My wife and I are looking into buying a new coffee maker and comparing different brands and models. I thought it was perfect timing to focus on three different coffee maker manufacturers for this assignment. I chose the following three manufacturers:
I will focus on the navigation which includes the clarity and placement of links.
Which of the sites is most effective? Why?
I believe the Krups website was the most effective. On the top navigation bar, there is a “Coffee” selection, and when you choose the drop down arrow, it displays eight photos with the model names of their different coffee makers. I like the image option as you can visually compare each model. When you select one model, it has all the product features listed with sufficient spacing between each line, so it doesn’t seem wordy or messy. On the top right of the webpage of each model, Krups lists key features of that specific model. For example, for the KM77 model, the features include the digital control panel, keep warm timer, aroma selector, and 12-cup glass carafe each with one descriptive sentence. Everything on the page looks crisp, clean, and easy to read. There is also a FAQ button for further model details. I felt the overall design of the Krups website provides visitors to the website clear and informative headings and logical patterns of organization that follows Markel’s principles of proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast.
Which is least effective? Why?
I felt the De’Longhi website had the most information on each coffee maker model out of all three websites; however, there was too much information bundled together. The font they used was too small and crammed together closely and didn’t follow logical patterns of organization. There were too many tabs to select. For example, once you choose a coffee maker model, there was an overview page. Next, there is tab for details, specifications, and the manual. I found myself clicking on each tab to the next and some of the information overlapped one another. It was rather frustrating and I couldn’t keep track of which coffee maker I was most interested in without becoming confused. One feature I did like on the De’Longhi website that the other two websites didn’t have was the feature of selecting the “Compare” box under each coffee maker model and comparing one another.
Keurig website came in second place only because I felt the site focused more on the coffee cup flavors than the actual coffee devices. There are many visuals of the coffee pods and it took me a while to realize that “hot brewers” meant “coffee maker” on the top heading. When I selected that option, I had to scroll down to see the four different models they offer. The top of that page had a huge photo of a woman drinking coffee and it didn’t seem to fit correctly. One positive navigation and organization feature was the “sort by” selection which allows visitors to select models according to popularity, price, or name.
So you’re probably wondering which coffee maker we plan to purchase. Well, neither of these three brands… we decided to stick with our french press for the time being!