[thelist] Design check: stinkfactor.com

[Michael Buffington]

Excellent feedback! Thank you.

>
> Michael,
>
> Ok, so you want some feedback!  You specifically asked for
> ideas to make it
> more compelling:
>
> 1.  A little more contrast between the text and the
> background color might
> facilitate reading of the material.
>
> 2.  Since you only have 3 navigation items (Latest News,
> Challenges, Behind
> the Scenes), why not come up with some images (or short
> descriptions) to
> help you identify what is behind the links.
>
> 3.  As they are now, on the right without underlines, a newbe
> might not know
> that they are links.  It seems to be common that sites that
> utilize a lot of
> css for layout tend to try to remove all the old browser
> hints that users
> are used to, such as making links blue and underlined.  In
> reality, overly
> customizing the default behaviour of the browser leads to decreased
> usability.  (Do I sound like Jacob, or what!)
>
> 4.  The individual pieces of content on the home page may
> draw my attention
> with a sample image.  I am not talking about a full blown
> image, but perhaps
> a nicely cropped image from the story.  Much like the images
> you have in the
> challenges subsection.
>
> 5.  A search box at the top might be nice if you end up with
> more content
> down the road.
>
> 6.  A random quote (of the witty type) might get me to
> refresh a couple of
> times.  This gimic is common, but still nice.  Perhaps a
> witty quote that
> relates to a story on your site, and a link to that story
> would be nice.
> For example:  "Confusous say, 'cinnamon kick your butt every
> time'... see
> how he learned this less."  Make the last part a link directly to the
> Cinnamon Challenge 2001.
>
> 7.  A nice (though perhaps smaller) graphic like you have at
> the top of
> http://www.michaelbuffington.com/mb/ might be nice... well,
> at least more
> interesting.
>
> -joshua
>