Website evaluations

The first website I chose is actually a friends site. I know they put a lot of work in it but some of it could use some tweaking, not that I am an expert but it does pull my eye in a lot of directions.
http://sunsetbarns.com/ . There is the blinking FYI that keeps pulling my eye away from the important information at the top of the page. The text in the center telling you about the Barns is all centered and running on. there is a lot of information on the first page and is all centered all the way down the page. the pictures changing on the side is distracting. The links at the top with the different style barns are clearly marked with descriptions and pictures which is nice for navigation. The links across the far top move you to the page quickly with no long wait. There are drop down arrows to let you know there are more links under the main one. So on this page the navigation is very user friendly but the interface is a little difficult with so much information and distractions on the main page.

The second site I chose http://www.cheryls.com I was looking for something that has to do with Mothers day. This was a very nice site to navigate. it was crisp and not over crowded. The interface was in the 800x600 and was horizontal format. The links were across the top and very clear with the colors and the drop down arrow and descriptions in the top link. The links took you to a separated page but the constancy of the pages let you know you were still on the same website because of the repetition of the colors and font. They had separate links that ran down the side that were for what was going on now. Quick links for mothers day, spring, specials and best sellers. These made it very easy to navigate if you were in a hurry and just wanted to look for something without hanging out on the page for an hour looking through everything that was available.  This made great business sense to me. If someone is a last minute gift person. You will probably get the sale on this site because you can come in find what you want and be out in a matter of minutes. The pictures of the product are all separated in different panels. under each category if you wanted to spend sometime on the website and browse. Very nice site.