web 2.0 - ur doin' it wrong
Let's take a break from concert reviews, shall we?
The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle's website looks like it was designed by someone who made a Geocities site back in the day when everyone wanted their own homepage but didn't know what exactly that entailed. This person apparently then decided this qualified him or her to design a professional website. He or she glanced over a few popular Web 2.0 sites (Facebook, Vox, Last.fm perhaps) and figured out that the internet means rollover buttons, top menubar navigation, and drop-down lists. Also, diagonal stripes and the color blue. Of course!
This failure to understand basic design principles gives the site a totally amateurish look. The low-quality graphics don't help at all, nor does the fact this web programmer doesn't know how to do domain masking. At least the site's navigation is easy to follow, or I'd have nothing nice to say at all.
I don't think I could revisit this site for awhile because of its embarrassing ugliness. And if I could be a little critical where I just cut some slack, not everything about the navigation is functional. What about that copycat slideshow box so common on many other news sites? It even has a playbutton - that does nothing at all. Oh wow, clicking on the arrow makes it so I don't have to move my mouse 2 centimeters to the right! Holy shit!
To the webdesigner for the D&C: Slideshow boxes are supposed to seamlessly flash through stories. And behave like, you know, a slideshow. Take a gander at The Onion, and don't be afraid to steal. If you just don't know how to code it, you need to drop some money on some books and classes. Good luck!
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: web 2.0 - ur doin' it wrong.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://windspun.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/116
Leave a comment