I initially expected this site to be a boring fact based affair, but actually should have known better. What with the Curve being a new entertainment and arts venue, they too have quite a good looking, fanciful attempt at a site.
http://www.curveonline.co.uk/curve.php?pgid=0
The opening page looks Flash based, but on the whole, actually isn't! It visually represents the physical location, and manages to advertise a lot of it's events with sliding billboards, bus stop poster, an air balloon and street lighting with advertising. The navigation you are primarily aware of leads with visual cues (normally a good thing) however if I wanted to find something specific then I think I might initally be a little confused over where I should click - you don't necessarily know where all these hidden links are. Luckily, they the creators have installed a more traditional nav bar at the top of the page. After all, this venue will attract a range of visitors and so it seems logical to encorporate the more traditional nav that traditional users will be familiar with.
One negative I do have though is that it doesn't feel as efficient as it could be. You click the navigation at the top to then have to choose another sector further down the page within a graphical link to get more information. Consistency issue perhaps?
There is consistency with their colour scheme of purple, pink, and once you become aware that important bits of information around the site are pink, you then know what to roughly be looking for, colour wise. There is a lot of information on the site, and it encorporates all the typical features of an e-commerce like site: it has a buy tickets section, mailing list section. It even touts a virtual tour but I couldn't find the expected 3D click through experience I've seen before on the web.
On the whole, the introductory image of the Curve venue made me excited, but on going through it doesn't seem as honed as I would expect. Too much mouse moving to me means not well placed content/links.
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Moving onto a factually based site, the saving energy trust site has a lot of information to disseminate. Being something of an official body, they make it clear that they have Accessibilty catered for and cater for a minimum of AA compliance.
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/
Nonetheless it still knows how to do it in a modern, good looking way. The colours are quite vivid, and well thought through - greens and blues - natural colours. You can tell it has a quality feel about it, by recognising this.
It is all housed within one square box and feels quite refined - you don't have scroll several pages down to be able to see everything. However, there does feel to be A LOT of links.
Once on a specific page, the navigation is what we expect - tabs at the top, left hand nav bar for more information. There are a few images which act as quick signs to show the user what content is being featured on that page. For example, an open fridge door represents the section on fridges!
One thing I like is that there seems to be information for every aspect of what a user could want. Helpful tips through to Government legislature. A phone helpline is displayed boldy on every single page, in the exact same place. This sort of consistency bodes well to me.
It is of the time, having RSS feeds options, along with registration option to sign up for mailed information. Personally, I like their confidence by providing the option to contact them and comment about the site. I often find that where user feedback has been sort, the site functions far better. This is important. Even though not required, I'ml going to run some user testing on my own OEP Website.
This like though turns into a criticism too though - the sheer abundance of information. I went on the site and found something, and then on restarting, going from the homepage again trying to find that page was difficult. Luckily there is a search box which heads the page.
On the whole though, for an information site, I actually prefer this to the Curve one. It seems better quality, and it's creators more aware of an amateur user first visitng their site and wanting to navigate in a way they expect to.
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