WEBSITE AUDIT

- SEEN BUT SELDOM HEARD

Presented by: Annabel Nguyen
1. Seen but Seldom Heard Overview
Seen but Seldom Heard is a project through which young people living with physical disability (aged 14-19 yeards) can engage in
creative activities designed to encourage them to reflect on their lived experiences and to empower them to challenge societal
perceptions of disability through poetry and performance.
The website of the project is designed as the official channel of Seen but Seldom Heard project in order to:
- Communicate with public audiences about the project
- Encourage people to be involved into the project by buying poetry book, joining poetry performance events and giving support if
any.
The main target audience of the website is people aged 25 and above who are interested in social and disability issues.

2. Aims of Seen but Seldom Heard Website Audit

The website audit aims to identify the issues that the Seen but Seldom Heard website is dealing with including Website Usability,
Website Content, Website Interface and Social Media Connection. Through the audit, the action plan will be implemented to
develop the website in order to increase the communication effectiveness of Seen but Seldom Heard project.

However, due to the restriction in terms of accessing, the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is not included here. The keywords
testing will be implemented in the future.

3. Overall evaluation of Seen but Seldom Heard Website

The website is built on a microsite of Bournemouth university so it is restricted in the design and the functionality in comparison
with other websites. Therefore, microsite needs to be designed simple and informative for communication purpose only.
The two most significant issues of Seen but Seldom Heard website are the not-updated content and the non-professional
impression. Regarding the first issue, the latest post was from 6th June 2013 which results in decreasing the number of people
visiting the website regularly. Moreover, non-fresh content also downgrade the website on certain search engines. Therefore,
people might get difficulties when look for Seen but Seldom Heard website on Google, for instance.
The second significant problem of the website is its personal look. Due to the domain on microsite of Bournemouth university
website, Seen but Seldom Heard website looks like an individual blog rather than an organizational website. That is the
consequence of homepage format, font text and the post content which will be analysed in details in the next part.
Therefore, Top 5 immediate action items are suggested as below:
Re-design the Website Navigation
Enhance the Website Content (rewrite and update the new content)
Improve the Website Layout with the focus on Call to Action function
Integrated Website with Social Media platforms
Fix bug and inactive links of the Website

4. Website Audit
Issue

Requirements

Evaluation

Issues

Number

WEBSITE USABILITY
1

Consistent Website

Acceptable Strengths:

Formatting

- The website has the consistency in the colour and font text across pages.
- The website format is consistent in all the browsers including Chrome, IE,
Safari and Firefox.
- All the information is presented consistently and appropriately when viewed in
different devices such as computer, Ipad, smartphone.
Weakness:
- There is inconsistency in links for further reading (More on homepage and
Continue Reading on the others) (PHOTO)
- Twitter Box and Comment Box are not stable. They are placed on the bottom
of homepage but on the right hand side (sidebar) on the other pages.
- It does not necessarily to have feedback form at the end of every post as this
website is not an individual blog.

Layout Meets Best Practices Fail

Strength:

(Call to Action Present)

- The website has specific section dedicated for selling poetry book (the top box
of right sidebar)

Weakness:
As mentioned before, the website aims to involved audiences into the project by
buying poetry books, participating in poetry events and volunteering. However,
the website does not present the Call to Action function which is fundamental.
- The poetry book buying process is inconvenient. The audiences have to open
their mailbox and type an email to enquiry books instead of filling in the form
and get confirmation automatically.
- The call for participating in Poetry Performance event is weak. The post of
Seen but Seldom Heard Live Show on the homepage is not highlighted, frugal
and does not provide enough information for customers to make decision. The
audiences are guided to contact Wendy Cutts for reservation but the website
doesnt provide her contact email/phone. In fact, audiences have to look for
Wendys contact on the Publications page which is not expected.
- There is no information on volunteering/project sponsor/project support/
project participation available on the website which might confuses the
audiences if they want to be involved in or send their children to join the
project.
3

Appropriate Navigation

Fail

Strength:
- All content is accessible within no more than 3 clicks.
- All pages can be accessed from homepage.
Weakness:

