Skydive San Marcos

Website: http://www.skydivesanmarcos.com

Intended audience:
• Individuals who are interested in skydiving and who want to find out about the unique skydiving opportunities and activities provided by Skydive San Marcos in central Texas.
• The website is intended to provide information that is helpful to both experienced and novice skydivers.

Usefulness of content:
• The website provides very useful information on Skydive San Marcos’ services and on skydiving in general.
• The website includes information on, among other things: (1) the costs and fees of skydiving, (2) the available facilities at San Marcos, such as the RV park, (3) how to purchase gift certificates, (4) the process of tandem skydiving, (5) the eligibility requirements for skydiving, (6) the steps necessary to obtain a skydiving license, (7) the address and contact information for Skydive San Marcos, (8) the qualification and credentials of Skydive San Marcos, as a member of the United States Parachute Association, and (9) the staff of Skydive San Marcos and their experience and qualifications.
• In certain places, the website refers to skydiving equipment, such as PD canopies, which may not be familiar to novice skydivers. In such instances, the addition of a photograph or a few sentences of further explanation would enhance the content.

Consistency of design:
• The website claims that Skydive San Marcos is the “premier skydiving facility in central Texas.” The website content described above seems to support this claim, but unfortunately, the design of its website does not communicate the same message.
• There are spelling errors and shorthand/abbreviated words.
• The colors of the website are not coordinated and frequently clash. Light blues, bright blues, and turquoise hues appear next to bright red or black lettering (which is sometimes moving across the page, as well).
• Fonts are not consistent in either size or style. Important items of information, such as the company address and email, are in miniscule fonts, rather than being prominently displayed.
• Text and pictures are not consistently placed on the website. Sometimes they even seem to contradict the sales pitch aspect of the website. The staff pictures are not professionally done and emphasize the wilder sides of some of the staff, which might influence someone who is wavering as to whether or not to skydive. One picture even shows a photo of a woman in a t-shirt that says, “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving isn’t for you!”
• On the positive side, there is an interesting slideshow of skydiving pictures in the website’s photo gallery, which is a nice touch.


Ease of navigation:
• Despite its inconsistency of design in many areas, the website itself is not very complex and is generally easy to navigate. A menu with straightforward category labels appears on the left-hand side of every page. There are generally no hyperlinks embedded on the individual pages, so there are no hidden or difficult-to-reach web pages or links.