User Experience with Online Ticketing - Essay Example

? Computer sciences and Information technology Introdution According to Kirkpatrick, Rutter, Heilmann, and Thatcher (2006), online ticketing has actually become common in the recent past and many organizations including football teams have largely embraced the technology as it has more advantages. First, online ticketing is considered faster and safer. Clients are able to login to the company’s website and check the categories of tickets that are available at their own convenience. Clients can do so as long as they have an access to the internet and can do so even at their homes. This saves the time that they would take in going to the ticket sale points in order to acquire them. This has also reduced the cases of theft by various parties involved in the processes of the designing of the manual tickets as most of them print extra ticked for sale without the knowledge of the management of the clubs (Benun, 2007, p.79). The money that they get from such activities go directly into their own pockets and this denies the clubs a lot of revenue. This is what has led to many companies and football teams adopting the technology of online ticketing for the purposes of saving time, money as well as maximizing on the revenue. The use of this technology also helps the clubs in knowing their members easily as fans are in a position of subscribing to the club’s website in order to gain membership. The fans are given their login details that they use to enter the website. After they have given their details, they are also notified through SMSs that are sent to them informing them of the upcoming matches and the ticketing information. This gives the fans in knowing when and where their team will be playing without having to rely on news from the mainstream media (Clark, 2003, p.48). The clubs are also able to sale their products such as merchandize through their website as the payments are done online and then delivery is done. Currently, nearly all the big clubs sale their tickets online and the sales can start as early as a week earlier before the kick off. In the website, the fans can acquire membership by creating their own accounts that they are identified with. The importance of the membership programs is that it gives them priority in matters ticketing as they become the first ones to get their tickets before the non-members. This can also give them the advantage of getting the tickets at cheaper prices as compared to the non-members. Literature review. Some websites are designed in a manner such that before one logs into the website, they receive some messages that contain the codes that they use to enter (Krug, 2000, p.93). These are purposely for security to avoid things such as hacking. This also helps in avoiding things such as ticket broking whereby some other business people buy the tickets from the club at affordable rates and then sell them to other people at their own set price. This has the effect of locking out some fans from the stadium who cannot afford their ticket prices or even denying the club its revenue as potential clients are discouraged by the exorbitant prices set by the brokers, thinking that they are the clubs’ agents (Slatin, and Rush, 2002, p.78). Communication through SMS has been on a steady increase in personal matters, business and even purposes of information. Presently, many innovative applications are built on top of the technology of SMS and even development of more. Several organizations in the countries that are more developed have started using SMS services in interaction with members and also sending notifications and alerts (Mueller, and Mueller, 2003 p.67). The major advantages of this technology is receiving and sending information to people and groups. Application of the SMS in web-based ecommerce The technology of SMS is now being applied in several organizations for delivery of their services in a more efficient and effective manner. The technology could be used in the provision of easy and quick access to the website of the companies in order to see what is available or even to place orders in companies. The short messages can be sent to the clients of the company so as to remind them of the outstanding debts, inform them of the arrival or availability of their placed orders or even any relevant information that the football team deems important to pass to their customers (Ould, 2007, p.54). In case the clients want to know more about the availability of the products that they order, or even when they want to know the types of services and goods, such as the team’s merchandise offered by the team, they would not have to go to the team physically, but just login to the team’s website and get the information they want at their own convenience. In addition, the clients can be informed about the hold items that are ready for collection from the organization via SMS. They are also in a position of checking the loan as well as knowing about the availability of any specific item by sending an SMS (Itzkovitch, 2003, p. 73). The SMS technology can be used as a means of communication of company’s reference queries in companies. It is a form of the service of virtual reference. The technology of text messaging can be used for the services of referral, in guiding the users to the information source. It is also an efficient and effective means of receiving technical help from the staff of the company or organization like difficulties in accessing the databases. For the announcement of any changes in the organization’s operations, SMS can be relayed to the customers, staff and all the other stakeholders (Thatcher, Bohman, Burks, Henry, Regan, Swierenga, Urban, and Waddell, 2002). This helps in reaching out to the users or clients to make them aware of the changes, which would otherwise be done through sending emails, and email is not considered as the best means of communication as many people rarely visit their emails, hence it is possible to be passed by some urgent information. Therefore, the technology of SMS can be referred to as the readily available option to the emails as the time lag caused by delays in the checking of the mails can lead to loss of information, which is usually eliminated after some time. By utilizing the technology, readers or clients are able to subscribe