- Inappropriate use of sub page: There is no sub page under most of the main
pages. Therefore, the content is not divided effectively which might annoy
audiences when they want to find for particular information.
- The Project Diary subpage is said that it would be published in early 2013 but
there has no information about it yet.
- The press in Press Coverage and all of the poems are put under the sub page
of The Blog which is not presented in the navigation.
4

Page Titles Accurately

Fail

Represent the Content

Page Titles and Content are not relevant, in particular poetry and videos pages.
- Poetry page includes the video of Documentary Taster
- Video page includes the news of Performance live show and Blog Diary.
- Publications: The name is not clear enough to indicate audiences that they will
find poetry book here.
- Links: The title is not consistent with other page titles. Moreover, the name
Links is able to inform audiences about what they may fight inside the page
but not able to tell why the audiences need to access this page? Is there any
relevance to the project that audiences may find here?
- Feedback: The page aims to endorse the credibility of the project through
emotional way. Therefore, the name of Feedback is not able to demonstrate
this purpose. In fact, the name like Testimonial will be more suitable for the
content.

Free of Spelling and

Good

All the content is in proper English without slang and grammatical errors.

Grammatical Errors
6

Visible Contact Information

Fail

The contact information is not visible in almost every page. Even though
Bournemouth University address is presented in the footer, it is still not
convenient for people to find the way to get in touch with the project or
encourage them to contact.

Sufficient Contact Us page

Acceptable - The email as the fundamental contact is presented. However, it is personal

email of a project team member which might lower the professional ambience
that we might want to create throughout the website.
- Insufficient contact information: There is no other way to get in touch with the
project apart from email which might confuse some audiences.
- As Bournemouth University address is stated at the footer as the organization
who support the project, there is no information of Bournemouth University is
mentioned in the Contact Us page.

Effective Sidebar

Acceptable Strength:
- Poetry Book box is presented in the eye-catching position consistently
- Events box can be seen after 2 mouse-scroll
- Twitter box is quite helpful and interactive.
Weakness:
- Search box is in 2nd position which is quite inconvenience for audiences when
they want to search for information.
- The Poetry box has 2 hyperlinks which all point to the same page. It is quite

confusing for audiences because they dont know which link should they click
and there is any difference between two links.
- The comment box is not necessary as it provides information that the
audiences do not need to know. In fact, it makes the website look like an
individual blog.
9

Pages loading speed

Good

All pages load within 6 second

10

Convenient photo viewing

Fail

- Photo Gallery is not organized into different category (date, event, etc)
- The website is not installed with photo viewer. In fact, audiences will be led to
a different sub page when they click to see a larger picture. The sub page is
named as DSCF2093 which is not appropriate.
- The audiences are not able to view pictures continuously. They have to go back
and forth to the photo main page to see next pictures. That might be annoying
for audiences, especially the elderly as they might not able to see the small
pictures.

11

Active links

Fail

Quite many links have died which are:

- Link for purchasing event ticket in the Events box
- Embedded link in Victoria Education logo and Livablity Logo
- The link to ICCI 360 Arena (Plymouth university has restructured its website)
- Able Magazine (Press coverage)
- Disability History Month event on Bournemouth University (News and Events)

WEBSITE CONTENT
The latest update was 6th June 2013.

12

Fresh Content

Fail

13

Content Is Easy to Read and

Acceptable Strength:

Digest

- Content is written with simple words in short sentences.

- Most of the content is written in inverted pyramid style in which important
information is put on the top of the post. It will help audiences easy to skim for
main idea.
- Post is divided into smaller paragraph which makes it easier to read and digest.
Weakness:
- Content is not divided into different sections (sub pages) for easy reading. The
About us page is too long for people to scroll till the end of the page.
- The content in page News and Events is messed up. The information for July
event and December even is put together in 1 post which might confuse the
audience.
- The page Link is posted without explanation which might make the
audience question the function of this page.

