When we did the trunk tests with group members websites last week, we all basically knew what every one was trying to go for because we're all in the same boat. However, I wonder if I had some of my friends who aren't taking the class to take the trunk test with my site - how would they fare?
On page 99, Krug offers other questions to take into account for strictly your home page. For some of them, I feel it will be difficult to answer without completely spelling out what the motive of the classroom project is, and that isn't "user friendly". For instance, with my website (www2.potsdam.edu/greenca190), you automatically see my name in bold print at the top of the page.
What is this? - this is obviously Christopher Green; but what about Christopher Green?
What does "Christopher Green" have here? - It looks like links to assignments, and an online writing portfolio. But why?
What can I do here? - Look at his work.
Why should I be here - and not somewhere else? - Because I'm Chris Green.
Krug says that the viewer should be able to answer these questions at a glance, correctly and unambiguously. However, I feel as if in order to "get" our websites from an outside-the-classroom point of view, I am going to need to put a giant chunk of info somewhere on the page. That doesn't follow Krug's rules.
One portion of the reading that I found interesting was "Farmers vs. cowmen" (pg. 126). I never thought of the internet as a "perennial struggle between art and commerce". I guess it only makes sense though, as a Graphic designer would receive a different education from a student studying marketing in school. One profound example I can think of of the difference between a graphic designer making a website and a marketing student making a website is the site for the new Star Trek movie coming out. The website first opens up to a loading screen, and takes a hell of a long time to do so. A trailer for the movie then plays, and afterwords you get the web page. It automatically sends you into full screen mode, which slows down my computer drastically. Then, you're completely taken awry by the site because it feels like a video game. I can tell that the creator wanted something somewhat futuristic, being that it's a site for Star Trek, but it's just difficult to navigate through since it's so over the top and breaks the "conventions" of internet usability.
Viewers also differ in opinion of websites. Reading this chapter can make me see how some people would prefer Yahoo over Google, when before I read it I figured they were just similar search engines. Yahoo seems to offer more then just a place to search - it offers newspaper headlines, horoscopes, games; an abundance of information right their at the home page. Some people might love all of this information, but some people might get overwhelmed. Google's homepage on the other hand is a bit more simple. It appears as simply a search engine, however has a simple horizontal toolbar all the way at the top for e-mail, news, maps, etc. This offers a more clean homepage, without so much coming at you at once. It seems more relaxed, and seems to suggest the search engine as its most profound feature.
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Cowmen vs. Farmers was such an interesting read. The ideas that are raised when art and commerce are thought of separately are fascinating alone, but to tie them together...
ReplyDelete... sort of blows my mind. Can a graphic designer really think about these things when they're designing a webpage, though? Should they? If their primary goal is to facilitate the ease of navigation, their graphics would be catered to a simple "button-pressing" system. Right?
... but then they run the risk of being farmers.
I agree that the book wasn't totally applicable to our current site design projects, but I do feel that there's a certain requirement in our web design of snaring people's interest right away. The idea of the multimedia letter is that it's to 'future students', and I have a sneaking suspicion that attention spans are going to get shorter before they get longer, and a need to plan accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was a really interesting concept as well. I looked at a web development site to try and figure out if separate people write the formatting and code for pages. There are separate people who work on design and those who do coding, apparently. It is a pretty interesting concept.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this is another tutorial to watch after watching a bunch of others. It's not helpful at all, but I thought it was pretty funny--he's actually making fun of web tutorials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmNnYs0xkk
It sounds like you're having a tough time deciding what you want your website to be for. Do you want it strictly for class purposes, or do you want others who stumble across it to know exactly where they are and what your page is all about? Maybe you want it to be accessible to everyone, since you're concerned what people will think when they see your name and ask all of the questions you mention (What is this? Who is Christopher Green? What can I do here? Why should I be here? etc.). Maybe you can come up with a way to let your audience know all of these answers without just putting a chunk of information somewhere. Maybe a link?
ReplyDeleteMaybe a link, but that portion of Krug's book with the "first timer link" made me laugh. I can't remember the last time I had to click one of those, and I'd imagine them to be frustrating.
ReplyDelete