Web Design Goodies Critique #30

Greetings, Fellow Designers

A few newsletters back, I discussed the concept of
providing ease of use through good link navigation.
Today I will touch on that once again but take it one step
further. Today’s site has a concern that I see on a lot of
student sites. The site is well laid out. I immediately
knew what I was going after and I immediately knew
what to do. However

the site is just making me work too hard for what I am
getting.

Now the obligatory release clause statement

>>>>The critique below represents the opinions of Joe
Burns, Ph.D. Feel free to disagree, argue, forget, or
accept anything he writes. The purpose of the critique is
to offer examples that you may use, repair, or forget
when it comes to your own Web site. As always,
remember that there are simply no hard or fast rules to
Web design. Any choice is the correct choice as long as
that choice aids the user and adds to the site’s purpose for
being.<<<<

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Title: The Unofficial Colin Mochrie Fan Site

Author: Rachelle Garand

http://www.colinmochrie.org/

Load Time: 18 Seconds, 57kps modem, cleared cache, 4/07/01 9:43AM.

My Screen Size: 1024X768

Browsers Used: Internet Explorer 5.5 and Netscape
Navigator 4.5

Concept: I absolutely adore the ABC show Who’s Line
Is It Anyway. So does Rachelle. She likes it to the
point where she bought a domain name dedicated to one
of the stars. In my opinionthe star. The entire show
is a scream but Colin Mochrie is the best of the bunch.
This is a fan page dedicated to Colin.

Praise: This is the consummate fan page. Everything you
think a fan page should bethis is. There are a lot of
photos and signatures, a biography, and a ton of other
information. There is a link where one can send email to
Colin himself. Furthermore, Rachelle is not an island
unto herself. She trades link and is part of a Colin
Mochrie Web ring. She gives out an award. This is a
very full, and obviously, cared-for site.
The one thing I found interesting is that Colin Mochrie
knows of, and approves of, the site. I’m telling you,
nothing does a fan page better than the person who it is
dedicated to giving praise.

I kept the official (official mind you) David Lee Roth
Web site for about six months. During that time, Dave
gave me all kinds of posters, t-shirts, information, and a
brass Zippo lighter.

Fan pages need to be uplifted rather than downplayed by
those who they represent. As has always been said,
you’ll catch more flies with honey than you will vinegar.

Now that I’ve just about slobbered all over the site, let’s
talk about some concerns. Rachelle, you’ve given me a
lot of stuff here but you’re making it all a little too hard
on me to get it.

1. Concern: You have a scroll inside the status bar. I
know it’s cool. I know it looks great. I’ll bet when you
got it to work it was a minor triumph in the life of the
site. The problem is that users dislike it on a very high
level.

Suggestion: Lose it altogether. Users like to place their
pointer over a link and see the URL of the link. I knew
the scroll was there but I still looked numerous times
when my pointer went over the link. It’s tradition on the
Web that the URL or some descriptive text goes in the
bar. Allow that to happen.

2. Concern: You’ve chosen a frames format. I’m not a
fan of them but if used correctly, they can be quite
helpful. You’ve chosen the traditional left-hand
navigation bar format. The problem is that you’ve
allowed the scroll to appear. That’s not my concern
though. My concern is that you’ve offered me 23
different buttons to click on.

Suggestion: My research has found that once the number
of links gets above ten, it starts to become a bit of link
sensory overload. You’ve given me too many things to
choose from. I’m overwhelmed. Look closely at the left-
hand navigation bar and see if you cannot combine some
of the elements into a single button. Then, once the
person clicks, have a page there that breaks up the links
once again. For example, you have both Photos and
School. The school link is simply photos of Colin in
school. School need not be a button until itself. Place it
under Photos.