Creeping on Jeep

I was surfing the web today and I decided to make another stop at the Jeep website, where I made some further observations. In a previous blog, I voiced a slight bit of annoyance at the transitioning home page, but after further review, I have found it more acceptable because there is actually a lot more to it. When a person first arrives at the website, a small message resembling a rectangular sign appears next to a wooden post that pops up on the screen. The message states “Shortcuts are good. Here is a path to owning a jeep vehicle. Go forth.” The post has three icons resembling a wrench, a dollar sign, and a magnifying glass. The post remains constant through the transitioning pages, but when you click on one of the icons, another moving sign pops out inviting guests to take the next step. The wrench takes you directly to the section where you can design your own vehicle. The dollar sign brings you to the area where you can get a quote for the price of a vehicle. The magnifying glass takes you to the section where you can view all of the 2010 Jeep vehicles. The signs appear to swing around from the back of the post and then bounce a little bit, resembling a swinging door. They were fun to view and would be helpful to people who are navigating through the website. When it comes to rich media, it is important for ads to play smoothly in order to engage people rather than leaving them feeling annoyed (Roberts, p. 162).

Another interesting message on the home page revealed an ad inviting customers to see an “All Things Jeep” Broadcast on YouTube. When I clicked on this section, I was taken from Jeep.com to the Jeep Channel website. Due to my personal interest in Facebook, my attention was immediately drawn to the invitation to follow the official YouTube channel of Jeep on Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, I could not continue at this point because I received a message on the computer that I was using saying the browser is no longer supported, and I should upgrade to a modern browser. This is not something that I would do on a shared computer without conducting some personal research on browser upgrades. We all have trust concerns related to internet threats, and it is our own responsibility to be cautious. When you leave a reputable website, it’s important to understand where you are going and be wary of potential issues with spyware. According to a Pew Foundation study, 18% of people have changed their browsers based on software intrusion concerns (Roberts, p.169).

I am finding the Jeep website enjoyable, and I am quite sure that I will stop by again to see what other bits of information or vehicular entertainment I can discover.