was significantly stronger in this regard. The Ford website kept everything as a vertical menu where you could pick and choose, while Toyota has everything stacked to closely together. It is not visually appealing and it is confusing overall.
Finally, I reviewed the BMW website. The BMW homepage was also very colorful and consisted of a large slideshow of their models. The homepage was very colorful and and consisted of bold text and images of their models and images that accompanied their links. I did notice that I could not find an option to view webpage content in Spanish or in any other language. If their is an option, it is not easy to find. The “Build your Own” link is a lot different compared to both Ford and Toyota’s. You can choose the series you are interested, body style, MPG, etc. which will narrow down the models that fall into your interests. I found this to be overall really helpful. Once you have selected everything you are interested in you are left with a list of models that fall into your interests. You can then pick the model or models that you like and can build your car from there. Navigating through the sections was very easy and you can learn more about the package options by hovering your mouse over the feature. The information for each feature is rather brief, and I found you could not click on an additional link to learn even more. However, the BMWs website was by far my favorite to navigate. I was not left being confused by fine print. There are also a significant number of customization options available (probably because it’s BMW) compared to the other two websites. Because of this, I was impressed by the ease of navigation throughout their entire website.
Although I could not find an option to translate the BMW website into another language, I found their website the easiest to navigate and the quality of their writing to be the best. Both Ford and Toyota left me feeling confused at times when I wanted to learn more about their features. Although BMW was brief in their explanations in the build your car section, I still found it significantly easier to understand. The Ford website was also strong, however, I think they included too much information at times. They could work on improving how they present the information concerning the different models. I was least impressed with Toyota. The navigation was confusing at times and they could work on how they present the information and their cars. The homepage was boring compared to the other two websites I reviewed, and that is the first thing the customer sees when visiting any company website.