to the company website through email as well as through the online databases. The team as a company can broadcast SMSs to groups of customers for the promotion of services like new databases, or even new hands-on workshop series (Watt, 2008). The technology of text messages is a cheap and efficient system of interactive communication that is suitable for organizations as compared to email service. The technology of SMS operates in a proper manner if it is applied as two way interactive system. In short, the organizations can use the all-encompassing technology in serving their staff as well as by the staff, such as the sales agents to avail the company services in a better manner. In this manner the services that the company provides can actually become increasingly client-centric (Hammerich, 2003, p.78). Viability of the SMS technology services in an organization’s website Social changes together with fast development or growth of information and communication technology have formed waves in the ways of life of people and also changed the perception and attitudes of individuals towards the public corporations (Henry, 2007). The Internet, Television and Telephone have all changed the lifestyles of people both in the urban and rural areas. The intensive work environment and competitive labor market have compressed the time that people have for things such as community gathering, learning and even relaxation. All these factors are in a position of thinking about another way of communicating to make it easier getting in touch with different companies and even companies or organizations getting in touch with their clients (Fisk, Arthur; Rogers, Wendy; Charness, Neil, 2009, p.56). There has been a remarkable rise in the number of people who have an access to the internet and phone users allover the world during the past ten years. This is particularly attributed to the attractive offers that are given such as low tariffs that are provided by the companies, which make it very easier for the individuals that belong to all sectors or classes of the society to be able to use and own it. The rapid penetration of the technology into different categories of individuals in the society is very clear from the increasing rate of people who use phones and the internet (Thatcher, Bohman, Burks, Henry, Regan, Swierenga, Urban, and Waddell, 2002). The mobile and internet companies look forward to a tremendous development in the innovative consumption or utilization of the services that they provide. Following the increased rate increases rate of people who have an access to the internet and mobile phones, communication has been made very easier and it is true that the practicability of the text message technology can be envisaged (Thatcher, Bohman, Burks, Henry, Regan, Swierenga, Urban, and Waddell, 2002). This is a mature technology that has been employed by considerable percentage of the population. It helps the companies reach their staff and clients without having to go to the companies physically or even access the internet. Receiving SMSs that are texts based through a computer interface is made possible via this all-encompassing technology. Since the SMSs will be sent to the mobile phones of the users or subscribers, they will be required to carry their mobile phones whenever they attempt to access the organization’s website, and thus the texts’ technology practicability in organizations is justifiable (Fisk, Arthur; Rogers, Wendy; Charness, Neil, 2009, p.59). Many organizations usually search for means of offering new services that are cost effective to the clients and the technology of SMS is one such project or initiative. The technology can be applied in all kinds of organizations, whether profit or non-profit, and the services that are provided should be customized in accordance with or depending on the nature of the users. Organization SMS service’s prerequisite Most free services of SMS messaging are found in the World Wide Web. These services are mainly utilized by the young people who send them to their friends and family members. Social network sites together with the instant messenger services like Yahoo allow the receiving and sending of free messages between the mobile phones and the web. Although the free services are very popular among the users, we find that it cannot be used in all organizations such as the libraries due to the fact that they put some usage limitations or restrictions such as sending ten messages per day, and their usage policies might change at any time (Slatin, and Rush, 2002, p.76). Organizations require SMS services that are rich in features and more powerful in communicating with the users. Many providers of commercial services provide group SMS services that have rates that are affordable. Companies offer the free service SMS with the aid of advertisements. In addition, they provide paid advertisement-free group SMS service. There are some softwares that are used by the non-profit organizations for the community messaging delivery (Garrett, 2002). The interface of SMS management Different interfaces are required for the management of SMS service. Web interface is the most convenient for the organizations that have internet connection. They are able to receive and send messages by the use of SMS. Management of SMS services for the website offer greater alternatives for the convenience of forming groups, receiving and sending of messages. For instance, in the library systems, we find that the new generation system of library management provide the feature of dispatching SMS directly whereas transacting (Slatin, and Rush, 2002, p.79). It informs the users or clients about the items that are overdue, and the reservation of books from the library. Methodology The creation of this website will folow the method of waterfall, which is a more sequential approach to the development of the site. The approach follows the Discover-Design-Develop-Test-Maintanance process. This approach is the best because it allows a free flow of activities; thus less confusion. Discover Research about all what should be incorporated into the website, including comparison with the competitors’ websites is the first step in website development. Major decisions include: The use of Basic HTML The use of a Content Management System. The development of Flash