Which Web site is better and more practical for Apple and Microsoft?

The usability research of "original translation" Apple vs. microsoft--website

Today we are going to make a comparison of the websites of two big companies- Apple and Microsoft .

Both giants are proud of the production of cutting-edge products and the development of software and hardware, but what about their websites? How to make a comparison? More importantly, which website is better and more practical?

In this article, we will make a rigorous analysis of the websites of these two companies from the perspective of usability.

Before this comparison begins, we should note that the two companies are operating around different markets.

Microsoft's profits are largely from corporate users, including selling operating system licenses to computer manufacturers and selling office software to companies. That's not to say they don't sell things to individual users-they sell, they have the same product line for individual users, like X-box, and of course individual users buy Windows and Office. Microsoft's client target is everyone, from home computer users to developers and corporate users, which complements their website's purpose: trying to serve everyone.

Apple's business, on the other hand, is largely targeted at individual users , and most of its profits come from selling hardware, such as ipods and Macs. This makes Apple's goal more explicit: Selling, selling, and providing after-sales service. They don't have to worry about selling licenses to manufacturers because they are the only manufacturers, so the main purpose of their site is to advertise products, expand product lines, and sell products through online stores.

1. Home

Home is the first page of the site, one of the most important pages, in most cases, the home page is the only way to impress visitors and allow them to continue browsing the reasons. you have a few seconds to convince your visitors that your site is valuable enough for them, otherwise they will go away.

Apple's usual practice is to tell everyone through the homepage that the site is still working. They used the homepage as a Billboard , always showing a large advertisement for their latest product, with three of products or news of the same importance now. If you are not interested in these four entries, you can click on the large navigation bar at the top, which is divided into several parts to represent Apple's core products: Mac,ipod and IPhone, and there are more links to the Pull-down menu, such as online stores and after-sale support. In addition, there is a search bar.

Interestingly, This main advertisement is quite large and covers almost the entire page. If it doesn't attract your attention, it means the entire site fails. Fortunately, Apple knows how to capture the user's appeal through good product marketing, so they have nothing to fear.

Another need to be aware of is the simple content of its website. You won't be bothered by sidebars, notices or additional navigation items-there's only a few things on the page that attract your attention and make it easy to find the next step.

Microsoft has a different interpretation of its home page. First, they placed a similar style of advertising at the top to catch people's eyes. The three huge picture ads--which can be shown by sliding through the mouse--are eye-catching , but may weaken the effect of the other two ads. At the top of the page is the search bar and navigation bar.

The content underneath the main ads is even more interesting, as I mentioned earlier, Microsoft's business operations cover everything from corporate users to individual users. This area showcases news and important information about Microsoft's different business areas. However, its content is rather dull, with a lot of information in such a small space , disorganized.

Admittedly, the content is subdivided into several main points, but with a small font size and a lack of pictures to differentiate between entries. In short, it is difficult to arouse my desire to read down, because it is really boring.