[thelist] Site check / critique...

Timothy Joko-Veltman tim at indigopixel.com
Sun Dec 19 08:05:51 CST 2004


D Ross wrote:
> You'll notice the menu page scrolls horizontally...I've heard it could 
> be confusing to the end user but I dont think it will take a brain 
> surgeon to figure it out.

Actually, it might.  People are too used to web pages scrolling 
vertically - this is the first page I have EVER seen that scrolls 
horizontally, but not vertically (though it does when I resize my 
browser to 800x600).  Besides the unfamiliarity problem, when I use my 
scroll wheel to move the page, and nothing happens, it's easy to assume 
that there's nothing more to see.
Personally, I like the horizontal scrolling, as it felt a bit more 
natural than the vertical scrolling model.  However, since the objective 
of the site is more to sell Oscar's food than to start a web design 
revolution, I think a conservative design that everybody already 
understands is a better bet. Additionally clicking on "Starters" does 
bring me to that section, but I can't tell, since on my screen, they 
both show together and nothing moves, so it feels like the link is dead.

It might help if the section headers had greater contrast with the page 
- they are more or less invisible as they are; that is, I have to 
consciously look for them.  A blank line between menu items wouldn't be 
unwelcome either; though the bold item titles help a lot, the text feels 
really "packed in" to me.  Remember text is much harder to read on 
screen than in print.

I think the wording of the "back to front" link should be changed, it 
indeed sends me back to the front of the menu, but the web is not print 
- so when I saw that link I thought two things: a) it'll somehow reverse 
the order of things, or (since that seems implausible),  b) it will send 
me to the front page.  The first I just don't get, and the second is not 
what I want to do ... I understand the dilemma with a horizontally 
scrolling page; it's ALL at the top, but I don't think that being 
slightly inaccurate for the sake of being understood is an unacceptable 
compromise.  This is assuming you will stay with the horizontal scrolling.


Overall, the design is very pleasing, though I was somewhat confused 
when I saw "Juicy hamburgers" when the tagline of the site was "Fine 
Italian Cuisine" (that brush font, btw, though beautiful, is a bit hard 
to read for words of more than 5-6 letters) - I don't exactly associate 
hamburgers (with their German name) with Italian food, much less cuisine 
- then again, you didn't exactly write up the menu, did you?  Speaking 
of writing, my guess is you didn't write the copy ... but it could use a 
little refining - it's not BAD, per se, but could be smoother.

I really like the logo.  However, do they plan to use it for their 
branding?  Otherwise ... the logo on the site, and the one on the sign 
(in the "about us" section) are so different, I almost thought that they 
couldn't possible actually belong to together.

Speaking of the "About Us" section, ask them if they can take a picture 
with the sun behind the photographer ... the current photo is backlit, 
so it is hard to see the restaurant.

You may want to label the PDF icon on the Coupons page ... _I_ knew what 
you meant, but I'm not sure all that many Joe Averages will.

The animation - is alright ... personally, I found it a little 
distracting, but that's a compliment, because I generally detest 
independent (ie., not user-controlled) motion on web pages.  However, to 
be constructive, I did notice one thing: the adjectives seem a little 
uneven.  Specifically, "Sweet desserts" doesn't really seem to fit into 
the feeling of the parellelism that you set up with "Juicy Hamburgers" 
and "Gourmet Pizzas".

Regards,

Timothy


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