Carrie or Peter Jacobson on thu 12 oct 00
Hello, all:
Yesterday, we on the list were asked to comment on a web site. I dutifully
went to the site and found what I find so often on potters' sites: Good
pottery, weakened by a distracting display.
Yesterday, I wrote this potter a long critique, and then realized that there
was some value in sending a similar essay to the list. So I kept the first
note open and wrote one to the list. Just as I was sending, the power went
out. Cripes. Lost everything.
I am going to try this again today, to the list. The potter who asked for
help should pay attention here, because I don't have an additional hour to
devote to his site again, but many of the ideas here will be useful to him.
And I hope he does not feel badly that he is being singled out. If the
contrast between the quality of his work and the utility of his site were
not so enormous, it would not have prompted me to write.
OK. First off, I don't have a website, so you all might just not trust me.
But I've worked with page design for more than 10 years, have won prizes at
it, and I understand how people approach and use pages. I also am
well-versed in the findings and implications of the Eye-Trac study conducted
by the Poynter Institute some years ago, and base much of my understanding
of readers and their viewing patterns on it.
The most important thing to remember, when you are designing a page -- and
the concept that most of the failed pottery pages I've seen manage to lose
-- is that you must maintain the focus. What is the page about? What do you
want to do with this page? Do you want to show your pottery? Do you want to
sell your pottery? Or, in fact, do you want to let the world see your
children, read your writing, or view your kiln?
Before you do anything, decide on your focus and then make sure that
absolutely everything you do from that point on strengthens your focus. If
it doesn't, get rid of it.
Then try to understand a little bit about how people view pages. The
Eye-Trac study showed that in countries where romance languages offer the
linguistic base, the average reader moves around a page in a clockwise
manner, starting at the upper left and spiraling toward the center.
The study also showed that page elements attract the eye in this order:
1. Art
2. Headlines
3. Color
4. Everything else.
So. Applying these few principles, it is easy to see that what is going to
get the first attention on your site is the area of the upper left hand
corner. What is going to get the most attention is the area in the middle of
the page. Least? Bottom left.
If your focus, then, is on the pottery, put the pottery in the center of the
page. If you have a series of buttons offering choices about things to look
at, put your best work on the button in the upper left of the page.
Don't put yourself there unless you are the focus of the page. If you are,
then fine. Don't put your dog on that button, don't put your education
there, don't put your esthetic ramblings there. Put the work there if the
work is the focus.
If you have something you want to hide, put it in the lower left. That line
thanking Aunt Jane for the donation, or the photo of the pot you promised
your mother you'd include... put it there. No one will see it.
Here's another tip. If you have a photo of someone looking to the right,
(and I don't know why you would, if the pots are the focus of the page), put
it on the left of the page. Always have people looking into the page, not
off it.
Another placement tip: If you have photos of your pots, and you have words
about your pots, don't put the photos on each edge of the page and the
writing in the middle, unless the focus of your page is the writing. The
middle of the page is the prize. Put your best stuff there.
And while we are speaking of writing, for heaven's sake, don't write long
diatribes and put them with your pottery and expect me to read them. I want
to look at and buy pottery. I don't want to read your dissertation. Or maybe
I do, and if I do, I'd like to find it on a page by itself. That gives the
viewer a choice, instead of forcing me to wade through your words.
And please, please, please check whatever you write for spelling, grammar
and punctuation. Even while I whiz through potters' pages, I see errors that
just leap out at me and, yes, I admit, make me think that the potter is
either not very well educated, not very smart, or not very careful.
Headlines and fonts and backgrounds and everything else - absolutely
everything else - on your page should work with your pots, and not against
them. Over and over, I see potters who supposedly have a finely developed
esthetic sense using plastic Wal-Mart colors in their typography. I see them
using frenetic backgrounds, adding flashing whirligigs and pulsing balls of
fire and little twirling icons on their pages. OK, so you can add all that
stuff, well, good for you. Get it away from the pots. Every one of those
things I've named above distracts the eye from what the focus of the page
is: the pottery.
And please, please don't assault me with music on your site. For starters,
music has nothing to do with selling or even showing your work. Second, it
generally crashes my computer. Third, the chance that I will like the music
you like is pretty minimal. And fourth, I use the computer early in the
morning, when the rest of the house is asleep, and I really do not want your
music waking up my husband.
OK. When you are choosing a visual background, choose one that does not
distract from the pottery. Pick a color that reflects your work, or subtly
echoes it. If your work has rich browns, dark greens, and colors of nature,
don't use, say, a manufactured plastic gray background unless you can give
it a texture and depth that match the pottery. Ditto the use of colored
type. If you can't find a color that enhances your pottery, use black.
Finally, and yes, I am almost done, if you want me to buy the pottery, make
it easy for me to buy the pottery. Don't force me to go hunting around for
the price, because I won't. I won't look for it, I won't email you for it, I
won't guess. If I can't find the price right off the bat, I won't buy the
piece, it is that simple. So find some elegant way to display the price
right by the piece. If the piece is worth the price, showing it should not
be a problem.
I hope this helps some of you. And while it may not be right for each person
in every single case, I assure you that the principles I've discussed in
this diatribe are sound.
