The homepage of Potpourri, like many other types of general online commerce pages is used to not only inform the user of goods and services offered by the organization, but to inform them of certain amenities specific to the area of “Flower Preservation”.   Those interested in the field of flower preservation or in procuring the services of such a business can find information like location (of the store), hours of operation, services offered and some general background information in the form of Frequently Asked Questions and business biography.  Some of the more well-funded, national service sites offer associated advertisements of products and a myriad of sponsorships linked to the floral field, as well as other mainstream sponsors like credit card applications and other pop-ups.  However, as the “Potpourri” site is used locally by a regionalized target audience, the pop-ups and sponsorships aren’t present.

The writers and developers of the “Potpourri” site include the business owner and operator Mrs. Bush, who supplied the necessary information to the designer, Ryan Elenbaum, an independant graphic communicator.  She supplied the background information, business specific and business general information as well as a rough design concept.  Her ideas were then implemented and embelashed by the designer who expanded the concept to its present manifestation.  Graphic layout, text placement and color scheme were all attributed to the designer.  As the page was constructed in Webpage format, links and overall aesthetic concept were also attributed (to the dissatisfaction of Mrs. Bush) to the designer.  As mentioned before, larger sites have the afforded luxury of not only a team of designers but the maintenance personal needed to keep the site current and free from error and complication.  The Potpourri site has no such luxury.

The Potpourri site has a very basic and simple design.  It completely omits any nodes or links in order to list all pertenant information on one webpage.  Other sites have various links and nodes to a variety of links spreading the information out into manageable chunks creating very user friendly navigation.  The other sites like that of Freeze Dried Flowers and Heller and Reid as well as Carolina Freeze Dry have pages of services, photographs of samples and examples, methodology behind flower preservation and several suppliers of flower arrangements.  Conventions of these types of pages often include FAQ sections and contact pages as well as online order or service forms, banner advertisements.  The Potpourri site is missing many of these conventions as it contains only one photograph (location) and a brief summary of the business, similar to a mission statement.  The FAQ are blended into this section.  All the information is listed vertically with a center alignment necessitating scrolling in order to view the information.

There exists a degree of formality in sites of this type as formality is often equated with professionalism.  The Potpourri site, however, replaces formality with berevity.  The language is uncomplicated and unassuming, but lacks exposition.  The less complex language prevents the site from condescending to its audience but it could include a more professional appeariance.  The tone is semi-friendly but it is clear that good will isn’t the primary focus of the text while information conveyance is.  The efficiency of the short text is also a detriment to the image of professionalism the business wishes to convey.

While the site may be devoid of intricate visual aids to better facilitate scanning the page, the simple font and limited visual appeal does convey the information effectively.  However in order to compete with other pages like this it must re-evaluate its strategy.  With several different sized fonts to denote importance and section headings, the scanability is average.  The photo of the business is helpful in identifying the store front and giving a face to the business, but it needs photographic examples of its work, like other sites do.  It also includes graphics of the credit cards it accepts, which is helpful.  The green boarder is symbolic of the nature of the business, as it deals with flowers, vegetation.  Since the visuals help convey the level of sophistication attributed to the business, it needs more.

The screenshot below is of the Freeze Dried Flowers homepage. As it is apparent this is a relatively elequent and sophistocated site, the background images and the navagation tools in the upper right-hand corner lend themselves to a more user friendly experiance.

This site differs greatly from others of this type in sophistication and content development.  It isn’t as intricate but it is a privately owned business and doesn’t have need for excessive self actualizing.  It could benefit from links and nodes to appropriate pages which might help facilitate the navigation of the site even more.  For example separate pages for: services, FAQ’s, an about us page, and letters of satisfaction to name a few.  Also a more contemporary and elaborate page design might help convey the degree of professionalism the business itself possesses.  In order to expand the client base, perhaps the inclusion of an online order form or some sort of response forum to field requests and questions from potential clients.  These are things other pages include which might prove to be an asset to this site.

After examining the page, both as an average navigator and as a page designer, I found that the page was easy to use which is both an asset and a detriment.  For all intents and purposes, the page might be sufficient for the business but there is no need to settle for sufficiency. With the inclusion of just a few of the items and elements mentioned in the previous sections, the page could adopt a new dynamic and attract a wider client base. At the least the site would better reflect the attitude and professionalism of the business it is supposed to represent. This is the World Wide Web and it is necessary to put on your best outfit for the dance, so to speak. I also think, given the huge Hispanic population in the Alger Heights district, a Spanish translation of the page would prove useful. The majority of the changes involve the incorporation of small detail but it is in the details which separate one site from another.

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