Usability is much, much worse:
- More clicks to get to the info I'm looking for.
- Way less information-rich: the amount of information presented on each screen is pared way down.
- Even with less info on the page, the lack of color makes it harder to get to and assimilate the info I'm seeking.
- The lack of images also makes it way less interesting / visually compelling. You've overdone it on the "corporate white space style" trend. The old style was like a picture book, emphasizing the personal content for each community. Now it's like dying on the operating table and floating into the blinding, all consuming light.
On the upside, the real estate available for ads is way, way, up, which is just fantastic!!!
I have a new tagline for you:
"TRIBE: Bulldozing Internet Communities Since 1999"
- More clicks to get to the info I'm looking for.
- Way less information-rich: the amount of information presented on each screen is pared way down.
- Even with less info on the page, the lack of color makes it harder to get to and assimilate the info I'm seeking.
- The lack of images also makes it way less interesting / visually compelling. You've overdone it on the "corporate white space style" trend. The old style was like a picture book, emphasizing the personal content for each community. Now it's like dying on the operating table and floating into the blinding, all consuming light.
On the upside, the real estate available for ads is way, way, up, which is just fantastic!!!
I have a new tagline for you:
"TRIBE: Bulldozing Internet Communities Since 1999"
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 12:51 PMAlso, I meant to add, your new brand looks like it belongs to Target:
www.target.com
What a lovely, high quality brand association you've got there! -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 1:02 PMhi dru --
actually, your usability comment brings up a point that shatter sort of mentioned in another thread.
navigation for the color blind.
when i was designing my website, i found info on designing using color for the colorblind and others with visual or other problems that are made worse by computers (migraines also comes to mind, that's been mentioned too).
color blind people most times are red/green colorblind. so they see red as grey, and green as grey.
so the navigation buttons on the new tribe to them are...
grey and grey.
i love grey as a background color (or cream or blue, or even black if the print is made white, or light blue).
also, the extensive use of sans serif typeface....
bad, bad bad....anyone who knows typefaces will tell you readability of text is enhanced by serifs.....
personally, palatino is my favorite.
i did let wade know the white was a problem.
if i were to consider buying an ad on this site, i wouldn't, because it's just too hard on the eyes for anyone to use for very long. if they're not here long, they're not seeing my ad.
also, my ad wouldn't look good on a field of white on a 'puter. white is sterile. sterile is dead. why would i want to advertise on a space that looks dead? -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 1:09 PMWhite == sterile == dead.
Isabeau, Isabeau, I couldn't agree more.
(Btw, I'm not surprised that you like grey... but I thought you were more into red these days? :-) -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 2:26 PMstarting at the end of the month i will be into red daily (dog year....me be dog, gotta keep the good luck coming!)
actually, i changed my screen to windows classic rainy day. now my typing is on this background of a wonderful bluish grey, so it's cutting down on the snowblind effect.
red for a touch here and there is fine, like maybe just in the tribe logo itself. but the rest of it....um, three color schemes are nice for a reason ;-).
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 2:59 PM"
also, the extensive use of sans serif typeface....
bad, bad bad....anyone who knows typefaces will tell you readability of text is enhanced by serifs..... "
This a a rule for PRINT. On the web its pretty much reverse. How many sites do you see that use a serif face for copy???? -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 4:19 PMnot enough...pixel? pixie? pixel pixie?.
it would be easier if it was serif, if there's long paragraphs of type.
for single sentences like this, sans serif is okay.
a nice compromise is friz quadrata (sorta serif, but sorta not). -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 7:42 AM"not enough...pixel? pixie? pixel pixie?."
Hahaha... if you say so... i avoid serifs like the plague. So much so if a site uses them i go to my preferences and overide to a sans serif - annoyed that i have to do so the entire time. Now in print its a different story....
"it would be easier if it was serif, if there's long paragraphs of type."
It depends on the browser and platform of the user. In firefox mac (and safari) Serif faces generally look like shit compared to sans serif.
"a nice compromise is friz quadrata (sorta serif, but sorta not)."
Most average users arent going to have Friz Qudrata or Palatino. I have them.. but i also have the entire Adobe OpenType Edition Fontfolio as well as Fontfolio 7 (PS). But for most people you have to stick with your general system fonts: Times, Verdana, Courier, Geneva, Helvetica etc..
And BTW Friz is a Humanist Sans... Same class as Frutiger or Avenir (and quite a number of others). -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 7:43 AMand its Pixel... or PixelSlut... -
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 9:05 AMi would never call you a slut ;-)
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 12:18 PMhaha
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 1:04 PM
The worst usability problem you have is the big My Tribe bubble on the top left nav.
You put two separate navigation paths in a single graphical element! One goes to my homepage, the other goes to the area listing (in this case, SF Bay Area).
Violation, violation.
Every single new user of tribe is gonna trip, stumble, and fall on that one.
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 4:04 PMI tripped, fell and got completely lost. Thought there was no way to see my tribes ever again for as long as I lived.
Thanks for the hint, but I have to say this is really, really bad.
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 10:19 PM
Tribe, are you listening? David's profile says, in part:
"My strongest skill is the creation of software with empathy for the user. I like to put myself in the user's shoes and create something radically streamlined and simplified so that it's easy to learn, use and grow with."
Any reason not to believe him when he says he's a usability expert? This is the guy who "got completely lost" in your UI.
I'd be very interested to learn about your usability studies and usability certification process. Who, what, where, when, how many...
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Fri, January 20, 2006 - 4:12 PMDru brought up some great points, I have to agree with the new style majorly lacking in most aspects.
- Usability and readability is non existant. All of Tribe is no longer visually enticing.
- Color (or lackthereof) has got to go. The WHHHHIIIIIIITTTTEEEEE just screams out at you. The new style is basic and bland.
- Too much clicking around to get to places.
- Images, please bring them back! As was already said, the decrease in images and color make it hard to find what you're looking for.
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Re: Usability and Readability are Awful. Tufte Would be Horrified.
Sat, January 21, 2006 - 10:25 PMfankly my dear i don't give a damn about the cosmetic part.
the real problem on tribe is much deeper and much more serious than that (e.g. censorship, TOU etc).
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