Bad Website Design - Xerox

www.realbusiness.com

XEROX
Its hard to even find out what Xerox actually is when you enter the site. After searching for the "Overview" tab on the complicated horizontal navigation bar, I did manage to find it was a business process and document management company.

The choices are then to go to a department - either using the home screen links or the navigation bar. We consequently have to wait for it to load, which is a bit frustrating, and then get taken up to a virtual floor. At this point we are shown no information, but a group of people in an office and a video of a man which is automatically played. It is impossible to shut this guy up and we have then to click on different people to find out information. Even once we have done this, the information is vague and confusing - and it asks us to download a PDF. 

It has been ages since we entered the site and we still haven't managed to find out any useful information really, and if we have, its been a difficult journey.

What also makes things a bit more difficult, is the information shown at the bottom of the screen. We are forced statistics and numbers, which really do not mean anything to us at this point, considering we haven't really understood what the website is about. If we then did want to contact the business, because we are so baffled about what to do on this website, we are then taken to a completely different Xerox site. This is not very consistent.

Overall the use of Flash and other video software in this site could be considered impressive, and you can see where they have tried to engage the user by using something completely different. However the site actually just angers the user with the fact that any useful information isn't accessible. The videos of employees speaking are highly annoying - we want to scan text for useful information, not have to listen and wait. Finally the numbers and figures at the bottom just add to confusion and really are the icing on the cake. 

 This site may be innovative and clever in design, but for all the time, money and effort spent on this site, it is likely the user will be finding a different business processor - or whatever the business does.