Daniel Carrera wrote:
Graham Lauder wrote:
However, I must be masochistic so I'll set myself up as a target ....
I would like someone to explain why it is considered better to be two column.....
It reduces information overload and draws more attention to higher-priority items. It also encourages us to keep the page leaner.
Hmm I think then that you'd best put the third column back. Because this is information overload. Instead of tidily delineated groups of information. We have a large blob in the middle demanding I download NOW and the rest is confused. In Mathew's V4 the eye is draws across nicely from left to right. The elements are in 4 neatly defined areas, there is no split focus. In M's V4 there is no information overload because focus is defined by those areas and the dropdown menus allow the use to define how much and what info he wants to study.
In the two column version the attempt is take in the whole in one piece because other than the huge Download demand and the top Nav Bar there is little definition.
Convention suggests: scan across to find your main topic, then down to find your sub set.
So it would seem then that the three column arrangement works well.
Top Nav: is about the Site Left Nav: About OOo the Community Centre: Download Right Nav: About OOo the Product
91 kb is gruesomely large on rural dialup. On a very good day I get a 28k connection
True and for someone on a rural dialup "difficult" can be defined as "Too many clicks to get to where I want to go". V4 was good I could get to most places with one click from the homepage.Why does usability matter? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival:
If a website is difficult to use, people *leave*.
The page is only 91 Kb. It loads alright on dialup. Also, reducing the number of clicks doesn't help if the user is swamped with links and can't find the one he wants.
Swamped? You're grossly overstating what I was saying. I said well chosen and well placed links such as http://www.crucial.com/ .
Lot of info, well laid out.
Wrong. You are contradicting yourself. You are making decisions for the user in the same way you say that you say others have. The most important part for a new user is having enough good information so that he can make a reasoned decision as to whether to commit his connection to the time it will take to download. For me for instance, on my dialup, that is from 10 to 14 hours, I'm not going to commit that time on a whim.Simplicity is an important component of usability.
Interestingly, the sites that Jacqueline provided links to in an earlier mail are for the most part, three column with well laid out links.
The one I remember had poor usability. I honestly could not figure out what the site was about. I did spend some time looking at it, but I honestly don't know what it was for.
But for Ben a "LEARN MORE" button is as important as the Download button.
Even for Ben, the "learn more" button is less important than the download button. The most important part of learning more is downloading the product and taking it for a spin.
Now, we do have several "learn more" buttons. We have an "About Us" link, an "About the Product" link, as wellYes but relegated in importance to a minor role down the list in the left hand nav bar... It may as well be dropped off the bottom of the screen. The "About OOo" for your average end user needs to share equal billing with the download. It doesn't need to be much. Two or three well written paras on the frontpage sharing equal billing with the download with a "more" link to something more comprehensive. Both of which I would be prepared to write up.
as 6 links for each of the main component, plus a "Press Kit".Most of which are meaningless to your "Simple End User" and laid out with little thought to subject relevance.
You enhance focus by careful grouping of subject links. Further enhance that focus by careful use of colour. Differences should be subtle but obvious unless you want to pull your visitor in a single direction on arrival. Mathew's V4 fulfills those requirements very nicely indeed except for the lack of a "What is OOo" piece.
Cheers Yo
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