Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.

com
www.frys.com is a website for an electronics store and ISP (Internet Service Provider). The main function of this website is
to get customers acquainted with the brand “Fry’s” and by doing so customers may consider buying its electronics product
or using its ISP service.

--- Fry’s Homepage --- Fry’s electronics FAQ page

The heuristic evaluation of www.frys.com was conducted mainly based on the following five categories:
1. Interface Design
2. Navigation
3. Information Architecture
4. Functionality
5. Language

This evaluation assigns a severity rating to each issue that represents the frequency and impact the problem. The most severe
issues are listed first within each section. For plain text’s sake, illustrations are listed in the appendix.

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Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.com
 1. Interface Design
Elements of the interface design including layout, typography, white space, images, color schemes, etc. severely affects the
credibility of this website.

Severity Occurrence Issue Recommendation

High Throughout What is this website for? (see homepage on page 1) Put several product photos on the homepage.
Not a single product photo can be found, a first-time user would not
know what this website is for.

High Throughout Color Combination is obtrusive (see homepage on page 1) Agreeable colors should be selected and carefully arranged in order to
The arbitrary combination of red, black and yellow looks obtrusive and both represent the company’s logo color and to achieve a harmonious
is lacking in harmony, and therefore is likely to inhibit consumers from outlook.
buying.
Medium Homepage & Pictures are poorly designed & placed (see homepage on page 1) Create a better association between icons and functions. The colors of
“Contact Both the map and the explosive picture in the homepage fail to convey the map and the above words should be balanced, and words number
Fry's a professional image to people. And on the page after clicking on should be reduced for aesthetic purposes.
Electronics” “Contact Fry's Electronics” on the left, the little yellow logo appears in
page very low resolution.

Medium Throughout Font Size are not consistent (see appendix pic 1) Unify font and font sizes.
Fonts in some pages are small and pose difficulty on reading.

Medium “Shop online” Radically different website styles (see appendix pic 2) Unify the styles of the two websites.
link When clicking on outpost.com, which is Fry’s online shopping
website, people would find the two websites radically different,
although they represent the same company.

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Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.com
 2. Navigation
An effective navigation scheme provides the user with a clear indication of the current location within the overall site
structure and provides access to other parts of the site.

Severity Occurrence Issue Recommendation

High Throughout “Search” Function not available Add “search” function.
It is very inconvenient for users not to have a search function when
looking for information.

High Homepage “Shopping online” is hidden (see homepage on page 1) Put the outpost.com sign in a more conspicuous position.
This poses great difficulty for users who are looking for product
information, making it difficult to find how to shop online.

High Throughout Two vertical navigation bars (see homepage on page 1) Replace the two bars with one vertical navigation bar and horizontal
The two vertical navigation bars look redundant and have the potential flying-out menus.
to interfere with navigation. It is inconsistent with the expectation of
one vertical navigation bar and horizontal flying-out menus.

High “Manage Link is broken Make sure this page can be displayed.
your ISP Sometimes it works when clicking on “manage your ISP account”, but
account” several visits turns out to be “page cannot be displayed.”
area
Medium Homepage No links with the map Provide a link which leads to “features” when clicking on the map, and
The map and the red words on it give users a perception that it can be save the space in the homepage to provide more information about Fry’s
clicked for more information, but it turns out to be deceptive. Though Electronics.
the relevant information is provided below, it is not as eye-catching as
the map that users tend to ignore it at the first glance.

Low “ISP Access “Back to top” link not available (see appendix pic 3) Add “Back to top” link.
Numbers” Cause navigation inefficiency and inconvenience.
page

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Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.com
 3. Information Architecture
In this part, close attention will be paid to the organization of information and content.

Severity Occurrence Issue Recommendation

High Homepage Important company information hidden (see homepage on page 1) Display “Fry's Electronics History” more conspicuously. Set an individual
The important company information such as “who we are”, “why use category for “why Fry’s ISP”.
out products” is not evident on the homepage, nor can it be easily
accessed. The answer to “why Fry’s ISP” is hidden in “Fry’s FAQ”
page, which is supposed to solve technical or customer support
problems.

Medium Homepage Menu categories mixed up (see homepage on page 1) Reshuffle the menu. Some of them such as “Fry's Webmail” and
The left menu is mixed up and some is redundant. “Contact the Fry's ISP” can be put into one category: customer service.
For “retail store” menu, “contact” link should be put at the bottom.

Medium “Fry’s ISP Information packed within one page ( see Fry’s electronics FAQ Put all questions at the top, each with link which leads to answers and
FAQ” page page on page 1) relevant information below. Change the font size of those questions.
Too much information in the same page; users would scroll down to
look for information. The left side questions’ font is too small.