14

Sufficient information in
each page

Fail

About Us:
- Strength: Provide sufficient information regarding
+ What is Seen but Seldom Heard proeject?
+ How is this project executed?
+ Who are project team members?
- Weakness:
+ The page does not provide the information regarding when the project
was started, how the children were chosen (are they chosen or they
voluntarily participated, do they have to pay fee), where the project is
implemented (in Bournemouth, Poole or else where?)
+ The project team member introduction is not consistent: Some are selfintroduction (I am) and some are not (she is). The introduction content is
not consistent either. Some wrote about their professional background
(Carrie, Liv, Lee-An), some wrote about their personal background
(Wendy, Lee-An)
Poetry
- Strength:
+ Clear and organized structure
- Weakness:
+ Authors were not introduced properly on this page. All the post were
uploaded by Carrie so the box at the end of each post was About

chodges which makes no sense to audiences.

+ Content is not organized into topics/themes which might be difficult to
read through or managed in the future.
+ Some posts have no title and some have same title (The Boat).
Video
- There are some video without description.
- Some videos descriptions are unclear eg: Here is a video performance
of a poem written and performed by Dave which audience might
questions: Who is Dave? What is his disability? Where is this poem
about? Where did they film it?
- The writing style is more like an individual blog than an organizational
website
Publications
The poetry books description does not provide enough information and
is not well-written to be able to encourage audience to buy.
Photo:
- The photo page is frugal. There are no pictures of students learning or
performing poetry. The event of students learn to use websites blog
might not be consistent with other pages content (poems, performance
clips, etc)
- There is no introduction photo of each student as the audience may

expect.
Press Coverage
- The content is frugal, not well-written and disorganized. No summary
about each article has been provided but a link. Moreover, the link
hyperlink is posted under the list of number which confuses audiences
(The Echo, October 11th)
- The scanned article is upside-down
- The post of ICCI 360 is not the media coverage but an events poster.
News and Events:
- The event briefing was not able to provide enough information as well
as encourage people to participate in the event.
Links
This is one of the most confusing pages of the website. The website does
not explain why they provide the link, what audiences should expect to
see when they get the link and why they should click the link. This page
seems to be isolated from the whole website.
Feedback
- The content is interesting and touching. However, it is too long for
people to scroll down till the end.
- The information of feedback providers are not stated which makes their
comments look unreal.

- The appreciation part of Seen but Seldom Heard project team is put
right after each feedback and does not look different from the feedback
which might confuse the audience as they dont expect to read it.

WEBSITE INTERFACE
15

Font text

Acceptable - The San Serif font is easy to read. The font size is 14 which is big enough
to read.

16

Overall impression

Fail

- As mentioned before, the webpage looks like an individual blog rather

than an organizational website. It lacks of the professionalism of an
university project, the creativity of a poetry project. The website does
not provide the sensation of warmth when looking at it due to the pale
colour and harsh font used.
- As being analysed, the website is disorganized and seems not to be
taken care of which might result in the credibility of the project.
- The website presented name of people and post categories (eg:
chodges in Uncategorized, News) which is not appropriated and should
be removed.

17

Homepage interface

Fail

- The slogan Seen but Seldom Heard young voices working to change
perception of disability through poetry and performance is not
highlighted and look quite boring.
- It does not state clearly what kind of project is and what activities are

implemented in this project.

- The homepage is covered with Recent Post section which makes the
website looks like an individual blog.
18

Partners logos

Fail

- Partner logos should be pasted by using transparent background so it

will not appear the white box which makes the website look
unprofessionally.
- There are no links embedded in partnerss logos to navigate audiences
to their website. However, it appears the icon of a hand when
audiences point at the logo which might confuse audiences

Up-to-date and High quality

Fail

- Low quality and non-fresh photos

top photos
Clear and consistent Brand

Acceptable - The purple colour of BU is used as the main themes. However, it seems

Visual Identity

that Seen but Seldom Heard project does not have visual brand
identity (logo, colour, font text, etc)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTION

19

Presence of social
platforms

Fail

- Twitter is presented and it allows audiences to tweet directly to Seen

but Seldom Heard when they are on the website
- No other social media platforms (facebook, linkedln, youtube, google+,
etc)
- Twitter box is located near the bottom of the page which might cause

difficulties for audiences when they want to use.

20

Options for audience to

Fail

share content

5. Effective Nonprofit organizations websites

Save The Children:
http://www.savethechildren.org/

There is no options for audiences to share the websites information on

social media (share events, share poems, etc)

Half the Sky

http://www.halftheskymovement.org/