Knights Pharmacy Website Update

CMS MySQL login database has now been completed. These pages of the website will allow the pharmacy the ability to update their own content and provide details of upcoming pharmacy promotions, e.g. services and special events. The pharmacy administrator has the ability to log in to an admin page. The administrator with a secure login can, only view these pages. The following can be changed, add a promotion including images, delete or amend a promotion. I had a meeting with the client and showed them how to use the database. The client was very happy with the ability to change their own content, they thought the administration pages were easy to use and only requested minor modifications. The icons on the edit page would be better if they also had text as well as the icon.

I used PHP and MySQL code from the Lambley Riding Club website, which was completed last year in my final term as part of a group project. PHP and MySQL is an area of the project that I have found most difficult. I started to develop a database in the summer, by stripping down Lambley Riding Clubs database to understand more clearly on how the code worked. Through completing a CMS MySQL login database for Knights Pharmacy, I now have a better understanding of the code. However, my skill level in this area, I think is still fairly poor. The Lambley Riding Club database, gave me a better understanding of database construction. Without the code as an example, I am not sure I would have bin able to complete the Knights Pharmacy database. I have a lot to learn in this area of web design; it is not through trying, I just don’t think I get it.

Artefact Five – Multimedia Student social network advertising questionnaire – Evaluation

After disappointing results in my image association artefact, I distributed a questionnaire to 10 multimedia students who had experience of multiple social networks.

Seven of the students completed the questionnaire. For simplicity, I asked the students just four questions. The results of the questionnaire were inconclusive.

To the question, “Which social networks are you a member of and your primary reasons for being a member?”, as expected, Facebook came out on top, being the main social network indicated in my first artefact questionnaire,

To the question “Have you ever clicked on an advertisement on a social network, if so why?”, the results were unsurprising. “Interested in the product” “images”, “aesthetics and good design” all contributed to creating an appealing and effective design, top reasons for clicking on a social network advertisement.

To the question, “If you’ve never clicked on an advert on a social network why not?”. The main reasons for not clicking on an advert were “authenticity”, “not who I am”, “useless”, “annoying and scams and stupid”. It seems that as participants become more familiar using social networks, participants become more cynical, ignoring advertisements.

To the question, “Would you like to make any other comments about direct-targeted advertising on social networks?”, two examples are given:

“Social networks can target a relevant audience in a more efficient way to a traditional way of branding everyone with the same advert and hoping for the best.”

“I think the adverts are very loosely targeted at us through a few keywords on our profiles, and are often very useless.”

Conclusively, “interested in the product”, “visually appealing”, “aesthetics”, “relevance of the product” and “good design” were considerable factors in initial reactions. Experienced social network users seem more cynical towards  direct advertising.

Artefact Five – Multimedia Student social network advertising questionnaire – Analysis

Why did I create this Artefact?

After the disappointing results in my image association artefact. Only 20 participants took part in the  artefact. I decided to distribute a questionnaire, to multimedia students who had experience of multiple social networks. I am interested in the opinions of the users. If  they have ever clicked on an advertisement, On what factors had the most effect, on their initial reaction to an advertisement.

Who is my target audience?

I targeted ten multimedia students who had experience of social networks. I emailed the students individually inviting them to complete a questionnaire, as being an experienced user of social networks.

Analysis

I have targeted this artefact at a specific audience, multimedia students who have experience or use multiple social networks. Seven out of the ten students, completed the questionnaire. I asked the students four questions, I did not want to bombard the students with two many questions as I wanted a good response. Through the questioning, the results of the questionnaire were inconclusive.

To the question, “which social networks are you a member of and your primary reasons for being a member”, Facebook came out on top this was not surprising as Facebook was the main social network indicated in my first artefact questionnaire. However, the results did indicate that three of the students were members of at least five social networks. The primary reasons for being a member, were the same as indicated in my first artefact questionnaire, to keep up with friends and family. One of the students however, indicated they also used social networks to further develop their career.

To the question, “Have you ever clicked on an advertisement on a social network, if so why? I am interested in if any of these factors influenced you to click, colour, images used, font style, interactivity or just the product”. The results were not surprising; interested in the product, images, aesthetics and good design all contributed to creating an appealing and effective design, top reasons for clicking on a social network advertisement.

