Designs – Concepts and layouts: Part 3 – detail detail detail

Let’s take a moment to look at some of your thoughts in detail and ring some of the changes (please note – to keep comments succinct, we’ve adjusted them slightly).

Navigation

A week ago we asked if you preferred the vertical or horizontal navigation on the proposed designs.

You said to us:

‘I prefer navigation being horizontal – it  enables you to put more information on each screen’

‘we prefer navigation to appear on the left hand side’

‘the horizontal design is easier on the eye’

‘I think vertical navigation looks better’

‘the wording in the menu needs to change’

So what did we do?

Firstly, we sat down and discussed the benefits of each layout in more detail. The comments coming back (both verbally and in written form) seemed to be favouring a horizontal layout – but only just.

If we had to put a figure on your opinions today, we’d guess that the split would be somewhere around: 60% in favour of horizontal navigation, and 40% favouring a vertical structure.

And – if that’s any indication of what Warwickshire as a whole might think – we’re going to need some more information. So, to that end, we’re going to undertake some direct user testing.

In the very near future, we will setup shop for a day at the Warwickshire Direct One Stop Shop in Warwick, and ask you to give  us your opinions, and undertake a couple of usability tests for us. Based on that (and the feedback that we hope you will carry on giving to us) – we’ll decide later in the day on vertical or horizontal. But for now, because you’re slightly favouring horizontal – we’ve only showcased that type of design above.

Once we’d finished talking about horizontal and vertical layouts – we got onto the topic of wording.

We’re still receiving a steady stream of responses to our request for help in sorting our services – and we’re not quite ready to close the doors just yet. So, we’ll carry on using the current wording in our designs / examples (with a few tweaks to show you how things are progressing) – but the final terminology won’t be decided until next year. Which means you’ve still got plenty of time to have your say on our navigational terminology.

Search

We didn’t ask you anything about search engines (although we did tease an idea that we’re working on) – but you gave us some valuable feedback, which we’d like to share.

You said to us:

‘the search engine box needs to be a little ‘tighter’ with the button’

‘if you’re splitting up information – I want to be able to search multiple sites from one place’

So what did we do?

We’d always planned to make the search box in the top right a little more attractive – but we were going to revisit it a little later down the line (once we’d undertaken a little more work around where that query would take you). But – we’ve done it a little sooner based on your comments, and made it slightly more in keeping with the rest of the new, lighter, design.

Now – the reason we’d originally planned to revisit it a little later – was because we’re currently looking in detail at how you are searching around our site(s), what you’re searching for, and what results you are (or aren’t) getting back.

We can’t give too much away yet – but we’re very interested in that search box – and we have an idea for how you could bring back information about multiple different sites in one go. But more on that, another time.

Orientation

One thing that you’ve been pretty clear in telling us – is that you can tell we’ve designed the site for non-widescreen monitors.

You said to us:

‘the design is a little bit dated – people tend to use widescreen monitors these days’

‘maybe you should use more horizontal width than you currently seem to be’

So what did we do?

We took a look at our analytical information, and statistics about the general system capabilities of our visitors. Here’s a screenshot of what we saw (for a typical month):

 

Website Resolution Statistics

 

In summary:

• 31.58% (99,592) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1280×1024 (fullscreen)
• 21.23% (66,952) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1024×768 (fullscreen)
• 14.91% (47,035) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1280×800 (widescreen)
• 6.87% (21,670) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1366×768 (widescreen)
• 5.16% (16,258) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1440×900 (widescreen)
• 2.75% (8,673) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1680×1050 (widescreen)
• 1.44% (4,542) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1024×600 (widescreen)
• 1.42% (4,492) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 1152×864 (fullscreen)
• 1.14% (3,598) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 800×600 (fullscreen)
• 1.13% (3,572) of our visitors have a screen resolution of 320×480 (widescreen)

(percentages below 1.13% not shown)

This means that approximately 55% of our visitors are currently seeing our site through fullscreen (4:3 ratio) displays. Although we are seeing an increase in the number of visitors using widescreen displays – our analytical information is showing us that we currently need to focus our designs around fullscreen devices. These will, of course, work just the same on widescreen devices.

But – there is a little caveat to that statement. We’re aiming to create / develop designs that could be adjusted quickly and easily, should the need for a widescreen design become apparent. We are also very aware that the 320×480 resolution that’s currently at the bottom of the above list (but is slowly creeping up) – is just the same size as popular fruit-related smartphone currently on the market. So we’re also looking at some device-specific stylesheets. But, again, more on that another time.

Colour and Light

You said to us:

‘it’s a bit dark’

‘the deep green and dark background feel very oppressive’

‘I don’t like the green’

So what did we do?

We took a long look at the designs we’d come up with, held them in our arms, got a bit tearful – and then scrapped them.

Using the same content / service-focused layout, but a different approach, we came up with a much lighter design over an afternoon (which you’ll already have seen above).

Your comments about colour – were very interesting to us. Especially because there wasn’t one consistent message coming through – but rather several similar different opinions on what colour we should be using.

We’ve got some thinking to do and will get back to you.

In Summary

This is a website made for you – not us. We’re not precious about designs, ideas, structure or content – we just want to make things easier for you when you visit and use our services online.

Any comments, suggestions, thoughts or ideas that you have, about any aspect of this project – are thoroughly welcome. So why not take a moment and let us know if you think the lighter design is better, if we’re listening to you well enough, if you have a particular gripe about how we do things online, or anything about a web related topic of your choice.