Alright, so we already have a design that I’ve said that I liked. Why ae we back here with yet another design? The answer is simple: I still don’t have enough to do with my life. Aside from that, I have found Mr. Martin Belam’s most recent entry on the reboot blog inspiring in some sense.

One of the areas that comp 3 was lacking in was search (it was also browse, but we will get to that later). I had the standard search bar, but I removed one of the few items that followed the whole “wisdom of crowds” theory in the current design of the site. Today, it makes a triumphant return.

You will notice a blue bar under the news breakout I designed. Within this bar is a split up search box that has everything the current search has. You will also notice the A-Z index added under browse. This is the inspiration I was speaking of.

By including the A-Z widget right there with search, I was able to remove the old blue sidebar. With that content gone, I changed the “My BBC” panel to a three-column layout. This enhances the usefulness of the homepage as a portal.

Functionality-wise, only a small handful of changes have been made. Most of these are designed to improve usability within the system. First, the personalized greeting and login options have been moved down to the MyBBC panel. Even with the news breakout being modifiable, the most cutom content will be within the My BBC panel. Therefore, the user will see a logical connection between the two.

Next to the greeting, there is a “change this” link. In the third mock up, this link was in most of the individual widgets. Now, it will point to a specific page that will act as the customization engine. As my design relies on this link, my next mock up will be of that page.

On a more personal note, my underemployment does seem to be drawing to a close, and I will probably be forced to enter just the image mockups of both this page and the “change this” page. I don’t expect this to be a problem, but I do wish I could have had the time to actually create the XHTML shell of the site.

Maybe next time…

The fourth part in a series that should be closing in on at least some sort of a milestone, I think that I’m pretty close to a final design here. Earlier today, I discussed what I’m looking to do with this site, and I feel that this third version serves those purposes quite well. For this discussion, I will speak on what the visual layout doesn’t show.

This design refers back to the second comp I made in that much of the color scheme and content remains unchanged. Of note, the greater emphasis on the news, this is simply the default in this design and the user can set his or her preference.

In order to access the preferences of the page, the user must click on the link at the top of the page (in this instance, it would be “Hello Bill”). That link will put the user at a preferences panel that will enable him to define almost all of the page below the Today label.

Also added was the suggested links element within the “My Places” element. At this stage, I can only suggest that these links be suggested based on other bookmark lists with similiar choices, although the algorithm can be modified, obviously.

Another important feature in this design (as well as the earlier ones) is the prominent featuring of feeds. While they do not act in the direction of enticing people to set bbc.co.uk as the homepage, they do assist a “power user” without harming a user that has absolutely no idea what an RSS feed is.

Within the “My BBC” section, this design allows for the user to modify and order the news categories. As I mentioned earlier, any of these categories can supercede the news that is found outside of the “My BBC” block.

Also, in remembering the “glass” roots, section headings that are clicked more get slightly larger, giving an interesting perspective of a reverse-breadcrumb type of navigation. This preference could be expanded into overall visits by everyone, bringing in the “wisdom of crowds.”

On a more personal note, this design really takes what I liked about the second design and pushed it in better directions. I think the site becomes more useful with addition of the news section breaking out. A little more spit and polish and I think I have an actual entry that I can be proud of.

On a few of the more recent sites I am currently working on, I have come across both PHP includes and iframes as methods to simplify changes on a web site. Both systems do have their benefits, although I personally feel that one is generally better than the other. Here, I’m going to discuss the benefits of either option without regard for security (in which the iframe comes under attack)
PHP Includes

PHP includes a function that allows you to use multiple files on one page. The files are patched together at run-time and presented as just one file. This allows for some static piece in a series of pages to be written once, but used in all pages. The user has to download all of the content stored in the include each time he or she visits a new page, so there is a greater bandwidth consumption. As the include provides all of the details on one hyperlink, a user is able to jump to any given file on a web page. Google will be able to index all of the data on the site. Aside from bandwidth concerns, the biggest drawback to the PHP include method is that it requires the use of the PHP engine. At this point, most web hosts offer PHP support, negating this complaint, but if you don’t have PHP support, you are out of luck.

IFrames

IFrames act like an intermediary step away from the old framesets we web designers from back in the 90s remember. These pages are standard HTML pages with a tag linking the changing content to the main page. The primary benefit of this is that the page is standard HTML; there is no requirement for PHP support. Changing the content is just as easy now as it was with framesets in the past. The primary downside is that it is almost impossible to deep link to a page and that Google will probably not be able to index things after your main page that appear within the iframe.

IFrames were once an interesting way to assure a standard presentation of information that now has passed. AJAX based technologies have really superceded the functionality of the iframe and PHP includes have enabled a greater degree of usability. As is usually the case with web technologies, I have no doubt that iframes will be seen on a variety of (unfortunately) new web sites. But the technology itself is rapidly joining its father (the frameset) in relative obscurity.

