The 7 characteristics that I have chosen reflect those of Steve Krug's trunk test.
As I have used Flash and have a general knowledge of action script I have chosen websites that incorporated aspects of flash. Obviously some of the flash websites are too advanced for me, the basic concepts and layouts are appealing and inspiring to create my own CSS/ Flash website for the next assignment.
1.Site ID/ Logo
All the sites have a logo or the name of the site on the top or top left hand of the page. As we read from left to right, top to bottom, the logo on each of these sites is the first thing we see. As Krug's says "The Site ID or logo is like the building name for a Web site." It constantly reminds us of where we are.
2.Layout
Each site includes a visually appealing header, a simple navigation bar directly under the header, links, general information about the site, Flash or graphic material, advertisement on the right hand side and a strong use of colour further identifying the user with the site.
3.Navigation
In all sites the navigation starts off simplistic, and as the user searches the site it branches out, yet the main navigation bar never leaves the top of the site, reassuring the user that they can return back if need be. There are also links to other sites for more information which I believe is a good idea and something I will use for my website to direct viewers to individual band websites, blogs, facebook pages etc.
4.Content
The content of my selected sites refers to Krug's "What page am I on?" in his trunk test. All the sites include a sub heading informing the user what page they are on. This is a great design and navigation aspect that I will incorporate into my design. The content is an important part to a website as it needs to be informative and easy to access.
5. Search
A search bar is almost a necessity to make not only the navigation of the site easier but to also help the users search for the content he or she directly want. "Search dominant" users as
Jakob Nielsen calls them will almost always type what they need into the search bar as soon as they enter a site (Steve Krug's). On all of the 5 sites I have chosen non of them incorporate a search bar which is seen as a poor design choice. As the sites are fairly big and contain a lot of content, if a search bar was implemented the users could access the desired information quicker.
6. Colour and Aesthetics
The overall colour and aesthetics of a website plays a big role in the users appeal and attraction to want to use the site. The sites that I have chosen all use a strong sense of colour and have their own unique and personalised style to them. Designing a music site for our major assignment the colour we choose plays a large part. The type of music that we are basing our sites around portray different types feelings and emotions that can be represented into different colours that the user can relate to.
7.Graphics
Flash and CSS create appeal and entertainment for the users while exploring a site. Animated roll overs and effects are becoming new trends. After Exploring many of the flash sites the biggest downfall was the loading time. Watching a pre-loading bar for 5 minutes will make any user forget about up-loading the site and just close it before they even see it. That's why the sites that I have chosen not only have a heavy use of flash and graphics they also have a reasonable uploading speed.
