Comparing Web mail Portal's

www.india.com & www.inbox.com.pk (powered by Outblaze) (powered by everyone.net) (Country : India) (Country : Pakistan)

Heuristic Analysis and Functional Analysis

16th November, 2006

Divye Bokdia IIT G

16th November, 2006

1

•Use of colors and image make it more appealing.

•Curves are used in each graphic element.

•A short note about the website services, makes it interesting.

•Sign Up doesn’t appear as a button.

•A very formal and professional look.

•Proper grouping is not visible i.e. visitors -> sign up.

Log in Screen

16th November, 2006

2

Entering Username and Password

•Roll over text over button guide the user in case of discrepancies.

•Use of color (red) for the text field make it more visible and stand out.

•No roll over text is assigned to any of the button

•The text color (black) is kept same for all the fields.

16th November, 2006

3

Invalid Username and Password

•A new page with too many links come up.

•”Sorry” makes the warning little informal.

•Information appear to be scattered on the page.

•Very straight error message. Wrong username/password.

•Doesn’t make the user freak.

•User may ignore the warning, color should be different.

16th November, 2006

4

Welcome Screen

•They have not specified the mail quota anywhere.

•Informing the user about new mail in a very nice

way.

•No icon is used for any of the task in left hand

border.

•3 most important functions were properly taken

care of checking mails, writing mails and folders.

•The green color In the left is shouting too much.

Instead white color could have been used a s a

background.

•No roll over text is present, over the clickable text

too.

•lack of breathing space between t he left hand

menu bar.

•Overall left band is shouting too much.

www.india.com

16th November, 2006

5

Welcome Screenwww.inbox.com.pk

•All the details about the mail quota has been

displayed clearly.

•Detail report about each folder is shown in

welcome screen.

•Icon is used from Windows family only. So user

friendly and. don't take much time to understand.

•Roll over text help user, in case delay in loading

the graphics.

•Menu on the left is readable and breathing space

is good.

•The ‘go to page’ option give user an alternate

navigation system, which are always appreciated

by user.

•The new functions like calendar beta kept a little

below the main menu, gains its own importance.

•Overall page is balanced.

16th November, 2006

6

Navigation Menu

•Lack of breathing space makes menu complex and messy.

•Graphical representation contributes a lot, in better website.

•Roll over text/Alternate text is must in graphical menu

•Contrast between the text and the background colour should be

proper.

• Background colour should not be very bright and shouting

16th November, 2006

7

Inbox

• Two options have been high lighted, check

POP3 mail and Empty Trash.

•Show if any attachment is there with the mail.

•Mail size is displayed and so help to control

the disk quota.

•Icons used for read and unread mails are

trivial and very easily understood.

•Unread mails are notified as New mails in the

header message near inbox.

•Bright green color distract the user very much.

•Delete option should have been placed before

‘move to’ option. Delete is more important.

Than moving in new folderwww.india.com

16th November, 2006

8

Inboxwww.inbox.com.pk

• One options have been highlighted, check

POP3 mail/external mail.

•Does not notify about any attachment with the

mail.

•Mail size is displayed and so help to control

the disk quota.

•Icons used for read and unread mails are not

trivial and are also notified by highlighting the

subject of unread mails.

•Unread mails are notified as New mails in the

header message near inbox.

•Delete option is appropriately highlighted.

•Color schemes goes well with the task.

16th November, 2006

9

Reading a mail

•Color schemes does not go with the function.

They are making the page very active and at

the same time loosing the seriousness of email.

•Even if the message is small, the footer

position is fixed. This makes the user to think,

more information might be about to come.

•Show full header option stands alone and it

could be grouped with other option.

•From is highlighted and emphasis is laid on it.

•Advertisements have flooded the page too

much.

•Delete and Move options are focused as

compared to reply and forward.

www.india.com

16th November, 2006

10

Reading a mailwww.inbox.com.pk

•Color schemes suits the task. Does not

distract the user from its work.

•The footer shifts according to the size of the

mail.

•Grouping of the functions is very well done and

presented too.

•Attachment option is very productive and

saves time by saving the file automatically in

text format.

•Advertisements have been placed very well.

None of the advertisement gain more

importance than primary function of the

websites.

16th November, 2006

11

Forwarding a mailwww.india.com

•Positioning of ‘Use Address book’ is

appropriate,

•Attach could be more descriptive. like to use

add attachment.

•”save copy in…” should be placed at the end

of the message also.

•In Body, The message starts as “Original

message” and so it notify the user about what

is going to be sent as forwarded message.

