Research: Expert Reviews

Zara is a global brand that is based in Spain, has a broad audience, and offers its customers an unparalleled shopping experience. Since its inception, Zara has been at the forefront of the online-shopping space. In this article, I’ll share my analysis of the Zara Web site, examining its functional capabilities and design features to better understand how the brand achieves ecommerce success and caters to the needs of modern consumers. Is the Zara Web site truly as convenient and stylish as its clothing? Let’s dive in and find out!

The Zara Home Page

The unconventional home page has both advantages and disadvantages. So before you consider how to implement a similar approach on your Web site without compromising on usability, it’s important that you understand your users and know whether they’ll be able to grasp this design concept. Implementing a unique layout could be appropriate for gaming or fashion-related sites, among others, but it would be odd to see such a layout on the Walmart or Bank of America site. Read More

UX professionals conduct Web-site reviews for a variety of reasons. For example, reviewing a Web site is a vital aspect of understanding whether the site’s UX strategy is working well. You can conduct Web-site reviews to understand how the Web sites of competitive brands are doing. Most importantly, you can conduct a Web-site review to determine whether your own organization’s Web site needs improvement and understand how you should revamp it. It is always important to keep your Web site updated. Thus, working on your Web site is a continuous process of design and evaluation.

But what is the best way to review a Web site? What critical points do you need to check when reviewing your own company’s Web site? In this article, I’ll describe the process of conducting a Web-site review and explain how to identify where its problems lie. Read More

In this Ask UXmatters column—which is the first in a series of three columns focusing on usability—our experts discuss the use of usability testing versus expert reviews. In the upcoming columns, we’ll discuss what usability techniques to use when money or time is tight and how to best conduct remote usability testing.

Look to Ask UXmatters for answers to your questions about user experience matters. If you’d like to see our experts’ responses to your own question in an upcoming edition of Ask UXmatters, please send your question to: [email protected].

Q: Under what circumstances is it more appropriate to do usability testing versus an expert review? What are the benefits and weaknesses of each method that make one or the other more appropriate in different situations?—from a UXmatters reader. Read More