06-13-2013, 11:34 AM
Adding the following from a Boardroom discussion:
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Just to offer a couple of 'real world' examples of websites that we might also take some cues from, here's the site of USAA:
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logo...irect=true
which has both a cycling image feature (not sure how hard that is to code or how it would work on an ipad - I can also imagine something we just manually change out on a regular basis) and some pretty impressive mouse-over menus for the Products and Advice Center buttons.
Also this site:
https://www.khanacademy.org/
Which is pretty clean in layout. I can imagine images like Arik's being where they have the big purple background, with controls/search bar along the top and bottom and maybe more detailed stuff as you scroll down the page such as they have. Maybe windows into major areas of the site, like the interactive timeline (when we get that up), image galleries, etc. Perhaps have 'fast' controls at the top for experience users who just want to get to a particular spot in a hurry and the 'scroll down and explore' area for new folks who we want to give a taste of the setting and site. All done up in some suitably futuristic fashion of course.
Just to offer a couple of 'real world' examples of websites that we might also take some cues from, here's the site of USAA:
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logo...irect=true
which has both a cycling image feature (not sure how hard that is to code or how it would work on an ipad - I can also imagine something we just manually change out on a regular basis) and some pretty impressive mouse-over menus for the Products and Advice Center buttons.
Also this site:
https://www.khanacademy.org/
Which is pretty clean in layout. I can imagine images like Arik's being where they have the big purple background, with controls/search bar along the top and bottom and maybe more detailed stuff as you scroll down the page such as they have. Maybe windows into major areas of the site, like the interactive timeline (when we get that up), image galleries, etc. Perhaps have 'fast' controls at the top for experience users who just want to get to a particular spot in a hurry and the 'scroll down and explore' area for new folks who we want to give a taste of the setting and site. All done up in some suitably futuristic fashion of course.
Just some thoughts,
Todd
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Expanding on this a bit - One of the issues I think the current website has is that although the entire project is about the OA setting/future only one button on the homepage actually takes you directly into that setting. Maybe 2.5 if we count the Books, Stories, and Art button and parts of the pages accessed via the Introduction button.
I would like to suggest that we tweak things a bit to draw the user into the setting as quickly and as much as possible. As mentioned re the second link above, perhaps have large image based links or frames or something below a large image that draw people in to specific parts of the site that we deem extra cool. Perhaps have a message on the bottom frame of the big top picture inviting people to explore the OA Universe (whether by scrolling down or clicking a link that jumps then down the page). Maybe have the top section of this be an intro into the EG with an image for each of the major buttons. For example for the History section have an image of an interactive timeline that links to that page which would also contain links to other History pages, for Galactography have an image of a star map that takes you to a page of the clickable maps, and so on.
Beyond the EG, maybe have a window into the OA News Net (not the active one we have now, but something like the windows you see online that let you move from one image or block of text to the next by clicking an arrow). Do something similar for a mini-art gallery that includes a link to the main gallery pages. Have a window that shows the cover to V:FT and/or an excerpt from a V:FT story. And so on.
For the main image on the top, have a "Quick Links" link that opens out a menu sort of like we see on the USAA site. This links to all the other parts of the OA site, including the EG, for those who just want to get there in a hurry. Plus a Search bar and maybe some other 'business related' links and the social media icons/linds of course.
What do folks think? What alternatives would people like to suggest?
Thoughts?
Todd
*****************
Just to offer a couple of 'real world' examples of websites that we might also take some cues from, here's the site of USAA:
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logo...irect=true
which has both a cycling image feature (not sure how hard that is to code or how it would work on an ipad - I can also imagine something we just manually change out on a regular basis) and some pretty impressive mouse-over menus for the Products and Advice Center buttons.
Also this site:
https://www.khanacademy.org/
Which is pretty clean in layout. I can imagine images like Arik's being where they have the big purple background, with controls/search bar along the top and bottom and maybe more detailed stuff as you scroll down the page such as they have. Maybe windows into major areas of the site, like the interactive timeline (when we get that up), image galleries, etc. Perhaps have 'fast' controls at the top for experience users who just want to get to a particular spot in a hurry and the 'scroll down and explore' area for new folks who we want to give a taste of the setting and site. All done up in some suitably futuristic fashion of course.
Just to offer a couple of 'real world' examples of websites that we might also take some cues from, here's the site of USAA:
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logo...irect=true
which has both a cycling image feature (not sure how hard that is to code or how it would work on an ipad - I can also imagine something we just manually change out on a regular basis) and some pretty impressive mouse-over menus for the Products and Advice Center buttons.
Also this site:
https://www.khanacademy.org/
Which is pretty clean in layout. I can imagine images like Arik's being where they have the big purple background, with controls/search bar along the top and bottom and maybe more detailed stuff as you scroll down the page such as they have. Maybe windows into major areas of the site, like the interactive timeline (when we get that up), image galleries, etc. Perhaps have 'fast' controls at the top for experience users who just want to get to a particular spot in a hurry and the 'scroll down and explore' area for new folks who we want to give a taste of the setting and site. All done up in some suitably futuristic fashion of course.
Just some thoughts,
Todd
***************************
Expanding on this a bit - One of the issues I think the current website has is that although the entire project is about the OA setting/future only one button on the homepage actually takes you directly into that setting. Maybe 2.5 if we count the Books, Stories, and Art button and parts of the pages accessed via the Introduction button.
I would like to suggest that we tweak things a bit to draw the user into the setting as quickly and as much as possible. As mentioned re the second link above, perhaps have large image based links or frames or something below a large image that draw people in to specific parts of the site that we deem extra cool. Perhaps have a message on the bottom frame of the big top picture inviting people to explore the OA Universe (whether by scrolling down or clicking a link that jumps then down the page). Maybe have the top section of this be an intro into the EG with an image for each of the major buttons. For example for the History section have an image of an interactive timeline that links to that page which would also contain links to other History pages, for Galactography have an image of a star map that takes you to a page of the clickable maps, and so on.
Beyond the EG, maybe have a window into the OA News Net (not the active one we have now, but something like the windows you see online that let you move from one image or block of text to the next by clicking an arrow). Do something similar for a mini-art gallery that includes a link to the main gallery pages. Have a window that shows the cover to V:FT and/or an excerpt from a V:FT story. And so on.
For the main image on the top, have a "Quick Links" link that opens out a menu sort of like we see on the USAA site. This links to all the other parts of the OA site, including the EG, for those who just want to get there in a hurry. Plus a Search bar and maybe some other 'business related' links and the social media icons/linds of course.
What do folks think? What alternatives would people like to suggest?
Thoughts?
Todd