User Experience Question
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I'm doing a small company web site. The owner wants a sidebar news column and a main news page. I thought I'd throw this out as a user experience survey, not a programming question. How would you like to see 'side news' on the site, over here[^]? (This site is still very much under development. Please don't take this as the finest example of my work) Too much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image. When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
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You might like to experiment with HTML5. The aside tag is most suitable for sidebar content.
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I'm doing a small company web site. The owner wants a sidebar news column and a main news page. I thought I'd throw this out as a user experience survey, not a programming question. How would you like to see 'side news' on the site, over here[^]? (This site is still very much under development. Please don't take this as the finest example of my work) Too much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image. When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
Hmm - bad user experience for me ! :)
Server Error in '/' Application.
Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Why not a set of images, but use them as links, with a mouse over showing what the content is. That is both dynamic and de-texts the page. (Too much text causes intense ennui among casual surfers).
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
Why not a set of images, but use them as links, with a mouse over showing what the content is.
While you could do this, you aren't really conforming to the spirit of things like anti-disability legislation. Yes, you're showing the alt tag, but you are primarily using a visual link to show something that isn't.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
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Dalek Dave wrote:
Why not a set of images, but use them as links, with a mouse over showing what the content is.
While you could do this, you aren't really conforming to the spirit of things like anti-disability legislation. Yes, you're showing the alt tag, but you are primarily using a visual link to show something that isn't.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
How is that anti-disability? I don't see it (no pun intended). It is a link, that is all. Eg: A pic of a Horse, and the Alt reading "Chairman Enters Horse in Race", and the link takes you to a page with the details isn't exactly throwing drawing pins under the wheelchair is it?
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
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How is that anti-disability? I don't see it (no pun intended). It is a link, that is all. Eg: A pic of a Horse, and the Alt reading "Chairman Enters Horse in Race", and the link takes you to a page with the details isn't exactly throwing drawing pins under the wheelchair is it?
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
Have a read of the following ... http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web.php[^] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html[^] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/[^] http://www.w3.org/WAI/[^]
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Have a read of the following ... http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web.php[^] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html[^] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/[^] http://www.w3.org/WAI/[^]
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Dalek Dave wrote:
Why not a set of images, but use them as links, with a mouse over showing what the content is.
While you could do this, you aren't really conforming to the spirit of things like anti-disability legislation. Yes, you're showing the alt tag, but you are primarily using a visual link to show something that isn't.
I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
I could do CSS image replacement on the headlines and keep you and Dave happy. :-D
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Brady Kelly wrote:
Two much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image.
I'd go for either headline + short summary or headline + first nnn characters of the news item text. The other possibility if Headline + thumbnail. The headline alone probably isn't enough to get someone interested (unless you are a British Tabloid[^]). The other thing is the headlines are short, and unless the business is very dynamic, you are likely to have a lot of old news hanging around which looks bad.
Brady Kelly wrote:
When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
Newest story sounds like a plan, but be able to override it with an earlier bit of more important news (e.g. "SMART succesfully conquers the world" 12:00pm shouldn't be superceded by "CEO announces purchas of new coffee machine" 12:01pm). The other thing that would be a good to have would be the abiltiy to link back to older related stories, depends on how much news you have, and how seriously it is taken. [Edit] One more thing: I know this website isn't done (so this is more a just-in-case tuppenceworth), but you should change the style of the news column, it looks like part of the main info.
Keith Barrow wrote:
[Edit] One more thing: I know this website isn't done (so this is more a just-in-case tuppenceworth), but you should change the style of the news column, it looks like part of the main info.
Good point, thanks. Thanks for the others as well, but while the creative engine is cranking over, this is a good, solid point.
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Hmm - bad user experience for me ! :)
Server Error in '/' Application.
Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
Ouch. The owner has just finished deploying the latest, so maybe you caught him at a bad time?
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The example on that page means nothing to me. It looks no different to
tag.
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I'm doing a small company web site. The owner wants a sidebar news column and a main news page. I thought I'd throw this out as a user experience survey, not a programming question. How would you like to see 'side news' on the site, over here[^]? (This site is still very much under development. Please don't take this as the finest example of my work) Too much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image. When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
I don't like news; I don't want to see it at all.
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I'm doing a small company web site. The owner wants a sidebar news column and a main news page. I thought I'd throw this out as a user experience survey, not a programming question. How would you like to see 'side news' on the site, over here[^]? (This site is still very much under development. Please don't take this as the finest example of my work) Too much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image. When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
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Ouch! Thanks.
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Why not a set of images, but use them as links, with a mouse over showing what the content is. That is both dynamic and de-texts the page. (Too much text causes intense ennui among casual surfers).
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC League Table Link CCC Link[^]
I would recommend something more like the roll-over titles here (not my design): http://www.joomlart.com/demo/#templates.joomlart.com/ja_teline_iii_v2[^] beside the blue rectangle are a series of "sub headlines" (The first one is about nutrition) that when rolled over, reveal the detail... something like this is almost trivial to do in jQuery I would think, but is still accessible.
============================= I'm a developer, he's a developer, she's a developer, Wouldn't ya like to be a developer too?
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Brady Kelly wrote:
Two much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image.
I'd go for either headline + short summary or headline + first nnn characters of the news item text. The other possibility if Headline + thumbnail. The headline alone probably isn't enough to get someone interested (unless you are a British Tabloid[^]). The other thing is the headlines are short, and unless the business is very dynamic, you are likely to have a lot of old news hanging around which looks bad.
Brady Kelly wrote:
When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
Newest story sounds like a plan, but be able to override it with an earlier bit of more important news (e.g. "SMART succesfully conquers the world" 12:00pm shouldn't be superceded by "CEO announces purchas of new coffee machine" 12:01pm). The other thing that would be a good to have would be the abiltiy to link back to older related stories, depends on how much news you have, and how seriously it is taken. [Edit] One more thing: I know this website isn't done (so this is more a just-in-case tuppenceworth), but you should change the style of the news column, it looks like part of the main info.
Keith Barrow wrote:
unless the business is very dynamic, you are likely to have a lot of old news hanging around which looks bad
If you can, you might consider using an external news summary service to provide the bulk of your "industry news" and intersperse your company news in the same style. An example free news feed: http://w.moreover.com/public/free-rss/free-feeds.html[^] Using a news feed has several benefits; - Fresh news everyday - Users might visit the site to see what’s happening in the industry - Putting "company news" mixed in with "real news" could give it more credibility
Melting Away www.deals-house.com www.innovative--concepts.com
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I'm doing a small company web site. The owner wants a sidebar news column and a main news page. I thought I'd throw this out as a user experience survey, not a programming question. How would you like to see 'side news' on the site, over here[^]? (This site is still very much under development. Please don't take this as the finest example of my work) Too much detail in the sidebar stretches the page down too much, so maybe I should only use headlines as links there - no details and no image. When you click a link in the sidebar, it opens the main news page, but what do i show on the main news page if you navigate directly there? Maybe cycle the 'current' story?
Brady Kelly wrote:
sidebar news column and a main news page.
This brings OSnews.com to mind. For perhaps months after they switched to this format I never even GLANCED at the news, but then one day the very topmost item was actually interesting, so I started glancing at it sometimes.
Opinion-wise, since the sidebars are so routinely just advertising to be ignored, that's probably what taught me to ignore sidebars, so I think it's not a good concept. But for OSnews there is that natural distinction between the blog-like-stuff on the left and the simple-news-items on the right, that I concede for OSnews this idea somewhat works.pg--az