sites. The following table is the sample survey of other websites: Design Adobe Photoshop will be used in the initial stages of the creation of the website. The site design’s focus will be the presentation of the content. Continuous navigation will enable the users to find all the major content areas. Before having the actual content for the design, lorem ipsum text in filling spaces will be used. Development When the design is approved, the pages will be turned from the mockups into real web pages that are written in CSS and HTML. The next step will be taking on all the coding. Software like Adobe Dreamweaver will also be used to help in turning the mockup into a functional web page, with features of drug-and-drop, pre-built buttons and functions for adding images and links. Once the layout is through in the CSS and HTML, it is integrated with the system that is selected for the purposes of building an operational website. This implies the development of templates for reading by the system of content management, changing the template of WordPress to form links between pages and web features that are more advanced. The Frontline SMS software does not need a connection to the internet and just works with the plan that is available on all of the GSM mobile phones. In incorporation of SMS services, Company management software will be used. Testing Once implemented, the coded program is then put to test, whereby each part is examined. Maintanance With the website now ready online for use, it should be well maintained and promoted so that the fans or clients can be made aware of its existence and how they can access it. The act of creating the awareness can be done by the optimization of the search engines, or even advertising with Foogle as it is the most popular search engine. Summary Just like many design projects, in the creating of a football team’s website the first stage will be conducting of through research in order to know all that should be incorporated and how it should operate. Some of the research should be done with the fans or clients in order to get acquainted with what their needs are, and some other research will be for the purposes of learning more about the specifications and requirements of the industry. When meeting with the clients, the designer will seeking to make discoveries as much as possible to help in the development of an outline for the website and then finally designing it. In addition, the research should include an investigation into what some other website of football teams contains so that it can be designed in a proper manner. In the early stages of the design, decisions should be made about the project’s technical requirements. This is because such decisions will influence the budget, the time required and in some instance the website’s general feel and appearance. Among the major decisions is the underlying structure of the website, as this will determine the kind of software to be used in the designing and the kind of system that will make the site function well. Basic HTML; here we find a standard site of HTML whereby the editing of every page is done manually. This might be somehow faster to develop even though it leaves some flexibility and more continuous maintenance. The use of a Content Management System. The use of this system will enable the users to carryout continuous or frequent update on the contents, whereas the designer manages the overall appearance and site’s feel. Flash: the development of flash sites is done within the Adobe Flash and can provide a very rich experience of animated multimedia. The creation of wireframes is also done. Wire frames are some line drawings of the layouts of the website that are simple and allow the user to focus on placing elements and not the type and color. This is very important as it will determine the kind of content that deserves to be given much focus and what fraction of the space on that page. Without the distraction by some other visual elements, we find that the approved wireframes offer a framework for the website design. When the users join the team’s website system, they will be in a position of receiving messages in an instant manner. They will start getting automated notifications as regards the reminder of the availability of tickets. The power of messaging service lay in its capability to discharge messages to a number of individuals simultaneously. Football teams can create SMS groups for circulation among individuals with the same interest. The football team should give considerable publicity regarding the messaging service among all the stakeholders. The team website, information prospectus, organization of group meetings and news display at major areas are significant in attracting more people to join the group. Very simple and clear procedures are essential in ensuring that there is proper involvement of fans or users. There procedures should involve steps such as going to the company website and following some simple procedures like filling in a form in order to become a member. There should also be procedures to be followed in case of unsubscribing. Bibliography Benun, I 2007, Designing Websites for Every Audience. Cincinnati, Ohio. Clark, J 2003, Building Accessible Websites, New Riders: Indianapolis, IN. Fisk, Arthur; Rogers, Wendy; Charness, Neil 2009, Designing for Older Adults: Principles and Creative Human Factors Approaches, Second Edition (Human Factors & Aging), CRC Press. Garrett, J 2002, Elements of User Experience. Indianapolis, Ind. Hammerich, I 2003, Developing Online Content: the principles of writing and editing for the web. New York, NY. Henry, S 2007, Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design, WI: ET\Lawton. Isaacs, E 2002, Designing From Both Sides of the Screen: how designers and engineers can collaborate to build cooperative technology. Indianapolis, IN. Itzkovitch, A 2003, Design it Yourself Web Sites : a step-by-step guide. Gloucester, Mass. Kirkpatrick, A., Rutter, R., Heilmann, C., and Thatcher, J 2006, Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, Friends of ED. Krug, S 2000, Don't Make Me Think. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders. Mueller, J.P. and Mueller, J 2003. Accessibility for Everybody: Understanding Section 508, Apress. 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