Usability and Accessibility

Attitude do many things to make the web site easier to use. For example, there are many different categories that the user is able to search by - this means that it is much easier for them to find the product they want because their search is narrowed down considderably. This makes it easier for the user and also makes shopping on the web site much more pleasurable because they do not have to spend lots of time browsing through products they are not interested in. The key word search serves the same purpose as this - allowing the user to find the right product quickly and easily.

There is a 'quickshop' option on Attitude which makes it much faster for the user to find their product if they already know the 'product ID' (each product has its own unique product ID making this much more efficient than searching by key word if the user already knows the ID as there will not be more than one option matching their criteria). The user can also enter the product size and quantity into the quick search - this is useful because it means everything is done in one stage (this would usually be done over a number of stages). Once all of this information is typed in the product is automatically added to the customers cart where they can then make the final transactions.

The web site has a very clear structure making it easy to follow for the user - for example everything is very ordered and the links to different product types are in the same place no matter what page they are on, this mean that the user cannot get 'lost' on the web site because they can click on all of the links no matter where abouts on the site they are, and if all else fails it is easy to get back to the home page.

Attitude has a clear, easily found help page. This makes it easier for the user to use the web site because if they are stuck with something on the web site or have a problem with the product they are able to go straight to the help section (which is avialable from all pages) to solve their problem. The help page answers frequently asked questions which may help the user, and alternatively they can contact the company with their question via email, phone, fax or post (details of this are given in the help section).

The sizes on Attitude are quite strange and are not standard sizes used in shops in the UK, so Attitude has a 'sizing guide', this gives the size used by Attitude, e.g. 'Medium' and underneath it gives the standard UK dress size (10, 12, 14 etc.), it then also gives the user the various measurements that also come under that size, for example the bust and waste measurements that apply to the size. This information is presented in the form of an easy to follow table so the user can understand it clearly. The only problem with this section is that it is not particularly easy to find - it is in the 'help' section, which although is quite logical it is not the most obvious place to look. It would probably be better if the size guide was hyperlinked on each page or was part of the main options bar, this way it would be much easier for the user to find. This would benifit the company because users would not be put off of an item just because they were unsure what size they would need to buy.

The only problem with the Attitude web site usability is the cluttered home page - this could look confusing to the user, especially if they do not have much computer experience. Therefore this could put people off of using the web site entirely as it is not entirely clear where you need to go from the home page.

Another negative point is that if the user clicks on one of the categories down the left hand side of the page, they are taken back to the home page! This is very frustrating for the user, it would be much better if when clicked they took the user to a list of sub categories within that option as it is quite misleading to have links to the home page on each of the categories. This could confuse the user and could put them off the web site because it makes the navigation difficult making it harder to find the desired product.

Overall, I think the Attitude web site is highly usable, especially once the user is used to the layout. However the home page should probably be less cluttered so the user could find things easier.