Critical Appraisal

The project has been successful due to firstly the strong planning skills. The Gantt chart helped to plan what was to be completed, what with (resources) and when. By using separate colours for different aspects this helped me to complete each tasks as appropriate, without the GANTT chart the process would have not run as smoothly and successfully as it did. As usually I write down tasks that I need to complete but having a visual representation of all aspects helped me to see where I was at each stage. I will definitely be using the same process in future to complete other university projects.
The discovery phase including moodboards, style approach, descriptive words and personas. Have all been very useful throughout the project without this the project would not have substance. They all helped to visually describe and represent the website. So then when I made it, the words and images from the phase was in my mind so that I could design and build the product that I wanted to.
Especially with the personas as these were fictitious but based on general users that could have had the issues. This has helped to create a strong website in terms of usability and accessibility. As when I created each stage I remembered the users and how the aspects implemented would benefit them. This will really help for future reference when building any website that allows any users to use it and so they can have a usable good experience.
With keeping the designs very simple and bearing the user in mind at all stages. This has really helped to make the website fit for purpose and to essentially make it usable and accessible. As one of my goals for this project was to allow any users no matter if they have a disability or impairment to have a good enjoyable user experience. As I find this rather important as I want to make good user experiences.
Also through completing the discovery phase the information has allowed me to create simplicity within designs and wireframes and incorporate good usability and accessibility techniques. As I have included aspects such as, one page per page, reverse text, clear / simple navigation and essentially maintain the techniques throughout. The user has been throughout about within every stage.
By conducting the usability questionnaire and handing it out to a variety of different users from different age groups, this has given the project backing and made it substantial. As the results have stated that there are two main issues users have had when using websites. One they have been uncertain how to navigate around website. Also they have left websites because they have far too much text on.
These have been the issue that I have taken into consideration and focused on in regards to usability and accessibility. I have kept text to a minimum throughout and I have added a very simple navigation system with underlined text as users traditionally associate with hyperlinks to not confuse users and let them put their prior knowledge of using websites to use the website in discussion.
The other main goals and scope for the project was to allow users to create their own chocolate. This has been achieved and I have learnt a new skill. However even though I completed it. HTML drag and drop API,took too much time to include as the basic code allows one item to be dragged and dropped in one containe. However as I wanted to allow multiple elements (the toppings) to be dragged they all need a separate drag element and a separate container that they could be dropped into on the bar. This is why the chocolate bar has been separated in to several small sections essentially the bar has become a grid and by doing this the it took much more time than expected and incorporated much repeated code.
However it works effectively and has an overall pleasing result. In the future I would use it again however I would think about what I am using it for and how it works before using it in the future. If I was to carry on developing the website I would try to seek out a new way off creating the customisation as it has been made more time consuming and did not plan out as thought.
To give the website a purpose and context in an online website. An e-commerce system has been mocked – up throughout the website. Via adding a checkout and online basket. The basket icon has been added to part of the navigation the icon so users cannot get confused and can see it as part of the main navigation. Also it has been used as the website and blog image as an ongoing theme and highlights the main purpose. These make the website look official and give it real purpose. However I would like to if I was to be able to work on the project in the future be able to make a CMS so that the checkout system would work. As this is one aspect that could be improved and take users further into the sites internal workings.
However at current my skills do not lie in PHP and MYSQL and I have had difficulty with it in the past so for this project I have decided not to use it.
The feedback within the user testing has proved very useful and essential, as the selected users do not have difficulty with navigating around the website or functioning with it. This is pleasing and highlights that the website does work and is good in terms of usability and accessibility. Also the feedback has been taken on board and from this an itemized list has been added so that users can select other chocolate types. However this is not dynamic at the moment this is an area that could be changed if the product was to be developed further.