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Figure 4-12: DowntownWaltham.Org Shopping Directory
The website‘s primary goal at this point in time seems to be to increase the number of businesses
registered to use the website and the overall membership of the Downtown Waltham Partnership.
DowntownWaltham.org currently has no businesses listed under any of its shopping categories,
including ―Delis and Pizza,‖ ―Restaurants and Bars,‖ and ―Gifts and Specialty Items,‖ all of
which should have a vast array of listings for the downtown Waltham area.
The website also has some basic usability issues, which discourage consumers from spending
large amounts of time on the website. Pages take far too long to load, given the fairly basic
nature of the website. What appears to be a ―What‘s Happening‖ link on the home page does not
function properly. This button could ultimately link to a calendar feature, which is one of the
main distinguishing factors between WalthamTourism.com and DowntownWaltham.org.
Other usability issues are also present on DowntownWaltham.org. When a visitor clicks ―Shop
Downtown Waltham‖ on the top navigation bar, the navigation bar no longer fits on one line, but
rather the ―Contact Us‖ link gets moved to the following line, as is demonstrated in Figure 4-12.
When all of the top navigation links do appear on one line, however, the ―Become a Member‖
and ―Donate Now‖ boxes become overly crowded, and the purple arrows cover parts of the link
text. Furthermore, the ―Join Our Mailing List‖ link present above the search bar on the top right
of the page does not function, thereby preventing interested consumers from learning more about
Waltham businesses and events.
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