Fratbeats.com: Fratbeats was picked because it offers themed playlists and mixes that are similar to what our site would offer and it reaches a similar audience.
Visibility of system status
They have a simple, self-explanatory navigation system that
makes it very easy to find what you're looking for. To keep users informed, it
has a paragraph on the main page with information about the radio and how to do
a few things. When you click on playlists but do not select one, it takes you
to an informational page about how to select a playlist. However, most websites
would have taken you to a list of those playlists instead of instructions.
Match between system and the real
world
Parts of the website use simple language that most users would
understand, such as "playlists" and "artists" to navigate.
There are a few parts that were confusing to a first time user, however. One
tab says FB radio. When you click on it, it has the same music feature that you
find on the homepage. I didn't even know what to find under the FB tab and then
I was confused as to how it was different. Another system-oriented feature was
the requests tab. When I clicked on it, there was some unfamiliar language and
it was overwhelming. It also took me to a completely different website, which
confused me as to the relationship between the two sites. Lastly, there were
two places to submit requests. It explained the difference, but I did not
understand the terms they used. This part could have been more user-friendly.
User control and freedom
The simplicity of music players makes it easy to undo your
actions. By clicking the tabs, you can escape where you are. If you are in a
playlist, it is easy to pause the music, select new songs or pick another
playlist. Users can navigate freely and without any major consequences of
accidental clicks.
Consistency and standards
It was easy to follow platform conventions.
There was a time where I couldn't tell if two different pages held the same content
because one was no labeled. This confused the consistency. There were also two
different places to request mixes with different formats. It used
system-oriented terms that I was unfamiliar with, so I am not sure what the
difference is between those.
Error prevention
I did not run into any problems on the website. Even better than
good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring
in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them
and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.
Recognition rather than recall
When trying to find playlists, if a specific one was not
selected, it would take you to directions on how to select one. I did not feel
like I needed to remember things as I went, because each page explained things
as needed or it was self explanatory. All of my options were visible and
instructions were easy to find if needed.
Flexibility and efficiency of use
I could not find any accelerators. There was nowhere for me to
log in, make playlists or save preferences to tailor my experience. Each time I
went back to the site, I would go through the same process for selection, so
nothing was speeding up the interaction.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
All of the dialogues and information were important to what I
was doing and there was not much excess that I felt overwhelmed or annoyed by.
For playlists, there often wouldn't be any information, just the playlist. The
relative visibility was perfect for me, a first time user, to understand
everything as needed. The design is very simple and basic, so it has a
minimalist design.
Help users recognize, diagnose,
and recover from errors
I did not receive any error messages from the website. It all
functioned properly. The system made it easy for me to recognize what would
cause errors and my abilities on the site. I imagine, based off the
dependability of the site, they would have an easily understood error message.
Help and documentation
I couldn't find many resources when looking for help to navigate
the system. The only instruction was when I clicked on the playlist tab. When
you search for help in the bar, an irrelevant blog post comes up. It does not
have a Help page, but it does have a page where you can contact them with any
questions.
Right from the start, I thought their format was easy to follow
and understand. With no experience on the site, I was able to carry out all of
the tasks I wanted to. There was some confusion with the different radios and
getting to the same radio two different ways. I was able to understand most of
the language they used, but there are a lot of things they should clarify for
first time users (for example, the difference between the two different kinds
of requests you can make). There were some features on this site that I think
we will take into consideration when building out website shaped off my user
experience. Some features I really liked and understood, but we will explain
others more to make sure anyone can understand. FratBeats.com has put together
a great website, but there is room for improvement that I hope we can use for
our own site.
Pandora Analysis: Pandora was chosen because it is the top music streaming website.
Visibility of system status
Pandora is
very visibily appealing and very clear where everything is makes it
easy to use.
Match between system and the real
world
Pandora has everything set up that it could be useful for a
first time user. Such as a search bar to find your favorite artist, genre, or
song. Based on what you search the site plays music related to what you put into
the search bar. I believe everything on site everyone has seen everything or
has heard of everything that is on the Pandora site.
User control and freedom
The Pandora player is very easy to use with the play and the
next buttons to pause the song that you are listening to, or to skip the song
and listen to another song. Also on the site you can give songs ratings with a
thumbs up or thumbs down.
Consistency and standards
Very easy
Error prevention
I did not run into any problems while on the site, but you do
need to have an account to listen to certain music for a long period of time.
To prevent error messages is to make sure that there is no way to find an error
on the site, which there was none.
Recognition rather than recall
When on the first page you recognize everything and most things
do not change at all so it is very east to remember and to use.
Flexibility and efficiency of use
You can sign up for Pandora and it would remember what you
search and make those searches into your "stations." If you
upgrade your account to actually paying money you can skip songs with no ads,
but if you do not you have commercial ads breaking up songs and what not, just
like you are listening to the radio in your car.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
All of the dialogues and information were important to what I
was doing and there was not much excess that I felt overwhelmed or annoyed by.
The relative visibility was perfect for me, and would be very easy to use for a
first time user, to understand everything as needed. The design is very simple
and basic, so it has a minimalist design.
Help users recognize, diagnose,
and recover from errors
I did not receive any error messages from the website. It all
functioned properly. The system made it easy for me to recognize what would
cause errors and my abilities on the site. I imagine, based off the
dependability of the site, they would have an easily understood error message.
Help and documentation
The help tab would be very useful for someone that had no idea
go how to use the site. It described everything out step by step on how to use
the site properly.
When first getting on the site it is very appealing to the eye and you can see
everything clearly and you can see how easy everything is going to be used.
Overall, I think the site would be very easy to use for first time users and it
is very user friendly.
SUMMARY:
What we learned from using Fratbeats.com is that we need to make sure all of the terminology can be understood by a first time user. That was a part of their website we found irritating, along with the navigation to instruction pages when clicking on playlists. They also had content repeated on some pages, so we will be sure not to repeat ourselves unnecessarily. We definitely want to model the "playing and streaming" features after theirs. It was very easy to pause, undo actions and more. Our website will contain more accelerators to tail the experience to each user.
Pandora helped give us the idea of creating profiles so it can be easily tailored to each user. Also, due to the real time aspect of our music, our play features will be set up similarly with limited options to skip. We also want our site to be aesthetically pleasing like theirs. We hope to avoid the time restrictions Pandora has as well as advertisements between songs.
