Saturday, September 22, 2007

Yellow Pages

http://www.yellowpages.com/
http://www.yellowpages.com/Austin-TX(Austin Yellow Pages)

Intended audience

People who look for some business or service they need in the city which they reside.

Usefulness of content

Pros: many listings link to maps and if any, to websites. Some listings, such as new car dealers, have functions to call you with one-click.
Cons: Comparing YellowPage telephone book (hard copy), this web version has listings far less than the paper version. I assume viewers expect YellowPage.com is identical to YellowPage telephone book. On the other hand, “Austin (city name) Yellow Pages” under Local Yellow Pages includes unnecessary information such as “weather” “top business (it seems to another name of advertising; You click the no.1 Wal-Mart then the page jumps to Wal-Mart telephone number listing)”

Consistency of design

Generally consistent. Simple design, yellow and black color header and text. After all, it is a (web-based) telephone book.

Ease of navigation

Quite bad. Not always easy to reach the telephone number listing viewers are looking for. If they need a service listed in “popular categories (e.g., “automotive” then “car rental”), maybe OK. If not, then it may take time to reach. Viewers have to enter business name or category into the FIND field, but sometimes the system does not recognize the name. Moreover, this “popular categories” are quite rough. Viewers have to dig into the sub categories. Moreover, “most popular search” list is included in the same page of “popular categories.” It will make viewers confused. For example, both sections include “Attorneys.” However, the link page from Attorneys is different each other.

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