10 Heuristics of Evaluation for purchasing/renting a car using lingscars.com

1. Recognition rather than recall

1.1. This web page do not have the function that allow users to check their previous search result. For example, when users wish to compare a number of different type of cars at once they often forgot the models of car they searched at the start. This may caused users from not purchasing/renting cars for this web page as they are unable to recall the ideal car they saw.

1.2. Every car that were posted onto the web page has a picture of itself showing the colour/size of the car. this allow users to recognise the car easily as they are able to visualise it.

2. Match between system and the real world

2.1. Most language/phrases/names used in the website are common to users. for example, the name of the car brand stated in the website was called Honda which is a car brand that is well-known

2.2. Some sub-headings is unclear to users as it is not often use. For example, on the website there is a sub-heading option called "cars and vans", however the meaning of "cars and vans" is actually equal to car brands. this two phrases has totally two different meaning which will confuse the users.

3. User control and freedom

3.1. Users are able to undo their action if they accidentally clicked on a link that they do not want just by clicking the 'back' button on the page.

3.2. This web page does not have a 'Re-do' button. For example, when users found the car they want, but they accidentally clicked the 'back' button, there is no way for them to come back to the page they want immediately, they would have to re-search the car all over again.

3.3. if users accidentally rent/buy a car that they do not want, it is also not possible for the users to get a refund/exchange.

4. Consistency and standards

4.1. when browsing for cars, users will see a lot of car models that are exactly the same as one another. This will confuse the users as they would not know why is there so many cars of the same models.

4.2. The font used were not standardised, users will see BOLD words here and there, however these words are not important users,

4.3. When users have enquiries on the cars, naturally they will look for the FAQ page, however in the website itself there are 3 different links that stated FAQ, and every link lead the users to different forum of FAQ.

5. Error prevention

5.1. Some of the picture/item on the web page cannot be redirected. For example, on every car picture, there will be a option button called "more info" this option is supposedly to allow users to find out more details of this particular car, however some of the links were broken.

5.2. Before every transaction is completed, there will be a message and a "confirmation" option button asking users to check if they have made the correct decision in purchasing/renting the car, if yes, then click on the "confirmation" button.

6. Visibility of system status

6.1. The web page is very messy, there are lots of pop-up that distract the user which may confuse them.

6.2. The web page 'lingscar.com' has words that can be easily read by the user.

6.3. There are many irrelevant advertisement up there that is not related to buying/renting a car.

6.4. Headings on the web page does not stand out which disallowed users to identify where should their research start from.

6.5. some of the icons are blocked/covered with unnecessary picture or words which may cause trouble for the users to find the icons.

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

7.1. This web page does not have shortcut that classified cars in term of colours/number of seats in the car/ mileage. Moreover, when users successfully found the ideal car brand they want, they will still have to make lots of effort to find their ideal car. Hence this site is not efficient at all to the users as it is very time-consuming.

7.2. when users have no clue which car they would like to buy/rent. In this website they have a forum that allow users to submit their budget, then the company will recommend the best car they had within the budget range. By doing so, it is very effective and efficient as users do not have to crack their brain to find an ideal car. Moreover, it saves time for both the users and the company to reach their objective.

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

8.1. Most of the stuff on this web page is totally irrelevant to cars. There is a " 3D chicken" walking all over the live chat column. it is not only non-related to cars, it also brings a lot of trouble to users that wish to communicate with the others on the web page itself.

8.2. On every link/picture/item the users click, there will be a annoying music that will keep on playing for around 30 seconds which will make users feel irritated and give up on searching for the ideal car they want.

8.3. Picture of cars, description of cars, and the different types of category of cars are relevant on the web page.

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

9.1. When there are any errors occurred, there will be reason and solution given to the users that help them to know where they had gone wrong.

9.2. This web page does not give any suggestion to users if the search result of the users is zero/none.

10. Help and documentation

10.1. This web page does not have a 'help' button to assist users if they encountered issue when searching for their ideal car.

10.2. On the left side of the page, they provide users with all the car models that this company have.

10.3. There is a search engine in the web page, however this search engine always show a different result of what the users wish to search. In other words, the search engine is not useful at all.

10.4. There is no instructions for first-time users to help them navigate the website smoothly