Reviewed May 3, 10:00 a.m., Explorer 4.5 (www.venusswimwear.com)
when you enter the Venus Swimwear home page, a photo of the current print catalog appears, along with an introduction to the company and links to other parts of the site.
Once inside the site, the convenient positioning of the shopping cart on the left side of the page is overshadowed by the poor design and arrangement of the photos and fabric choices to the right. When you click on a new fabric, you get the same arrangement of small photos of models wearing different styles of suits. But make sure you have picked out your suit fabric before you order, because at this point you can’t change your mind without returning to the previous screen.
Clear photos are accompanied by excellent copy that does a good job describing the fit of both pieces of the suit. By making the buyer understand how the suit will look and feel, this sort of description should reduce returns.
Overall, the site is fairly easy to navigate, and the links at the bottom of each page are consistent throughout. If you want to get back to another category you are only one click away and need not backtrack through the site. A link called “V Files” provides tips and trends on fitness, travel, health, and beauty, written by field experts such as dietitians, fitness trainers, resort representatives, and salon employees.
The Venus Swimwear site is certainly on its way as far as navigation and value-added features are concerned, yet the overall design needs to be more creative and appealing. I feel as if I’m looking at actual pages out of the catalog just thrown up on the site.