Website Report: Multi-Method Approach

Introduction

The website is developed as an e-commerce platform that supports transactions. The admin can add a catalogue of products and insert their descriptions as well as set their prices.  On the other hand, customers can view the products, create an account on the site, add items to cart, and purchase them. This ecommerce website is created in alignment with the topic proposed in the previous assignment. The products featured on the website are mainly trophies and promotional materials which were proposed as the key products of the business model. The brand identity of the website is reinforced by the name given. With the brand name ‘Win Star’ and a catalogue of trophies, the website is a perfect fit for the business category assigned. In this report, we’ll explore the structure and features of the website. The link to the website is: https://winstar.cloudaccess.host/

Website structure

The website has a minimalist design as only key content is displayed. Instead of putting a lot of text on the homepage, only images and labels are included. This reduces information clutter on the homepage and enhances visibility of the content (Cyr, 2009). Product catalogue is organized into categories. There are four categories which include: academic trophies, entertainment trophies, promotional materials, and sports trophies. Each product category has several products. The categories used are key in organizing the information and making it easy for customers to find the products they need. For example, if a customer wants to find trophies for awarding students, he can click the academic category instead of searching the item.

The website incorporates a large white space which assists in reducing information clutter and giving the illusion of spaced web elements. Content including images and text is visible and readable against the white background. The white space also enables the website to be appropriately organized which enhances the visual appeal of the site to the target audience.

Typically, the website layout is made up of responsive grid columns which adapt to the screen width of any device accessing the website. When the website is viewed on the small devices, some of the columns are collapsed and the width of the site adjusted to fit the devices. The layout has three elements: header, content section, and footer. The header contains the brand logo, navigation menu, and search bar. The brand logo is prominently displayed on the header to reinforce brand identity of the website. A navigation menu is displayed below the logo. The menu includes links to all pages that a customer may want to visit. The navigation improves usability of the website as customers can easily find information with just a few clicks (Garrett, 2010). A search bar is displayed below the navigation which gives customers several search options. Customers can select a category to search from or use a keyword to search a specific item. Also, a cart icon is displayed on the header. It indicates the number of items that a customer has added to the cart. The footer is displayed at the bottom of the website and contains a copyright statement.

The content section is the key part of the website which displays most of the content. Key elements displayed on this section include a contact form, registration/login form, image galleries, and text. A contact form is leveraged to collect feedback from customers. Users can also send queries or complaints to the company via the contact form. Unregistered customers can use the registration form to create an account. This form requires customers to provide their email and password. On the other hand, registered customers access their accounts by submitting their details to the login form. Image galleries display the images of the products available. Text is heavily used on the website to describe the product, the company, and its policies. The website also have a cart and wish list feature. Registered customers can add items to the cart and check them out. They can also add items they want to buy in future to the wish list. The website also has a forum where registered customers can post topics and hold discussions.

WordPress Components and features

Various WordPress plugins are used to achieve the intended functionality of the site. Some of the plugins include WooCommerce, Contact form 7, and Forums wpForo. WooCommerce is the key plugin which provides the ecommerce functionality. This plugin provides essential e-commerce features including customer accounts, cart, wish list, customer registration and login form, product categories, product galleries, product price and descriptions, as well as product review. Through this plugin, the website developed has all the features necessary for any e-commerce website. Based on the features available, customers can create an account on the site, view products available and add them to the wish list or cart, review products, and check out products in the cart.

Contact form 7 was instrumental in creating a contact form that customers can leverage to send feedback to the company. Forums wpForo was used to create a forum with all necessary features to support discussions. The forum features available include members section, profile creation, member subscription, private messaging, forum posts, comment and rating system, and blog spot section. Registered customers can create new topics and comment on topics created by other users. They can also subscribe to specific users to follow their posts and send private messages to any forum user.  It is important to note that an e-commerce specific WordPress theme was used to develop the website. The theme is optimized for e-commerce websites and includes usable features that enhance the functionality of the site. This theme was configured to align with the brand identity of the website. 

The website is implemented based on the proposal in Assignment 1. It is built on the WordPress platform and incorporates all the features that were required in order to facilitate ecommerce transactions. Various resources were used during development of the website. The resources include WPbeginner (www.wpbeginner.com/) and documentation for WooCommerce (www.docs.woocommerce.com). These resources provide information on WordPress development and WooCommerce configuration respectively.

References

Cyr, D., Head, M., Larios, H. and Pan, B., 2009. Exploring human images in website design: a multi-method approach. MIS quarterly, pp.539-566.

Garrett, J.J., 2010. Elements of user experience, the: user-centered design for the web and beyond. Pearson Education.