WordPress Site Review: Van Heusen

The WordPress site that I found to write a review for is VanHeusen.com. Van Heusen is a male dress clothing company. 

From the surface level, even on the first page of the site, the layout, theme and style all look very sharp and elegant.  This elegant and dressy (yet simple) appearance accurately reflects Van Heusen’s products and business style.  When a customer visits their professional web page, they will be impressed by the way the site looks.  This is very useful for the company, because they can sell their product much more efficiently with a great looking site.

The navigation of the Van Heusen website was very simple and efficient for me to use.  Browsing for clothing is made very simple and navigation to other parts of the site is very easy as well.  When a customer goes to browse through shirts, for example, they are greeted with a very lush page with large, bright pictures of the models wearing the products.  Another click to focus in on just one item and the customer is taken to an even bigger and more detailed picture of the product.  Changing colors of the product is a breeze and the customer is provided with a great view of the product they are planning on purchasing.

VanHeusen.com uses the WordPress features very well.  Drop down navigation is put to good use within the site. Each drop down looks very professional and organized, again aiding navigation and customer satisfaction.

One thing that I didn’t like about the website (or the company more so) is that the website doesn’t sell their product right from the site. Rather, when a customer clicks on the “Buy Now” button, a link to take them to the Kohl’s website appears. This is ineffective for the company’s image because it takes the customer away from the elegantly designed and planned site of Van Heusen to the Kohl’s website, which has a completely different cosmetic appearance. This could affect the customers perception of the product if they were to navigate through two completely different sites.

Why use a CMS for a larger site?

There are many advantageous avenues to explore when you choose to use a Content Management System.  Especially in instances where a larger site is being built, a CMS is the best choice.

Content Management Systems are often chosen by organizations and other site developers that have larger sites because they were made to handle many pages and large amounts of information.  CMS are also handy for larger sites that require frequent updating. 

According to smashingmagazine.com , a CMS can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. This cuts out the middle man process that can involve grueling and lengthy outsourcing for updating their websites.  A CMS like WordPress, for instance, can be a breeze to update frequently. This also makes CMS popular amongst businesses and online stores, as they require constant updating.

Another advantage of CMS are their flexibility. According to the WordPress tutorial videos on  Lynda.com, "(WordPress) can be whatever you want it to be".  The flexibility provided amongst CMS (I'll just use WordPress for an example) provide organizations and developers with larger site a vast array of uses, making them a popular choice to manage large amounts of information.



Info from:

lynda.com

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/08/getting-started-with-content-management-systems/

CMS

A Content Management System, as quoted from Wikipedia, is a computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface. Such systems of content management provide procedures to manage workflow in a collaborative environment.  Systems such as our own Shepherd University Sakai database, are extremely useful programs developed for editing and managing content.  As Sakai is useful system for educational purpose (posting assignments, grades, etc.)  I plan to use a CMS for a band website.

Using a CMS as band wedsite is the most efficient way to create a functioning and editable site for my band. With it, I can edit information such as, genral updates, photos, tour dates and so on. These are advantages to using a CMS rather than a stagnant page. A website, such as a band website, NEEDS to be able to be constantly edited to provide important updates.  It will also provide a more efficient database for my band.

I believe Drupal was a CMS mentioned in class as a CMS we will used.  Other top CMS include:

WordPress
Drupal
Joomla!
ExpressionEngine
TextPattern
Radiant CMS
Cushy CMS
SilverStripe
Alfresco
and TYPOlight

http://drupal.org/

http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/top-10-most-usable-content-management-systems/

Dreamweaver Assessment

Until today, I thought I had a pretty firm grasp of the basic functions of Dreamweaver.  Since I hadn't learned much about Templates at all last semester, I'm sort of at a disadvantage. Dreamweaver is a program that I'm very eager to learn more about. There seem to be nearly limitless functions within the program that I have barely scratched the surface of with the single website I have under my belt.

A lot of the features within the program still seem a bit foreign to me. I'm used to inputting code into the basic HTML pages and I understand CSS. However, Templates were very confusing for me. Even when you open up a page to input code, Dreamweaver appears quite daunting and confusing for someone who isn't familiar with all of it's functions.

As with any new program, I'm sure I'll learn a lot more about the Adobe Dreamweaver software. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit disappointed in myself to be fumbling through the program this morning after only being away from in for about a month.  But as with most programs, I'm sure all catch on quickly.