Improving The Age site search field usability in 5 minutes
Jun 4, 07:53 AM CommentDespite being someone who uses the web daily (and a regular reader of The Age) I find myself getting caught-out by the design of their site search every time. Here’s how I’d tweak the design to improve it’s usability in 5 minutes.
The Age website search field causes me to pause for a second every time I use it. It’s not a huge issue and the system works perfectly satisfactorily (the search results could do with some fine-tuning, but that’s another story) but for some reason the design of the search text-entry field defies convention and bears more of a resemblance to a ‘raised’ drop-down style form component than the usual ‘recessed’ text field. This, coupled with the fact that the button is joined to the text field, doesn’t look like any other buttons across the site and is all placed below the main navigation always seems to catch me out and make me have to think for a second before proceeding.
The existing Age search field is ‘raised’, and bears more of a resemblance to a drop-down style form component than the usual ‘recessed’ text field
Instead, I’d suggest The Age redesign their search field to look ‘recessed’, in alignment with the current convention for text fields. Leaving the standard formatting would be preferred, but if they really had to override this with an image, at least make it look similar and not like form elements with different functionality. In addition I’d recommend they move the button a little further to the right so that it does not appear to be a single element.
The Best Job In The World
Jan 15, 08:34 AM | Comment [1]As usual it’s been a busy few months here at BTD, having spent most of my time of late working with a fantastic team over at Cummins Nitro on a really interesting project – The Best Job In The World.
The site launched this week and has already had a phenomenal response, with a rush of dream job hopefuls causing the site to crash in just two days of it’s release.
My interview on spicy web designers
Sep 9, 07:17 PM | Comment [2]I was recently approached by Luc Arnold, founder of Spicy web designers to be interviewed for his new site.
In their own words:
Darebin libraries website
Jun 13, 04:35 PM CommentHaving experienced many online offerings from local governments and local councils in the past, as well as having worked for a few, I had pretty much resigned myself to accepting that most are going to be rubbish in terms of antiquated code using tables for layout and inline styles, bad interface design, little or no regard for usability or accessibility and, more often than not containing outdated content.
Whatever the reasons for this, be it that the website is perhaps considered a low priority, that there’s no dedicated resource allocated to the website or that it’s simply too hard to get people to agree to a redesign, the sites’ users seem destined to lose-out.
Judging the International Web Awards
May 20, 01:51 PM | Comment [3]I’m delighted to announce that I have been asked to be one of the judges in this years’ International Web Marketing Association WebAwards web design competition.
Now in its 12th year, the WebAwards is the premier annual website award competition that names the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development.
Helvetica
May 13, 08:49 AM | Comment [1]I watched Helvetica last night which is a fascinating documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture.
“It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.”
www.helveticafilm.com
Work update
Mar 25, 01:18 PM | Comment [1]I just realised it’s been a really long time since I updated the portfolio section of this site. Not without good reason though, and it’s not because I’ve been slacking off and enjoying the Melbourne sunshine (the chance would be a fine thing). It’s because most of the projects I’ve worked on of late have either been internal web applications (so not available for public consumption) or have not gone live yet. As such I don’t want to publish anything visual just at the minute, partly because I’m not really allowed to in some cases but also because I don’t want to spoil the launches for my clients.
That said, I’m enormously proud of some of the things I’ve been working on of late so I wanted to share some of the more notable pieces to give some insight on what I’ve been up to:
Lessons learned from Gordon Ramsay
Mar 22, 04:29 PM | Comment [1]I’ve been loving Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen nightmares series’ (the British ones were much better than the American ones – much less ‘reality TV’ shenanigans).
Each week Ramsay helps a struggling restaurant to turn things around, always with the same basic method of combining determination, attitude and drive with keeping things simple, manageable and meaningful to the customers.
Art, Sensis and yet more Telstra web work!
Dec 10, 09:06 PM CommentI know, I know… I’ve been a bit quiet of late on the old weblog front, but I’ve got a (feeble) excuse – I’ve been mega busy! – which is a bit unusual for the December/January silly season, but hey, I’m not complaining!
I can’t give too much away yet about what I’ve been working on ‘cause I’m sworn to secrecy and can’t ruin the impending launches, but watch this space for full details as they emerge…