Best,
Carrie Jacobson
Bolster's Mills, Maine
Mike Gordon on thu 12 oct 00
Carrie,
Your views were both fair and enlightening, and show your knowledge of
the field. I have wanted a web page for sometime but lack the knowledge
to do it and the time/effort it takes. I'm lazy. But the distinction
between showing your work for peer feedback or for selling is a very
valuable lesson. I too am tired of seeing the kids, the dog, the house.I
do like seeing the kilns! I have a sound system for music. All the razz
mataz makes me dizzy! Mike Gordon
Wesley C. Rolley on thu 12 oct 00
Carrie,
Thank you for providing this excellent direction. I have done technical
work on many WWW sites put together by a wide range of designers (eg.
http://www.gumbyworld.com where the lessons were only partly learned).
Even though I provided the technical direction, I continually had to ask
the designers one very basic question. "What do you want the viewer to do
when they see this page?" The entire point is to elicit some action (or
reaction) by the viewer.
Many years ago, I read a "top ten" list of advice for WWW site designers
and Internet Surfers in a west coast US media magizine. While I do not
remember most of the list, I do remember the #1 advice for both.
For WWW site designers: "Just because you can, don't/"
For Internet Surfers: "Don't you have something better to do?"
There was a lot of good advice in both of these.
I often wonder how craftsmen (a unisex term) who give such significant
though to the design of their work can give so little significant thought
to the design of their public face. I find the same lack of though in the
choice of publicity materials. Often the card or brouchure for a show or
exhibit fails to show the best pieces.
Well, enough of a rant.
Wes Rolley
Reflections Publishing, Inc.
http://www.refpub.com/
Lee Jaffe on sat 14 oct 00
I want to tell people to pay attention to what Carrie Jacobson said about
page design. She may not have experience doing Web pages, but I do and I
can tell you that she's got it right and she's said it very well. I don't know
anything about the Eye-Track studies she describes, but I learned layout on
newspapers and newsletters and it seems that the empirical studies bolster
the intuitive experience.
I want to add a couple of things: If you ask for advice, pay attention or
at least be gracious. Last time someone on this list asked everyone to look
at their Web page, I checked it out and the damn music caused my page to
crash. I tried several times and every time the same thing. So I wrote
and said, "Leave out the music. It takes a long time to load. It doesn't
add anything to the page. And it crashes my computer!" And they wrote
back. "Who the hell do you think you are? Everyone else loves our site."
A few points specific to Web design Carrie didn't mention:
Folks are more likely to click buttons than scroll. So make short
pages with all
the important stuff towards the top. Don't count on folks scrolling
down to the
bottom to see something important. It helps to set your monitor up like it is
smaller and lower resolution in order to see what other people are
going to see.
Make the important stuff on your page fit on a Web page as displayed on a
15" monitor set to 480x640.
Other psychological studies suggest that a Web site should fit within an 8x8
matrix; that is no more than 8 links on a page and no more than eight
levels down.
This has something to do with attention span and retention. Folks can't keep
more than 8 things in their heads at once. Give them more
information and things
start to fall out their ears. And making folks dive more than 8 levels down is
just plain cruel.
There are certain basic conventions or etiquette in Web page design that
don't apply to other page design. Put contact information, date and links
to your homepage on every page on your site. Folks tend to assume that users
will follow the bread crumb trail you designed for your site. However you
never know when someone is going to link down into the middle of your site
or print a selected page and they'll have no idea where they are or who owns
it or what else is there if you don't mark each page. You can put that stuff
down at the bottom where no one will see it unless they are really
looking for it.
Also try to make any controls or actions obvious. If something is a button
or a link, make it clear what it is and what it will do. It's hard to come to
some page with snazzy graphics and not a clue what they will do. Sometimes
a picture will load and I'll sit and wait expecting some buttons or
navigational
hints to show up and they never do and I finally realize that I'm suppose to
work with what there is. I suppose there are users who appreciate a challenge
but they are in the minority. Don't be afraid to be obvious.
My $.02,
-- Lee Jaffe
Tom Wirt/Betsy Price on sat 14 oct 00
> add anything to the page. And it crashes my computer!" And they
wrote
> back. "Who the hell do you think you are? Everyone else loves our
site."
>
Seems like if you ask friends, family, neighbors and Clayarters,
everybody loves your website. It's like asking, How do you like my
new rug? You sure as hell aren't going to get a straight answer.
Professional designers and customers are better sources for critique.
> Make the important stuff on your page fit on a Web page as displayed
on a
> 15" monitor set to 480x640.
We did this and get complaints from the 7% who use Mac's and some from
those who have big monitors and won't can't reset the video to handle
the format....but you can't please everybody,.
Also, we did it to optimize I.E.. Netscape users have some problems.
Most of all of the above is with type size...too small.
>>Also try to make any controls or actions obvious. If something is a
button
> or a link, make it clear what it is and what it will do. It's hard
to come to
> some page with snazzy graphics and not a clue what they will do.
Buttons without labels bug me. If I can move faster than the
illustration load, why should I wait....and if there's no label, then
I gotta open all the damn doors to find (maybe) the one I want.
Thanks for the reminders on page design.
Tom Wirt
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