We are required to analyse/review/evaluate interaction using the Constantine and Lockwood principles for our three page site. So without further ado, I introduce the principles vs Villains.
The structure principle
For the structure, I have gone against the norms and used a right hand navigation scheme. This may seem odd in terms of typical website conventions, but being a comic, I wanted to try and replicate a digital version, so the right hand links are as if they were pages in the comic that the user can flick to.
The actual content on the pages are displayed using panels, a staple feature of a comic book. I learnt from a review I did about the energy saving trust that I found it better that all their information seemed housed in one box. As a result, I replicated this on the Get Villains page. The user enters their details in a single box, no sprawling all over the page. Clear and concise instead.
The simplicity principle
I tried to be inventive with the titles I encorporated in my site whilst maintaining relatively simple lexis. Get Villains, as a title, I don't think could be anymore obvious. If they recognise from the homepage that VIllains is mimicing a comic book, (and I have used pretty standard elements such as the 6x6 grid, comic book fonts, speech bubbles) then understanding should proceed from there.
The feedback principle
As I mentioned in my last post, a key user feature is letting the user know what is happening, or where they are. Henceforth, I adapted my page logos to be more informative and title the page, whilst also defining the right hand navigation to display the current page in a standout red.
Should the user not have the Flash plugin to view the banners, I have provided alternate content, in the form of a simple message and graphic which upon clicking takes them to the Adobe site to download the Flash player plugin.
For the contact details submit form, I made sure that it presents a response once they have pushed Submit, either telling them of an error, or if the information has been successfully sent. Not knowing would just leave the user in limbo and break an expectation that has been built up from previous experience elsewhere on the web, where they learn of the outcome of submitting information.
The reuse principle
I maintained the same colour scheme throughout, and consistency in the layout. Likewise, the logo at the top of each page holds the same Villain image, but with additional information a top so to aid in consistency.
At one point in development the pages were of slightly different sizes in width by a few pixels or so, so whilst clicking through, subconciously, it may have started to irritate. (Only the keen eyed though!) However, I remedied this by using the exact same figures throughout, meaning it consistently remains in the same place on the page.
Furthermore, even the most minute change in the placing of a div tag can get on my nerves, so the hyperlinks on the right hand side, remain place perfect, no nudging (hopefully!) the only alteration being that they change colour.
The tolerance principle
The only section relating to tolerance I can find on my site is in terms of the user data entry. For their email address, for example, I didn't go too specific with the coding making sure that they have entered the correct symbols in the correct space etc. (I am aware that spammers abuse such a gap in the system, and would obviously implement tight data type entry should this site be for real, along with possibly including CAPTCHA.) However, for this NTU server site, I have made it so that they have to enter something in the fields, inputting nothing is rejected!
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