Exford
One pro to the theme Exford is that is the most diverse out of all the ones I found. As you scroll, each section is a different layout. This way, my information won’t appear the same or boring as the user scroll through the page.
One con to Exford is that each section definitely would not be worth as much as it is if it were not for the photos. What completes each section is that you have the information and a photo to go with it. I don’t know how I am going to find that many diverse images of burgers (idea for my app: finding local burger joints).
The feature that will be most useful to me is the theme’s diversity. A feature I would not likely use is that the theme seems to endorse having lots of hyperlinked icons to other pages, seemingly from outside websites. Technically I could use this, but I don’t know if I want to invest all that time to linking the websites of every single place to get a burger in Harrisonburg. Maybe I will have to, though. We’ll see.
The aesthetics of Exford are a good fit for the impression I would like to make with my portfolio and the content of my portfolio, because my portfolio is about destinations (burger joints), and the example that this theme presents is also about destinations. Also, I don’t want users to feel like they’re looking at the same boring content throughout my entire website, and this page allows each section to look very different from all the others.
Exford addresses good user experience design, because each section is clearly defined, the font is easily readable, and the links are easily seen and clickable.
Alves
One pro to the theme Alves is that there is no white space. I like that when the user goes into the page, they feel like they’re stepping out of the real world and going into another world for a bit, and not leaving for as long as they’re on the page. Often times, a page can reel us in but then allow us to get lost. Within this page, I feel like I know where I am, I belong here, and I can control where I go.
One con to Alves is that each section is not very different from all the others. If I were to use this theme, it would take a lot more thought and work to clearly differentiate each section from each other. I do feel like this is possible, though.
The feature that will be most useful to me is the the fact that each background photo can cover the entire background without any white space. Having lots of beautiful photos of burgers down the page, all unified the way this theme can unify them, would be great, aesthetic aspect of the page. A feature I would not likely use are the social media icons that link to outside pages in the top-right corner.
The aesthetics of Alves are a good fit for the impression I would like to make with my portfolio and the content of my portfolio, because images of food are, in a way in this day and age, their own form of art. Photographers, and just regular people, put a lot of work into taking pictures of food, and hungry human beings love looking at pictures of delicious food and imagining themselves eating it. This theme would allow me to portray photos of burgers and fries beautifully.
Alves addresses good user experience design, because the user can look at each section individually just fine, but it also reads very smoothly as a whole.
- For each theme, write a paragraph or two describing the pro’s and con’s of the theme as it pertains to your needs, and why you selected the theme for your top 3. For example, you might describe what features will be most useful to you and what features you would not likely use, why the aesthetics of the theme are a good fit for the impression you’d like to make with your portfolio or for the content of your portfolio, how the theme addresses good user experience design, etc. (You will have a minimum of 3 paragraphs – at least 1 for each of the 3 themes you chose).
- At the bottom of the page, rank your top 3 themes, with #1 being the theme you plan to use for your final project, and #2 and #3 as the runners-up. Write a few sentences on why that theme won.
Dara
One pro to the theme Dara is its featured content slider. It really stands out on the page, gives the content diversity, and brings the whole layout together in a professional, yet creative, look.
One con to Dara is the amount of white space. The font is strangely tiny, and some of the blocks of text and images have unnecessarily large margins. One way I could fix this is to decrease the margins, if possible, to increase the font size, and to use rectangular images instead of the circular ones that WordPress uses in their Dara template.
The feature that will be most useful to me is the featured content slider. Neither of the other two themes, Exford or Alves, have this. I never even thought about having and using this feature until I first saw it with the Dara template, and I think it might be a good idea to feature the most visually-appealing content of my website within the featured content slider, and then I could include something on each “slide” that says “Click here to view the whole page,” and then it leads the viewer to the page from each that slide of featured content came from.
The aesthetics of Dara are a good fit for the impression I would like to make with my portfolio and the content of my portfolio, because Dara is a professional, yet spunky or pop-like, sort of theme. It’s fun! It’s pleasant to look at. You can’t look at it and not feel a little bit happier or warmer inside. I want the users of my website to feel a little bit more excited than the already were once they get a look at my site. People don’t always remember the information they see, but they will remember how they felt when they read it.
Dara addresses good user experience design, by displaying their information in three different ways: vertically, horizontally, and I don’t know what the word is for the third one, but it’s that the user can click on words in the bar at the top and it will take them inside another page. By vertically, I mean the user can scroll up and down the page, and by horizontally, I mean the featured content slider. This all makes interaction with the website more interesting and almost fun for the user, without being too confusing.
Theme Rankings
At the bottom of the page, rank your top 3 themes, with #1 being the theme you plan to use for your final project, and #2 and #3 as the runners-up. Write a few sentences on why that theme won.
#3 – Dara
#2 – Alves
#1 – Exford
Exford won, in my opinion, because it has the best balance of the three for being both aesthetically-pleasing, while also flowing smoothly. It is professional, while having the potential to be really creative. It won because it has the most balance between contrasting qualities, and because it has the most potential to look like a professional, unique website.
I am now writing this paragraph after completing the assignment, and I ended up using my number three option, which was Dara. Professor Hokanson talked about in class how a lot of students forget that this is a site about our app research, not the website version of the app. I forgot about that. Dara worked well because, unlike the other two themes from my theme research, it had a header at the top where I could create drop-down menus for each topic.
User Experience Design Portfolio 