Comments on: Ten Examples Of Unconventional Site Navigation

By: Raphaelle

Raphaelle — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:56:30 +0000

I agree with CopperBot, some unconventional navigations are interesting, but most of the time it’s not worth it; visitors don’t stay very long on a web page. If it’s too complicated to figure out they’ll leave even faster.

I still believe in the “don’t make me think” rule very strongly.

By: lewiscom

lewiscom — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:48:05 +0000

that kashiwas web site makes my eyes want to pluck themselves out. I think that would fit in under the heading of ‘do not do’

By: Abdurrahman Gemei

Abdurrahman Gemei — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:48:33 +0000

Very nice! I wonder if some of them can actually be inconvenient rather than unconventional sometimes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:29:53 +0000

Nice collection I think J K Rowling's site is worth a mention

By: CopperBot

CopperBot — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:55:43 +0000

Can’t say I’m a big fan of any of those user interfaces. Fun for some but annoying for most. The average web surfer only spends a few seconds on a site randomly clicking anything that looks useful before giving up and moving on. It would be interesting to see the google analytics statistics for those sites to see how long the average user stayed and what pages (if any) they actually tried to access.

By: bloodofeve

bloodofeve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:39:27 +0000

Here is another interesting flash based website Polly and the Billets Doux. The content revolves around like a record, but even more annoyingly the actual navigation links move to different positions each time you choose to look else where and all the external links open up as new pages…I find this sort of this exceedingly irritating!
I’m sure that bands especially seem to forget that not all their fans are either sighted or able bodied.

I have a real dislike of Flash based sites as they really do discriminate against those users who do not use standard browsers, or live in areas where broadband services are unavailable.
Although Jacksons of Piccadilly’s website may be esthetically beautiful, they should know better. As a British company they should get a knuckle rapping by the Department of Trade and Industry for failing to observe the The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 which clearly states that you should make all aspects of your business accessible.

Even when I use flash I keep it to the barest minimum and also ensure that if a browser has no Flash Plug-in the content can still be read, it doesn’t take too much effort or ‘Rocket Science’ for that matter to produce a functional, usable and accessible web site. There have been many time when a client has said to me I want a Flash website, through good explanation I often manage to steer them away from a full flash site as I will not design a Flash site without producing an HTML equivalent. If they are happy to pay for 2 sites then fine I’ll do it, but most businesses see that having a well designed HTML/CSS based website actually makes excellent business sense.

All we can do as designers is carry on chipping away and re-educating the public that simplicity is what most end users require.

By: crinkle

crinkle — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:29:02 +0000

I agree with the majority - whilst these sites are (mostly) lovely to look at, they rely heavily on a user who desperately wants to find content. We are all so strapped for time, and with a high expectation of having things provided quickly and simply I have to question the place that this kind of navigation has in today's web. The most important rule of web design is to make it easy for the end user! Don't irritate them with your navigation, don't make them work to find your content, don't confuse them. I've been to a number of sites that purportedly contained information I was really, truly interested in. I really tried to figure out how to get to it. When I couldn't, I left. And I was dedicated to my cause. I love to see new ideas in navigation and layout generally, but I see no value in making navigation more "mysterious" to the user. It's not exciting, it's annoying. Lastly, I don't have a Flash plugin on my work machine. Offering no alternative to Flash navigation means I literally cannot browse the site. And that makes me sad, because I do like browsing sites. Make it easy! People will leave and never come back!

By: guest

guest — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:06:12 +0000

what i hate about all this top ten lists is that you never link the images , so if someone wants to open example webpages in tabs he have to look for one underlined word.and i also hate more things but for now its enough for you .FIX IT!!!!

By: payclicks

payclicks — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:40:05 +0000

Longboard and napkin sites are pretty slick. Nicely done!

By: conticreative

conticreative — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:23:01 +0000

Some of the examples are certainly interesting. But they are very limited in scope and most of them are confusing.
Naturally, I get tired of the usual horizontal menu too, but it is undeniably a convention that works and makes good use of space.Users have come to relay on “classical” navigation and you reinvent it at your peril.
On most run of the mill sites navigation in this fashion would be absurd and counterproductive but I can see where they could have their place.
If I were to design a navigation like it, I would probably add a link to a SS switch where the user could choose to navigate in a more traditional fashion.