•no option to modify the font type and size is

given.

•Advertisements has crowded the page very

much and is appearing like a boundary box for

the working area.

16th November, 2006

12

Forwarding a mail

•Positioning of ‘Use Address book’ could be in

front of the To option.

•Add Attachment is well placed and acquire its

own importance due to different text color.

•In Body, The message starts as “Begin

forwarded message” and so it notify the user

about what is going to be sent as forwarded

message.

•It gives an option to modify the font type and

size.

•Warning “separate each address…” helps a lot

to prevent the confusion.

www.inbox.com.pk

16th November, 2006

13

Composewww.india.com

•”Select signature” option allows user to select

among the different predefined signature of his

own.

•Positioning of “Importance” option is

appropriate, as user need to decide the mail

importance before composing it.

•Positioning of ‘Use Address book’ is

appropriate,

•Attach could be more descriptive. like to use

add attachment.

•”save copy in…” should be placed at the end

of the message also.

•In Body, The message starts as “Original

message” and so it notify the user about what

is going to be sent as forwarded message.

•no option to modify the font type and size is

given.

•Advertisements has crowded the page very

much and is appearing like a boundary box for

the working area.

16th November, 2006

14

Compose

•Various Text editing tools are provided. This

provide user to a platform to work freely like on

Ms word.

•No option to set priority of the mail is given.

•Positioning of ‘Use Address book’ could be in

front of the To option.

•Add Attachment is well placed and acquire its

own importance due to different text color.

•In Body, The message starts as “Begin

forwarded message” and so it notify the user

about what is going to be sent as forwarded

message.

•It gives an option to modify the font type and

size.

•Warning “separate each address…” helps a lot

to prevent the confusion.

www.inbox.com.pk

16th November, 2006

15

Address Bookwww.india.com

•”Quick add contact” function works very well.

We can modify the information later also.

•”Personal lists” functions allows you to make

groups among your contacts. Helpful in mass

mailing.

•”Sort by” function should have drop down

menu, so as not to confuse the user with so

many options visible at the same time.

•In ”Search” option we can vary 2 variables. Its

an extensive search and is shown well also.

•Check box in front of “Name’ also selects all

the entries. So select all function could be

repetition of the function.

•A very clear positioning of modify and delete

option in front of mail id, improves the

functionality.

•”Email” option should be highlighted one, as

it’s the only reason we are here.

16th November, 2006

16

Address Bookwww.inbox.com.pk

•To add new entry and group you have to go to

new page.

•Option like quick add entry would be much

appreciated by user.

•”Browse by” function have drop down menu,

so as to provide with so many options at a time.

•Buttons provided at the end and start of the list

prevent user from unwanted scrolling of screen.

•Use of icons for edit/view/delete in front of mail

id prevent text crowding and give importance to

both buttons and address book entries..

•”mail” option is present at the first level.

Hierarchy followed in button positioning is also

well suited to task.

16th November, 2006

17

Adding a new Address Book Entrywww.india.com

•The page does not appear crowded or messy,

even though so many text fields are present.

•But breathing space is too much and it makes

the form appear very long.

•Grouping of the information, does not confuse

user and helps in better navigation.

•User can enter maximum amount of

information he can think of and still if he wants,

comment option is provided at the end to add

more.

•As soon as user find scroll bar in any form, he

feels like skipping that task. As the task appear

to be very big and time consuming..

16th November, 2006

18

Adding a new Address Book Entrywww.inbox.com.pk

•The page does not appear crowded or messy,

even though so many text fields are present.

•Grouping of the information, does not confuse

user and helps in better navigation.

•A boundary around the groups make it more

clean and organized.

•user can enter maximum of information he can

think of and still if he wants comment option is

provided at the end to add more.

•Fonts use to highlight the heading and sub

heading are appropriate and well suited. They

are not mixing with each other.

16th November, 2006

19

Searching mailswww.india.com

•Search option is present at the bottom of each

page.

•Search option is not given in the left hand

menu bar.

•The drop down menu, next to search,, allows

user to select the category he want to search in

(From/To/Subject).

•Find button is not supported with any graphics

or colour, so it draws attention of user.

•Search option should be present near check

POP3 mails | empty Trash.

16th November, 2006

20

Search resultswww.india.com

•The search result should be written at the top

and not the inbox status.

•”You search returns …” should be bold or of

different color, so as to appear like the result of

some task.

16th November, 2006

21

Searching mailswww.inbox.com.pk

•search option is present in the left hand menu

bar.

•Provides user with the very basic, but

extensive research options like search in

message, body, header.

