At 7/18/2009 12:58 PM, Bushidodeep wrote:
I've a client wishing to call attention to (2) a: links, in a vertical
list by simply reversing with the hover color. The a:links are now the
hover color value and the a:hover is now the a:link color value.
After reviewing the change I found it conflicting with the
surrounding a:links, so did some of my flat-mates used for usability
testing.
Would someone suggest a method that doesn't cause disharmony, or is it
just nit-picking on our part?
What I would say to your client is this: Graphic designs communicate
much like any language with the elements of the design comprising the
vocabulary of meaning. A website design must actually teach us its
own design language even as we're using it. While graphic design has
a lot of flexibility for creating new terminology with each new
design, designs must still abide by certain patterns of human
language comprehension if they wish to communicate well. One of those
patterns is that elements that look alike mean something similar.
Unlike the richness of spoken language that can afford such luxuries
as ambiguity, a page has only a few dozen design elements in its
vocabulary and therefore each element should express a distinct,
unique meaning in order to keep the design easy to understand and
quick to apprehend. A page that's confusing leaves the visitor
unsure, while a page that's clear helps us feel comfortable and
confident while we're reading or using it.
Using the same color combination for menu item hover state as to
highlight an item the client feels is important is unnecessariliy
confusing. Surely the color palette of the overall design is rich
enough to come up with a unique combination to represent 'importance'.
Regards,
Paul
__________________________
Paul Novitski
Juniper Webcraft Ltd.
http://juniperwebcraft.com
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