Medium “ISP Service Extended use of Capital letters is counterproductive (see Replace all caps with upper/lowercase. Keep the font and font size style
Contract”& appendix pic 4) consistent within the page and with other pages.
“Acceptable Overuse of capital letters poses difficulty for users to read, though
Use Policy they may be important. The style is not consistent.
“page
Low Contact User-unfriendly pop-up dialogs (see appendix pic 5) Relevant information in the pop-ups should be placed elsewhere. Avoid
information Unfriendly dialogs pop up when clicking on “Contact Fry’s the presence of pop-up.
area Electronics”, “Contact Fry’s ISP” and “Dial-up Signup Form” on the left
side of screen.

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Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.com
 4. Functionality
The features and functions that a user is likely to require should be easily found.

Severity Occurrence Issue Recommendation

High Throughout No “help” function Provide “help” function to facilitate users to carry out tasks.
There is no “help” function throughout the website, putting users in a
helpless situation.

High Contact Contact information dispersed & inadequate Put customer service email, phone number and feedback form in one
information Users may not be able to find customer service email, phone number “contact us” page.
page and feedback form within one “contact us” page when clicking on
“contact Fry’s electronics” or “Contact ISP”. They are spread around.

High Fry's Stores Customer service confusing (see appendix pic 7) Delete the first question on Fry's Stores FAQ page. Replace it on
FAQ page The statement that given email address will not directly connect users “contact” page.
to Fry’s store may lead to users losing patience.

Low “contact Fry's Link is not evidently available Create a direct link for customers feedback form.
ISP” pop-up Users would not easily find the link to customers feedback form as
dialogs indicated in the pop-up dialogs when clicking on “Contact the Fry's
ISP”.

Low “Manage No “back” link (see appendix pic 6) Display “back” button.
your ISP There is no “back” link when access is denied after clicking on
account” “Manage your ISP account” and choosing “no” or putting in wrong
area login information.

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 5. Language
Terminology should be clear and consistent. Jargon should be avoided.

Severity Occurrence Issue Recommendation

High “Set-up & Explanatory sentences confusing Improve language clarity and provide some pictures in the page to
support” page Some can be confusing, e.g. the first sentence in ISP support page: facilitate understanding.
users visit this website when they are online, and would probably be
confused since there is no need to emphasize “if…” And the
language in the Quick Setup Guide is abstract and confusing.

High Throughout Tone of language neither vivid nor attractive Promotional language strategy should be employed. Add some graphic
The tone of language in this website is not compelling; it’s more like a description.
government report, and may not attract users’ attention.

Medium Fry’s ISP area Jargon Put the full name Internet Service Provider in a conspicuous position.
The ISP acronym is not explained in anywhere. Users may need ISP Explain to users what “Force password” means.
service, but they might not know what ISP is. “Force password” in
sign-up page is not explained.

Low Throughout Redundancy Delete this question. Polish the language of this website to make it
Needless information overload, eg. in “Contact Fry’s Electronics” concise.
page, the last question “would you like a response?” is unnecessary.

Low “Fry’s Terminology confusing Make description clearer.

st
webmail“ page There can be two interpretation for “Fry’s webmail”: 1 , Fry’s ISP
customer service mail; 2nd, users may have their own mailbox
affiliated with Fry’s.

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Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.com
 Conclusion

In general, this heuristic evaluation of www.frys.com reveals that the website lacks attractiveness and credibility that a sales
website is supposed to possess. Its interface design looks unappealing and obtrusive. Navigation in this website is
inconvenient and time-consuming. Information is also inappropriately arranged and displayed. Functions are not completely
realized and language is confusing and redundant. There is a lot of room for improvement. Therefore, we would not
recommend this website to customers before great improvement is made.

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Appendix - illustrations

Pic 1. “Pricacy Policy” page Pic 2. Online shopping website

Issue: Fonts in some pages are small and pose difficulty on reading. Issue: Radically different website styles
Recommendation: Unify font and font sizes. Recommendation: Unify the styles of all web pages.

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Appendix - illustrations

Pic 3. “ISP Acess Numbers” page Pic 4. “Acceptable use policy” page

Issue: “Back-to-top” link not available; navigation inconvenience. Issue: Capitalized spelling is counterproductive.
Recommendation: Add the link. Recommendation: Replace capitalized spelling with lowercase.

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Appendix - illustrations

It’s supposed to be a screen picture here. The only thing on screen is

“access denied”, without any indication of where or how to go back.
But when I visit this site later for screen shot, this page cannot be
displayed --- the link is broken. /

Pic 5. Pop-up dialogs Pic 6. “Manage you ISP account area”

Issue: User-unfriendly pop-up dialogs Issue: No “back” link

Recommendation: Placed the information in dialogs elsewhere. Recommendation: Display this button.

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Appendix - illustrations

Pic 7. “Fry’s Stores FAQ” page

Issue: Customer service confusing.

Recommendation: Replace this question on “contact” page and avoid the email confusion.

Evaluator: Kejun Xu ([email protected])

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Heuristic Evaluation of www.frys.com