•It also allows user to search in individual

folder,

•Even if the user is not satisfied with the

present search options, he can go to advanced

search.

•The best part is the distinction of the features

that might make the search complex and have

put them in advanced search.

16th November, 2006

22

Searching mailswww.inbox.com.pk

•The no. of variations itself tells about the

complexity of advanced search.

•Still proper heading and hierarchy, the

advanced search does not appear complex.

•It takes input from user in a very organized

way and its not at all confusing.

•Grouping and breathing space make the

structure appear more simple and clear.

16th November, 2006

23

Search resultswww.inbox.com.pk

•The search result should be written at the top

like. “You search returns …”

•Only one function is highlighted i.e. Delete.

16th November, 2006

24

Folderswww.india.com

•We get the details about individual folder, on

clicking the “Mail folders” in left hand menu.

•All the information about the disk quota have

been given in numbers e.g. 1382k/10000k

•The disk quota info should have been given in

language too.

•All the 3 options to create/delete and rename

folder is given in a very nice way. Proper

grouping is done to prevent confusion.

•..Size of each folder is given in front of the

folder, thus give a detailed analysis of each

folder.

16th November, 2006

25

Folderswww.inbox.com.pk

•We get the details about individual folder, on

clicking the “folders” in left hand menu.

•All the information about the disk quota have

been given in numbers, language and through

graphics also. Thus clearing all the doubts.

•Options to clear the mails from spam and trash

is also given here.

•..Detailed analysis of each folder is given.

•No where it is specified that Total(2) is the no.

of unread mails.

•Roll Over text over the folder option tell

“Create new folder”, thus clear any doubt in

users mind.

•On clicking info (zoom button) we can specify,

which messages should be deleted

automatically and when.

•This function helps keeping the mailbox under

limit.

16th November, 2006

26

Optionswww.india.com

•Options are categorized between available

options and premium services options.

•Brief about each of the option is given in a

tabular form.

•The colour scheme could be little down. The

bright colours should be only used to highlight

some important information.

16th November, 2006

27

Optionswww.inbox.com.pk

•Grouping of the options, made the page very

well organized.

•Options are presented in tabular form. That

makes the categorization much more clear.

•Basic information about each of the option,

makes user perception clear about the function

of each option..

16th November, 2006

28

Helpwww.india.com

•FAQ’s have been framed and can be selected

from drop down menu.

•As the questions are many, so its difficult to

handle the drop down menu. Solution would be

categorizing the questions.

•Other than FAQ, some basic help under other

topics is also displayed.

•All the company policies are also given in help

and not like link is given on each of the page.

•Color scheme is good and soothing.

• Top Five FAQ’s part is good and it must be

keep updating. Else its of no use.

16th November, 2006

29

Helpwww.inbox.com.pk

•FAQ’s have been framed I each of the

category.

•The questions are categorized under different

domains related to mailbox.

•For any help other than FAQ, link has been

given to some other website, expertise in that

field.

•Listing of FAQ makes the user clear about his

question and doubt. But sometimes user

doesn’t know which FAQ matches its doubt

exactly.

16th November, 2006

30

Logoutwww.india.com

•

•No graphics are used. So very boring to read.

•Font size is very small and line spacing is very

less.

•Only two options are given

○Go to home page, or

○Logout completely (delete the cookies saved

in computers temporary folder)

•Advertisements could have been placed here,

instead of placing so many during the mail

transactions.

•Logo of India. COM would have changed the

page totally.

16th November, 2006

30

Logoutwww.inbox.com.pk

•

•Thank you message is highlighted in

appropriate manner.

•Site gives two option to the user, either to login

again or to return to the home page.

• At the place of advertisements, Search option

is given and its takes user directly to the

Google. COM

•”You have successfully ..” message give a

satisfaction to user about security and safety of

his account.

16th November, 2006

31

Final Conclusion

•Color scheme is not appropriate, its too bright.

•Graphics are not used, where ever required also like

main menu bar.

•Color selection of text and links make web site hard to

read and print.

•Icons should have been used, instead of text links at all

the places.

•Advertisements are not placed properly. They hindered

the basic purpose of website at some places.

•Color headings created emphasis on titles

•Color coding and logical grouping of subject listings

•A simple navigation strategy ensures users won't get

lost.

•Creative use of icons enhanced users recognition of

subject areas.

•Using a simple graphic element helps the user

understand the information and also load quickly.

www.Inbox.com.pk is a better web mail portal, in respect of usability and

visually, as compared to www.india.com