To the question, “If you’ve never clicked on an advert on a social network why not? I am interested in targeted advertising; social networks that use your information, does your information used influence you not to click”. The main reasons for not clicking on an advert were, authenticity, not who I am, useless, annoying and scams and stupid. As participants become more familiar using social networks, participants become more cynical and ignore the advertisements.

Finally, “Would you like to make any other comments about direct-targeted advertising on social networks? Your opinions matter as an experience user of social networks”. These were the most interesting points about direct advertising on social networks

“Social networks can target a relevant audience in a more efficient way to a traditional way of branding everyone with the same advert and hoping for the best.”

“I don’t tend to take much notice of the adverts. I let them wash over me because I’m on Facebook to be social, not to buy. Only if there’s something that catches my eye like amazing typography or an image of something/someone I’m interested in appears.”

“I think the adverts are very loosely targeted at us through a few keywords on our profiles, and are often very useless.”

“I believe we don’t pay for Facebook so therefore we don’t have a say in what they do, if people don’t like that Facebook target them based on their personal data then they are free to leave the site and never use it”.

In conclusion, interested in the product, visually appealing, aesthetics, relevance of the product and good design, played considerable factor in initial reaction. Experience social network users are more cynical about  direct advertising.

Knights Pharmacy Website update

When I met with the client to discuss the website layout and agree final approval, I also upgraded the pharmacies Internet browser from IE 6 to IE8, I also installed Firefox Internet browser. This would allow the client to view the website development with the latest browsers.

A week after upgrading the pharmacies Internet browser, I received a telephone call from the client saying they had to reverse the upgrade of Internet Explorer and go back to use Internet Explorer six. This was because Internet Explorer eight was not compatible with the pharmacies computer software.

I had quite a lengthy conversation with the client about different Internet browsers. The client has always requested a website that will work on the four major Internet browsers, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. I informed the client of the different versions of Internet Explorer. The version of Internet Explorer, the pharmacy is using was at least six years out of date and only 3 to 5% of the UK population now used that version of Internet Explorer (statcounter.com).

At the moment hardly any design elements work correctly in Internet Explorer six. The repeat background does not appear, the navigation does not work at all, PNG images do not display correctly and the interactive image banner also does not work correctly. I appreciate that the client has requested the website will work in all versions of Internet Explorer. However, to design a website that is interesting and engaging that works in a browser that is six years out of date is extremely difficult and virtually impossible.

A compromise with the client was reached, Google statistics script will be placed in each page, to gather statistics on what web browser the visitors are using and the web browser version. After a period of three months if it was found that a high percentage of visitors are using Internet Explorer six, amendments would be made to the website. However, the compromise will be completed after the completion of the project and charges will be made accordingly to any design elements that need to be changed.

After careful consideration, I have now designed a second pharmacy website that will now work in Internet Explorer six. I feel it is important for me to design the best website possible for the pharmacy. However, to get the website working in Internet Explorer six, design elements have to be changed, deleted or completely redesigned. I think the client will appreciate the website working in Internet Explorer six.

The interactive image banner has been completely removed; the banner would not work at all in Internet Explorer six. The banner has been replaced with fade in and out images. The repeat background image has now been replaced by a block colour; the background image would not display correctly in Internet Explorer six. All images used on the website have been changed from PNG’s to JPG’s, the images now display correctly. The reason for using PNG’s images was the transparency. Transparency images worked better with a background image. Transparency images do not display correctly in Internet Explorer six, the images are displayed with a grey background instead of being transparent. Further developments to the Internet Explorer version that still need to be completed, the drop-down on the navigation menu does not work correctly, this will be completed in the next coming week.

A visitor to the Knights pharmacy website who is using Internet Explorer six, will only see the Internet Explorer six version of the website and will not know of any other version. An if statement has been placed in each page of the website, the statement detects whether the user is using Internet Explorer six.

After receiving feedback from fellow students, amendment to the website has been made the logo has been made 30% smaller. There was a lot of empty space at the top and bottom where the logo is situated. The change is subtle; the decrease in size has improved the use of the space.  Over the next week the website will be loaded to the Knights pharmacy URL, rather than test pages on my server, this will allow the database to be tested correctly.