I am a web designer.  Well, not really.  I’m more of a web developer with the ability to put together moderately (according to others) attractive websites.  I like simplicity and focused.  I like readable.  I like content.

I am working as a web designer, according to my job description.  The position is more of a developer position, which is fine.  I am not redesigning web pages.  I have accepted this fact.  I do get to make changes to content, so maybe the job is more data entry.  This is also fine, not preferable, but acceptable. I make minor changes to any number of minor pages. If my job was simply this, I would merely have an issue with being bored. I don’t.

Once upon a time, I worked with a certain program.  This work was not primarily involved with the program, nor was the end result used.  I did use the program.  In my defense, the web was still in its difficult teenage years: drinking off of window frames, putting tables within tables, or any other idea that would make even Escher cringe. I used it, but I didn’t inhale. I swear.

The web is now a young adult. It still drinks from time to time, but usually on tables. Most people don’t even remember the frames incidents.  It uses big words like semantics and compliance. It gave up on the excesses of youth. I have to work to find a site that hasn’t graduated from HTML to XHTML. CSS is passe. Developers focus more on issues like RSS or AJAX, not on indiscretions so prevalent in previous ages.

Yet the drug remains. Usually it can be found on media sites: movies, bands, and high school web pages. Finding a user is easy. Simply look for the "skip intro" link below the garish visuals and garish sounds. Like many drugs, this one has activists who push it, often literally. The tell us to just give it a try. Just one hit, and we will know that it will be OK.

These last few days have included me being force fed that hit.

Having tried the drug allow me to tell you, my wary reader, some interesting facts. The plethora of changes in the last six years have not changed the poor feeling one gets from using it. Smokers cough the first time. This drug isn’t quite as obvious. You feel a sense of apathy and disgust deep down. Listen to it.

All joking aside, I will make a harsh generalization. The situation requires it.

This drug assures a poorly designed site. It is never done for the web site visitor, but both for the Flash designer and the client. The desire for something edgy and impressive neglects the user. That’s right. It neglects the user.

The user, and I know this because I am one, wants information. We want to know if your company will help us make sense of our lives. Why should I buy your product, use your services, or talk to a representative? Unless your services consist of overwhelming my viewpoint on your site, please let me get through to your site. Especially if you are a business. Would you buy a car from a salesman wearing a pink polka dot mu mu? Probably not. Why dress your web site in one?

It’s your first day at a new job, and your new boss comes up and tells you to come up with a redesign.  “Here’s what we want,” he says as he hands you a pile of papers.  A quick glance at the material informs you that it is a number of printouts from one website.  Upon further questioning, you begin to understand that your new job is to (at least in the eyes of management) be “inspired by” a major competitors site.  Add in the fact that bills are beginning to pile up and leaving this job is not an option for the immediate.  What do you do?

Let’s add in the fact that this isn’t your first time doing the web game.  It’s a good bet (at least in my experience) that you’ve never been asked to copy completely a design.  Now, you financial situation has forced you to lower a rate that even a month ago seemed too low.  How do you as the designer gently explain that what is being asked for is theft?  How do you explain that, in order to do what they are requesting, you would have to give up on ethical concerns?

The answer (at least in this situation) is to take a long view.  Tell your boss that the redesign shouldn’t be focused on “how it looks,” but “how it presents data.”  Good advice under most circumstances, but in a situation like this, it allows for the visual design to be looked at once removed.  Now, the questions become, “how should I include this?”  These are more effective questions.

But, this episode causes me to wonder.  Does the expectations change so completely once the cost drops below a certain level?  Are companies getting a design-as-theft and not questioning it?  Is it standard practice?

I just have to point to this entry on buriningbird, the paragraphs about PHP are just great:

till, the Java developers and the Perl developers and C++ developers and so on, looked down their nose at this cute little scripting language and ignored it. Ignored it until they looked around one day and noticed something…

PHP was ubiquitous.

It was and still is.  Here is a language that just all of sudden was it.  It was the thing.  I can’t even remember the first app I wrote in it, but I do feel fairly comfortable in saying that it probably sucked.  Suckage aside, I am sure that it worked.  The second one did as well.  And down the line it went, till this day.  Every problem that appears in my web programming world can be fixed with a dabbing of PHP.  Why is this?

Simplicity.  Here is a language that doesn’t worry about cleaning up, who can have the shortest line of code, or what specific flavour is being run on a server.  It interfaces with your database server and places the information on your website.  It does some other stuff too, but that is almost secondary.  PHP doesn’t get in the way, and that is wonderful.