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"ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)" <[log in to unmask]>
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HK Dunston <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 4 Nov 1999 17:48:10 -0800
Reply-To:
Quinn Norton <[log in to unmask]>
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From:
Quinn Norton <[log in to unmask]>
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On Wed, 3 Nov 1999, HK Dunston wrote:

> hi there
>
> following up on the discussion a few days ago about super-fancy flash sites,
> I'm curious what you all think about
>
> http//www.boo.com

saw it in beta a few weeks ago. it was really bad then, thing is it's not
much improved. at least now you can get ms boo to go away and stay away.
that was a strange sort of hell. :>

> Of course there are usability problems here, but I don't hate it. Again,
> it's not for everyone, but at the same time, I think that it speaks
> incredibly well to its audience.

i *think* i am its audience. well, i liked the clothes anyway.

> As web designers we are probably going to be faced with challenges  like
> this one - how do you do make a site that isn't the same as all the other
> sites, but still make it accessible to as many people as possible. Here's a
> group that has grappled with that problem without completely surrendering
> all functionality. As opposed to balthaser.com, this site isn't just *flash*
> (sorry!); there is actually supposed to be a "there" there.
>
> Have they succeeded?

i really really think no. even without the flash issue the site is nearly
impossible to use, and while its supposedly engaging for it's audience i
doubt its audience can actually sucessfully use the site. there are so
many problems trying to get places and use features it feels daunting to
try and talk about them all. just in trying to shop for clothes i got way
too many results or sometimes none at all in a full catagory. the layout
was inconsistant, with text over images in places where they obviously
didn't mean for that to happen... images running off the page that i
didn't track... sometimes i had to press something several times to get
any sort of feedback. if i wanted to browse other clothes i had to go back
to the beginning and start again. they threw a glut of features at me and
then didn't let me use them in a consistant manner. clicking on one window
surprised me in another and lost my place, things that could be dragged
one way couldn't be dragged back, things that looked like links weren't...
etc. the site managed to be slow on my dsl line at home, and on the
freeserve line at my friend's house, it was molassas.

on the up side the site make and attempt to be self documenting with
instructions in all of its pop off windows on how to use them, and for
the most part they aren't vague. in the end though, it was so hard to work
out how to *buy* something, and what i was buying anyway. the fun of the
site wore off the second time there, and i just wanted to get to the end.
it was frustrating that i liked some of the clothes. it was frustrating
knowing they're for sale online and i'd still rather go out to the store,
as much as i hate stores.

my friend suggested registering booboo.com with text links listing the
clothes that go directly to purchasing.

i think i'd actually use that.

quinn
    ________________________________
     http://www.ambiguous.org/quinn

ps favorite boo boo from this viewing: "Using your browser's "back" button
will delete your order information. To go back, click on "previous" at the
bottom of this page."  said previous button was greyed out.

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