Blogging about "Don't make me think" chpt 4-7 by DAJV
After reading chapters 4,5,6 and 7, I came across the rule of thumb, “3 mindless, unambiguous clicks equals one click that requires thought”. For example, when one wants to send a facebook message, there is a link to a message section or subsection page, and essentially your target is one click away. In contrast to the early days of web navigation, information relevant to a specific user is easier to find. Thanks to Jared Spood and his phrase, “ the scent of info,” the way that designers made websites changed, by acknowledging “the scent of info”, it is not how many clicks the user uses, it is having the confidence to use the site navigation and be on the right track.
But, with out falling into frustration how can one be confident making easy, and senseless choices? This is the book where designers find what is good and what is not good for website navigation. Last, the book talks about making an easy website navigation, where each click you make, you find it easy to use and you have the confidence to make the next click.
There are a couple of things to do, and not to do, when creating a webpage, and a lot of them can be common sense. Like, “instructions must die,” or making the important more prominent by omitting the extra lines, drawings, sentences, boxes, etc. All these extra elements can create noise, meaning distraction to the user. In addition, “Breadcrumbs”, have you ever had to drive somewhere new before you ever had or used a GPS? Didn’t you wish you had guidelines on where you are and where you came from? Well, on the web they are know as breadcrumbs, that is a list that should be placed on the top of the site that shows you how you got to where you are. Fortunately, breadcrumbs come in handy when one does not have a sense of location or direction on the web. The most important fact of the breadcrumbs is, that you can always get to the home page with one click and, it also, tells us what the site contains, according to the hierarchy you have selected. Next, Web conventions, can be found in books, magazines and on the web. They adapted from printing engagements like logo set, sections, utilities, page name, subsections, etc. They are the appearance and location of the navigation elements, which are logo, a way home, a way to search, utilities (jobs, news, account, shopping cart) and sections. The hierarchy of the web conventions is:
Web designers fail on giving the same level of attention to navigation when comparing top to bottom, especially, when passing the secondary and tertiary subsections on large sites. That’s why it is important to have indication of current sections and or subsections of where you are by using breadcrumbs. Example: Home>sections>subsection>sub-subsection>page link
Page names, of the homepage, the section page, subsection page, sub-subsection page that you have to click on becomes a new page. The page name is important to see by size, color and typeface. It indicates location, and last, it is also important for the user to see the site indication, which is the current page they are on (do not change color or typeface of the name page that you have clicked on, it can make confusion). Tabs, “is the graphical control element that allows multiply documents to be contained in a single window,” they very useful because they are self-evident, they are hard to miss, and they hold different documents under one window. And the use of tabs correctly it can give the illusion of tabs in front of others with the correct use of color.
And finally we have the home page, which is the understanding of what the site is all about. On the homepage we have a logo, and next to it, we have a tagline. The tagline is a phrase that characterizes the site; it makes the message come across the user, and also the expectations on the sites purpose. Home pages also have to contain the sites identity and mission; never ever state the mission statement as a welcome blurb. The welcome blurbs are just an establishment of credibility of the good impression that allows users know where they first started. Other ways to accommodate the home page is with:
o Content of promo and/or feature promos
o Advertisement and promo deals
o Site identification and mission
o Showing what the site has to offer
o Showing where and how to start
In conclusion, for the creation of home pages and any other pages on the web, the most important fact is knowing how to get the message clear and across to the users. And the answer is the usage of space, because you cant just take any space and make it look essential, you have to clarify how the space works inside the site you are creating.
