The internet provides access to many millions of websites; these websites reflect the activities and interests of people from all over the world. Websites may be categorized by several factors such as; their function, their size, their design etc.
It is not our goal to list all the categories which make websites different but to highlight that before one can analyze, create or evaluate a website one must first consider the category to which the site belongs. For example one cannot say that the Manchester United website is better than the British Airways site as comparisons must be made between websites of the same category.
Knowing what a website is supposed to do or the reason for it existence we can evaluate how well it fulfils its purpose. Analyzing other websites allows us to learn from others triumphs and tragedies. The analyzing process consists of constructively evaluating current designs in a specific category or market segment.
Consider a company that wants to create a site to sell "CDs" over the internet. Where do they start? Well looking at how similar websites operate is a good idea! One should have a look around and analyse what exists and how it feels, as ultimately design is more than simply the look of a site!
A logical way to approach such an analysis is to have something by which to compare the sites. The creation of a simple questionnaire can facilitate a comparison of a websites features both good and bad. This process helps create a clearer idea of what we want to create and also mistakes that we do not!
Having prepared ourselves and seen first hand the design features other websites incorporate we can choose and amalgamate features and ideas from a variety of sources.