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When the most frequently visited
site in Western Europe changes its Interaction Design, it ought to
be big news for UI Designers, the world over. If you haven't
visited news.bbc.co.uk
recently then go check it out.
The change in the site was somewhat
expected and overdue. For the last year, the BBC News organisation
has gradually been changing the graphics and presentation on live
broadcasts. The older colder radio masts in a granite grey which
was considered a little "neo-natzi" has been replaced
with a warmer, softer red look. The website was the last of the
BBC News outlets to get the makeover.
However, the changes go well beyond a
graphics makeover and some minor look and feel tinkering. The
navigation has been quite heavily overhauled. The changes seem to
go in the face of the latest advice from Jakob Nielsen - see
recent Alert Box.
Most notable are the removal of the
foreign language selections and latest video bulletin from across
the banner. These have been moved and make way for the
introduction of a "breadcrumb trail".
Personally, this is the biggest disappointment for me. Its not
complete. Navigate the site and watch the behaviour - I can't work
out the logic. Its inconsistent. The other big goof here is the
metaphor in use. The breadcrumb trail is prefixed with the
words "You are in:". This introduces the
metaphor that the BBC site is a virtual space and the user
imagines that they are surfing through that virtual space. Hmmmm.
Doesn't work for me? How about you?
Another notable change, is the move
of sub-navigation from the RHS to a "sort of" tree
component navigation device on the LHS. Its interesting and it
looks goo but does it make any difference to usability? What if
anything is being done with the free space on the RHS?
The BBC have been inundated with mail
about the changes which were quite stunning/shocking on the first
visit. It doesn't seem to have occurred to them that "redesigning
the BBC site" would have made a great news story!
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