It all started with a reply to a post on Social Media, “you know … I really love the concept behind your site, but I absolutely hate that Tweet box. It is forever in the way. I got rid of it on my sites, after deciding that if folks really wanted to see that sort of thing, they would be over on Twitter.”
Obviously, the problem was an embedded Twitter feed that was consuming half of the screen on said web site. I will never understand why folks think this (or another social media feed) is a good thing. The idea has always been, and continues to be, to drive traffic to a web site and hold it there; not drive it away.
The site owner thanked me for the feedback, removed the previously mentioned annoying Tweet box, and then opened that door. “If you have any other suggestions let us know.”
Actually, I had a laundry list, and indicated as much.
The site owner told me to go and send my thoughts along, and they are republished below. The primary concept being to provide a list of relatively minor changes to make the site a little more user friendly, without requiring a complete overhaul.
It really is a great concept site, and I hope it catches on. I had actually been thinking of doing something similar, until I stumbled on Atlas Obscura, and subsequently, this site.
To start, be aware that your site is not mobile friendly at all; at least, on Android. I am not quite sure what you need to do to fix that, but it almost appears as if you are trying to force the issue; it is either that, the framing around the map is causing problems.
Here is the laundry list…
The Blue Welcome Banner: Coming from an external link to the site, to a specific place mark, you probably should not show the blue banner across the middle. It would be better to suck your visitor in, and not require yet another click. More than likely, they know where they are. Place this information in the FAQ, and/or only display it if they are hitting the page directly.
Top Navigation Bar: You really need your brand name up here. Otherwise, it is generally good, but not so good for mobile devices, which are going to be most of your market. If you can do a simple slide-out “hamburger menu,” that would probably be better, especially for mobile; or, somehow incorporate it into the Turn Layers on/off menu.
The “Volunteers” link is already in the FAQ. Drop it.
Social Media Buttons should probably be at the bottom. Folks will look for them there. They just are not that important, if you are already posting these items to those networks.
Android Apps link/sublinks: Not sure what I am looking at here, but it appears completely irrelevant to the site topic, and should probably be eliminated.
The Placemarks menu and links are unnecessary. You are already browsing. Edit should on the information page for the place mark, and you already have a button to add a place mark.
The Map menu and links are unnecessary. The site is a Map. Move the Free Map Maker link to the FAQ and relabel it to “Embed on Your Site.”
The Login/Register link needs reworked. Ideally, when a user first hits your site, they should be able to login there, without having to click login and be taken to another page. I understand sometimes there is no way around that though, so it would be best to simply provide a “Sign In” button, which takes them to the sign-in page you already have; basically, drop the extra “register” piece that you have up there, and direct all sign-ins/ups/registrations to that page. I do like that you are using Google here instead of Fakebook; however, you probably should modify the right text block on that page o say “WikiPlaceMarks” instead of “MajorForms” for brand consistency.
The FAQ link should probably show in that hamburger menu discussed previously.
The Language selection link, I am a little torn on. Google provides automatic identification of the need for translation on most web pages; but then, not everyone uses Google.
Get rid of all of those little cards surrounding the Donate button. Credit cards are really the only method of payment on the internet; as well, relocate it the button to the bottom of the page.
The Map aka Your Content: To reduce load time start in “Map” view and not Satellite view. You will find it loads a lot faster and looks a lot cleaner; also, if you can leverage the “Light Political” view that Google has, that would be even better. The quantity of place marks are causing it dog a little bit too; some APIs allow for clustering or limiting the number that appear on the map at any one time. You might look into that.
Also, place your Turn All Layers On/Off as a checkbox at the top of all of the layers in that same table. It just makes more sense there.
The Bottom Navigation Bar: This should probably be at the top, with your logo and the other points mentioned.
On the link to the Placemark of the Day, the down arrow to the left of it appears to do nothing in Chrome; nor does the link; either way, it might be better located in the hamburger menu, or somehow set it to automatically display for all users hitting the site directly.
In short summary…
Top Navigation Bar:
LOGO / PLACEMARK OF THE DAY / SEARCH / LANGUAGE / LOGIN / FAQ
Unless you can implement a slide-out MENU (aka hamburger), then stuff all of this under that (except your logo).
Bottom Navigation Bar:
SOCIAL MEDIA (ICONS ONLY) / < AD SPACE > / DONATE BUTTON
Have some thoughts about my presumptions? I have been doing UX/UI for quite a few years, and have found constructive criticism the best learning tool ever! Leave a comment on what you think might work better.
. . .
originally written and published for The UX Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment