For the interactive timeline found on Bestwood's new site, I am now going to research into what ideas others have created and analyse them, highlighting successes and failures.
The first example is from the BBC and it does well, ticking all the boxes you would expect for an interactive timeline.
To begin, it uses the full colour spectrum to appear vibrant and lively. This always bodes well when trying to disseminate information about history, which can be deemed unexciting.
Using a click and grab action, you pull the timeline from left to right, and the associated timing appears. If the user fails to understand this method, there are left and right arrows below which implement the same navigation decision.
Consistency is good here as the colour choices in the simple nav bar at the bottom are carried through in the large image space where the information is held.
When you hone in on a particular place in time, speech bubbles like that of google maps pop up with a brief statement of what occured along with the date. What I like here is that to find out more information you click the bubble and it expands with more information. This is an intuitive design decision and works well.
Within these bubbles you then have the option of extra hyperlinks which bring up an extra window so the user remains and doesn't navigate away.
There is a search button in the top right of the page so that the user can find a specific date without having to look too far. I
The option to explore thematically, i.e. if I choose Technology category, only this information is displayed, is available. I like this. It allows the user to feel involved by having selected which category they will find out about, whilst also making the information about that topic consistent.
In all, an accomplished interactive timeline including all the features you'd expect. My only suggestion would have been to include small images when the first set of bubbles appear, so to add more visual interest.
@
No comments:
Post a Comment