Design Reference : Where am I, who are you….and did we sleep together?
Surfing the internet is pretty much like having sex. There are times when you want to take your time, enjoy the ambience and explore every possible region, then there are other times when you just need to jump in socks and all, get what you came there for and get out before you pick up any nasty viruses. (Sheesh, need to work on those analogies).
Anyway, the point I’m making here is that I want my web site to offer the experience the user is looking for. Think of me as a madam of a high class brothel. As I mentioned last time, there are some ‘foundations’ to a website that I believe are essential when building a site. These ‘conventions’ can be backed up by Steve Krug’s “Trunk Test” which basically leaves you asking a few important questions when it comes to viewing a web page.
- What site is it?
- What page am I on?
- What major sections does this site have?
- Where can I go from here?
- Where am I in relation to the rest of the site?
- Where can I go to search?
If I can offer a website that a user can jump into, socks and all, and answer the questions posed above, then chances are I’m on the right track to a successful site, the rest is just nipple tassels and fishnet stockings (err, I mean look and feel) This all leads me back to my five reference sites and what it is I have learned from them. From a functionality point of view, each of the sites offered a clear way to navigate the site, with the use of a navigation bar.
This navigation bar acts as the street signs to the site. If I want galleries, I take this road. If I want to check out the store, I head this way. The 
navigation bar is easy to find and are all internal links, so there is less of a chance of the user clicking on a link from the navigation bar and ending up on another site (Essentially being locked in the trunk of a car and dumped (Thanks Steve)). Most of my reference sites also included external links, sites that were affiliated with the artist but have no need to be taking up real estate on the site itself.
Then there is the dark side. None of my reference sites contain the ability to search. For an artist like Alice Cooper, who’s career harkens back to the heady days on 1968, there is a lot of material on offer, and finding it is made slightly easier with the categories presented in the navigation bar, but wouldn’t a search function just make life so much easier?
Really Simple Syndication, or RSS feeds are also strangely missing from all five of these sites!? Has Alice got a new album? Is Damon touring with Slave to the System? Has Keri released a new T-Shirt? Guess what buddy, you aren’t going to know unless you go to the site! Had Alice offered an RSS feed, Id have it pop up on my handy iPhone RSS Reader and know instantly that I needed to run out and line his pockets with some cash. Sorry Alice.
So, lets wrap it all up shall we? For a site to be functional at a basic level we need it to:
- Be easy to navigate. Everything should be clear and concise
- And if it cant be, we need to let the user search.
- Offer a way for the user to obtain the latest information without doing a lot of work (Im talking about RSS folks)
I think next time we get together, we will talk more about those nipple tassels and fishnet stockings (or for the kids playing at home, “look and feel”)
Peace!
So there I was, sitting thinking about Steve Krug’s term “Trunk Test” in regards to navigation of web sites and I have this mental image in my head of a web site, and the trunk being that of a tree, with navigation being like the branches of the trees which then let my mind to images of Snow White dancing and singing in the forest with the furry animals - aahhhh - peaceful. 