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Website Evaluation Paper

Team D

Web 240

University of Phoenix

May 27, 2013

Neal Sergeant

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Website Evaluation Paper

Evaluation of the Elias Group Website

Ms. Elias created The Elias Group after spending 30 years working in the government

services area. One of Ms. Elias’ primary goals when developing the group was to allow U.S.

citizens, especially small business owners, to have more access to government services (Apollo

Group, 2011). Formed in 1997, the Elias Group is a nonprofit organization that consists of 31

full time staff members and more than 100 specialists who offer consultations to small business

owners.

The mission statement of The Elias Group states, “Through research and professional

expertise, we provide opportunities for businesses (particularly small and disadvantaged

businesses) to supply goods and services to U.S. Government entities through the General

Services Administration schedules and contracts.” (Apollo Group, 2011) This mission statement,

in layman’s terms, states that members of The Elias Group are devoted to helping small

businesses acquire the necessary services, information, and assistance when attempting to

contract with the government.

As previously mentioned, the intended audience of The Elias Group website is small

business owners. These small business owners require the ability to propose and negotiate

contracts with the United States government as their intended client. The small businesses

mentioned previously may consult with The Elias Group for the following services:

GSA schedule qualification and firm preparation

Request for Quote (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP) assistance

Business operation and policy operation assistance

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GSA contractor eligibility assurance

Lobbying efforts for industry specific assistance

Design Criteria

Browser Compatibility

Initially, the Elias Group web site was written with older code that only Internet Explorer

6.0 could display. There are not many people who still use this browser, so there were not many

people able to view their site. Making sure the website can be viewed at its greatest potential

across an array of browsers and operating systems is the most important practice of web design.

If the site cannot be seen by many, the main objective of creating a web site pointless. The new

Elias site has been written in XHTML 1.0 Transitional, which is backward functioning, to be

compatible with many popular browsers and the main operating systems. The best way for a

web page render well is to test in every popular version of every popular browser, on multiple

operating systems, and on both MAC and PC platforms.

Contact Information

This was a major addition to the Elias Group web site. Before, potential users of their

site had no immediate way of knowing how to contact the company for their services.

Developing a clear and concise contact page for important information such as telephone

number, hours of operation, and mailing or physical address is crucial. After all, the customer or

user cannot give their business or use intended services without the means of this information.

Navigation

The Elias Group now has some of the best web site navigation practices implemented. It

is important that the user does not get lost while using a web site because usually at the first sign

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of confusion or struggle, they will continue to another site, and rightfully so. The trick is to

make moving around the site to find the most important information so easy that they do not

have to think. The target audience for the Elias Group reads left to right, so naturally they will

start at the top-left of the page with the logo and move across to the purpose statement. The site

navigation is directly beneath the logo for natural placement. If any additional menus are needed

for specific pages, drop-down menus should be added.

Design and Layout

Today’s web design trends led us to add more contrast in the Elias Group site, it is

important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends so that the customer or user does not believe

the site is outdated and take his or her business elsewhere. The darker colors with light text is

easier to read as well as more pleasing to the eye. Deep or bright colors are popular and draw

attention, leaving more of a lasting impression on the user. The page length of the Elias site was

kept short because it is doubtful that anyone will scroll more than three page lengths, so anything

longer could lead to missed information. Another important practice is the repetition on visual

elements throughout the entire site. An easy way to do this is to use cascading style sheets. The

same font, colors, alignment, and positioning of repeated elements, for example the logo, title,

and navigation, on every page, unify the web site and create a more professional look.

Accessibility Consideration

A web site should be designed with all kinds of individuals in mind. Some people have

disabilities that might not let them see or hear images or audio that may be included, so the

website should not be solely reliable on these elements. If an image is pertinent to the message

to be conveyed to the user, alternate text can be added in the code so that a screen reader can

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read a description of the image or message. We made sure to use only text for the navigation,

instead of images so an alternate navigation bar would not be needed. Reasonably-sized text was

also used for the visually impaired.

Elias Group Comparative Review

The websites that are being compared are Bob Goodlatte's website

(http://goodlatte.house.gov/) and the Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP website

(http://www.jmbm.com/).

Initial Impression

The initial impression of Bob Goodlatte's site is that it is overwhelming with information.

The purpose of the site was immediately noticed since “Business Opportunities with the Federal

Government” is titled in large text. This websites target audience is the constituents from the

State of Virginia. The site looks the same in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.

The initial impression of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP’s site is the modern

design and the categorization of the links were appealing. Instantly the purpose of the website

was to provide legal services. This sites target audience is clients with legal issues. The site

looks the same in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.

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Contact Information

Bob Goodlatte's contact information was only available through an e-mail form only.

There were several other office information, but they were below the fold. His site is an official

government web site; the domain ends in “.gov.” Different headings and paragraphs were used

as well as relative and external links.

Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP’s site has a "Contact us" on the navigation bar.

When hovered over, it displays the contact information for the main and additional offices.

Initially, the site does not indicate that it is legitimate but within the "Our Firm" page they show

logos of services they belong to. The different headings were used including paragraphs and

links.

Design and Layout

Mr. Goodlatte's site has appealing colors but the layout was basic. The site has a

horizontal navigation bar on the header and vertical navigational links on the right side. The

navigation bar has several drop-down menus that let you see where to go. A "Home" tab is

located on every page of the site. The navigation bar is consistent on every page.

Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP’s site also has appealing colors but the layout was

basic. The site has a horizontal navigation bar on the header and navigational links on the footer.

The navigation bar has several drop-down menus that give a small description and lets you see

where to go. A "Home" tab is located on every page of the site. The navigation bar is consistent

on every page.

Navigation

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Mr. Goodlatte's important information is placed in headings. Each page in this site has

links in the content and in the right side bar. The "Press Release" articles display links with their

dates. The header slides have images that contribute to the user experience.

Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP’s important information is placed in headings.

Each page in this site has links in the content and some pages have a side bar and there are links

here as well. The individual articles have dates displayed at the top of the article. The header

slides show the four partners, the different teams that practice a particular area and this does

contribute to the user experience.

Mr. Goodlatte's site has no spelling errors or broken links. The navigational ease on this

site is impressive. The header slides can make a website pleasing to the eye. This site could use

fewer images and less content per page.

There were no spelling errors or broken links found on Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell

LLP’s site. The design and intentions of the header slides are impressive. The simplicity of this

site is good.

These websites provide design features that can be implemented to reach the same

audience that The Elias Group is also trying to reach. We have links to government resources as

well as content about attorney advocacy and government assistance.

Detailed Analysis

The Elias Group targets small business groups to help them expand their desire to do

business for the government. Although Elias Group does not receive any profit from this they

still want to expand to help other business succeed. This does not mean that the Elias Group

does not want to cater to all small business from all around the world in the proper manner. Elias

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Group wants to become a household name for all business that need that extra help. The way to

do this is to make some changes to their current website, giving it the proper changes that will

ensure that the business will grow substantially. While examining the current Elias Group

website there are some issues apparent that could hinder their business. By fixing these minor

formalities, they could ensure the proper functionality needed to expand their services and ensure

proper growth.

Elias Group’s website is lacking contact information from the small business to the

government. The navigation aspect of the site needs to be more functional for its consumers.

This will allow the flow of the site to be more organized and the ability for the customer to

receive the proper direction. Adding additional pages will help businesses locate the services

they are looking for. The Elias Group only have three pages, Home, Finance/Account and HR

Department, the user could get confused of where they need to go to acquire the correct

information or help they may need. The recommendation for this issue is to expand the pages

and information of the site, giving the user better options to choose from. Since the Elias

group’s current site does not give its users a contact page, our prototype is a simple, yet elegant

redesign with the Contact page added for functionality. Some other proposed pages would be an

About Us page as home, Project, Health & Safety, and Training. The project page will give

information on upcoming projects and past projects. Training page is for companies to schedule

the proper training that they may need. The health and safety page will give the run down on all

the required measures for the safety on projects. These pages will help Elias Group stay ahead in

the game with their present and future companies.

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Browser compatibility is of the utmost importance. In the original site, the Elias Group

was running with an older code for Internet Explorer 6.0, by using updated code and adding a

cascading style sheet, the most popular browsers will display the new site as it is intended. A

visually stimulating layout and design will help the look of the site to be more appealing and

welcoming.

Changing the navigation functionality and positioning will give the guidance the site

lacks. The site is no good to any business if they can’t get to the proper screen to obtain the

correct information, leaving the customer unhappy as well as unsatisfied. This is not the kind of

business Elias Group wants to portray. This is also why the Elias Group wants to take

accessibility into consideration. Screen readers will be able to detect the alternate descriptions of

the content added to the new website.

A description of proposed changes

The Elias Group’s website is a seemingly attractive site but it does not offer services

beneficial to the user or customer. They are in a business where they collaborate with contractors

and the government on daily basis; they are representing companies all over the world. They

should have a website, which will allow every contractor, government or other personnel they

are helping, to connect with the government by adding availability of required information

without direct contact to the Elias Group. The Elias group should focus on modifying a

navigation bar, which currently only consists of three basic tabs: Home, Finance/Account, and

HR department. Therefore, our first recommendation is to extend the navigation bar and add

additional pages, which will allow new contractors to find necessary information about joining

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the Elias Group. We recommend adding the following pages into the navigation bar: About Us,

Contact Us, Project, Health & Safety, and Training.

About Us

This page should showcase the company information, for example, their mission

statement, purpose, past companies helped, and future goals.

Contact us

Communication is very important part of business and it success depend of accurate and

on time communication. The most important tab called contact us, which means where customer

and other people affiliated with business, can contact the business without any delay. Elias

Group missing this tab from navigation bar.

Project

Under this page, Elias Group should explain upcoming project and detailed requirements.

This allows companies to prepare for next tender and companies can search projects according to

their business nature.

Health and Safety

Health and safety page will cover safety requirement for upcoming projects. The

requirements for operation should be published online where every contractor has access to it

and implements on job site. As we know, the government will not allow any contractor to harm

the environment or employees, therefore health and safety is important.

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Training

Elias Group should use training page to connect to employees, where they can schedule

employees’ required training, for example, attending business code of conduct classes that could

be online or in class. They can also alert contractors on employees’ qualification.

Recommendations for improvements to the site

The Elias Group’s website could use some improvements. When compared to other

websites with similar business plans, it becomes apparent that The Elias Group is missing a few

key features.

The Elias Group website needs more modernization and utilization to keep it more

competitive in its business market. The homepage directly shows a history and has a quote

detailing what the website does, but it doesn’t contrast well enough to instantly tell what the

website is about in a short amount of time. The images used could be optimized to ensure faster

loading, on 25 megabyte per second internet, it is apparent that the images have not been

optimized.

Design fundamentals such as a contrasting website is missing and it comes off as very

bright. The menu is not a good representation of the entire site map; using JavaScript to have

nested menus would help the functionality of navigation. Furthermore, contact information for

the group is not readily available on the homepage. The homepage should be used to identify

some of the most prolific information on the website. The companies past would be better suited

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in a separate page called “About Us” and more pertinent information should be shown on the

main website, such as contact information and number of successfully helped clients.

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References

Apollo Group. (2011). The Elias Group. Our Past. Retrieved from

https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Elias/index.asp.

Felke-Morris, T. (2011). Web development & design foundations with XHTML (5th ed.). Pearson

Education.