A One Stop Shop for Contact Lens Needs

Internet is where almost everybody shops nowadays. This is true even for eye care products. Visiondirect.com is an online store that specializes in eye care products as well as some personal health products. The USP of the site is the availability of top of the line brands in eye care, especially contact lenses, at discounted prices. The site claims all its prices are lower than the competitors’ by at least 5%.

The site has a simplistic design and provides users with easy access to its range of products. However, the use of space is not optimal in places. This is especially true of the home page. The layout here is cluttered, with too many images and other elements of design jostling for attention. Crisper representation of each product being featured would have made this page more attractive.

Location cues tell you exactly where you are on the site. In conjunction with the menu, which has self-explanatory categories, they make for easy navigation. A better option for the menu would have been to have drop downs for each category. A drop-down would have ensured users were able to see all the links clearly, without adding to the clutter.

The search option is comprehensive and precise. All the items on the page are listed logically. While privacy and security policies are present, they are hidden on most of the pages, because of the vertical scroll bar. There is clear feedback in response to user actions. Contextual help is available on all pages. The site is forgiving, in that it helps the user recover from errors.

There is one curious element on the site. At the top of the home page are a set of icons of map icons. The functionality of these is not clear, as clicking each of them loads the same message onto a pop-up box.

Overall, the site is a good place to shop for contact lenses, and provides comprehensive information. The overall design of the site could, however, profit from a little tidying. Moving around the current elements a bit and removing some of the redundant ones will make the site look as good as it performs.