Re: Thoughts on web site design

["malonowa" <malonowa@wanadoo.fr>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Hopcroft <hopcroft@uswest.net>
To: <seul-edu@seul.org>
Sent: dimanche 26 septembre 1999 00:09
Subject: Thoughts on web site design


> I thought I would lay out my thoughts on a design for the seul-edu web
> site and see if there are any comments. On the SEUL home page have a
> schoolhouse for the seul-edu icon.

Not sure if the schoolhouse would be necessary since the home page itself
would be what you describe below.

> Clicking it would set one in a
> classroom where a blackboard would have written on it our news items.
> Next there would be the teacher's desk and on the desk there would be a
> stack of books with titles such as HOW-TOs, Clickable Cell Biology
> Course, etc. Most of what is on the seul-edu web pages is text which can
> be thought of as pages in a book. Thus clicking on a book on the desk
> brings up that material. When we get too many books for the table, we
> can go to the library and continue on. I have run this by an artist with
> favorable comments.

This is certainly possible graphically. However, difficult to maintain. I
think one of the most important aspects of any site re-design should be the
ease of which it can be updated.

From an interface point of view, I'm not altogether sure how this sort of
thing works in practice. I know there was a company in the US many years ago
working on this style of interface but since nothing ever happened I can
only assume that it isn't very practical. Keeping to a more standard
presentation will allow visitors to navigate more quickly without giving
them a culture shock.

Nice ideas Bob.

Perhaps these things can be worked up into a more maintainable style. The
iconic representations you mention are indeed good with a more conventional
layout.

I've been promising to come up with something myself for weeks now - I'll
have to pull my finger out and actually get it done.

Roman.