www.thehipperelement.com BETA -- testers please.

[JoelTHE]

FK,

I built this with Flash 8. I would especially like people using different browsers and Mac's to check it out and make sure everything works well.

Any other feedback will be appreciated. When you give feedback, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR OS, BROWSER, AND MAC/PC. Thanks.

SPECIAL NOTE: If you get to the wasp and there's no buttons, you need the new player, but I'd still like you to tell me that happened, please.

The link is www.TheHipperElement.com

Thanks!

[mark_my_words]

thats awesome... only when you click on a link (such as the file that appears) and the window appears.. theres no way to exit out of it. Unless you push the main menu button.

other then that, its nice.

[JoelTHE]

Thanks for the compliments.

Can you clarify your comment about not being able to get out?

In the portfolio part when you load up something in the smaller white box, to get out you just click anywhere outside the box. Is that what you mean?

Also, what browser/os/etc.? Please and thanks.

[JoelTHE]

Please post any comments, even if it worked fine...there have been too many views for only 2 posts.

Just let me know if it worked.

Thanks.

[ThreeLefts]

Ok, first off I like the idea and the graphics... it's nice and different.

Suggestions:

On the main menu, when the menu bar slides down to each area... at first I was thinking you could click on the bar too... not just the bee. So maybe make an invisible button on the bar itself too.

When you are in the services/portfolio section and open one of the info/image boxes, I would suggest maybe a light grey X in the corner as another way to close it. I wasn't sure how to get out of that section for a second there (what I think the other poster was talking about).

The portfolio section can get a little confusing, all the icons look the same and shift around when you click them (I understand that they are moving the next one into place, but still). I would suggest making a small window in the top right corner or something (maybe use a honeycomb or something - whatever) that gives a thumbnail when you mouse over each icon, that way you don't have to lose the style of everything being consistant, but someone can still go back to a design that they want to see again without as much searching.

Finally, it took me a second to figure out how to get back to the main menu. When you are in an area the "Main Menu" in the corner just looks like more static text... I would suggest some sort of indicator... maybe just animate it in after everything is in place or something. It's not all that serious though.

Besides it being a little confusing to navigate for a first time user, I like it very much! Keep up the good work!!

[JoelTHE]

Threelefts,

All great feedback, thanks. You touched on a couple things I have been wondering about as well. I have follow-up comments for you:

My intent was to make a site that takes a little exploring, but that never frustrates you in the process. I don't mind people taking a second to find things if it's interesting, but I mind it a lot if they feel lost. Know what I mean? Where would you say I sit in that range of feeling when you're going through the site...were there parts that were like "Oh, there it is!" that could be left alone or, conversely, were there parts where you were more like "Ok, where the hell is the button!" where I really should take a good look at it?

Either way, I think I'm with you on the Main Menu buttons, they slowly glow right now, but I don't think it's enough, I'll put it on my list of things to tweak.

The portfolio thumbnail may not be possible, but you have me thinking about other ways to make it easier to find something again...I probably didn't consider that as much as I should have.

And your comment about the main menu bar was also interesting. The catch is then when you move off the wasp it makes that bar disappear. However, now I'm thinking it might be cool if the bar was also the button...which will take a little coding because right now the body-part buttons make the bar appear and the bar would have to be a button with a dynamic link...anyway, it's doable...

Thanks again. Please respond again if you have further thoughts.

[aaron.bennett]

I really like the layout, the colours are crisp and the bee looks awesome.

I can tell your a dab hand at the scripting and it shows through.

there are two minor (and I mean teeny weeney) things that I would have changed.

I didnt have a problem navigating around the site, I pre read the post before hand though, so knew how to go backward and close the image window, but I dont think I would have had a problem, for me the first thing was the portfolio section took too long to come in - Im not running a very powerful mac, but I did sit there thinking, god how many people has this company worked for?

Secondly, I did get a tad frustrated when the text went under the bee, I then had to click on it to read it.

I can appreciate you want to go for this effect where you encourage people to explore your site and move around, Im trained that if it's difficult to read or slightly confusing, chances are people won't bother. It just striked me as a bit odd.

Apart from that I cant fault it. Nice selection of clients in the portfolio as well.
Im running on a iMac G4 800 mhz
1 Gig RAM
Safari with Flash Player 8
2 MB Broadband connection

OSX Tiger 10.4.2

[Nogol]

I did get a tad frustrated when the text went under the bee, I then had to click on it to read it.

like he said... the wasp/bee is blocking...


PowerMac G4 1Ghz
OS 10.2.8
256MB RAM
Safari
Flash Player 8
1 MB connection

[JoelTHE]

I did sit there thinking, god how many people has this company worked for?

Man, I laughed when I read that. It might not be a bad thing, necessarily, if people think there's a crapload of work there. But I might be able to tweak it a bit to come in a little quicker.

Glad to have some MAC/Safari users stop by, thanks guys, it's a big help. And Mr. Bennet, I'm glad you have returned the feedback favour; I just gave you feedback on your site earlier this week.

In regards to the text under the wasp, fair enough...I assume you're referring to the "Business" section with the actual paragraphs...

In response: Clicking it and having it move to be readable was kind of the lesser of two evils. I can't get rid of the wasp, because I don't want it to enter and exit every time you enter and exit the main menu. Having it go transparent like the other sections and trying to read through it would be brutal, so that's out. I have too much text to fit comfortably at once around the wasp (also three sections of text), so I had to do something to make it accessible. If it's off screen, nobody will know it's there.

I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks again though, I love all this intelligent feedback, and thanks for the compliments...I'm not great at scripting yet, but I'm trying. The wasp was made in Illustrator and Photoshop and took me a couple days; I'm glad it's getting noticed.

I suppose it's a good thing that minor usability issues are the main comments; it implies that everything else is fairly adequate, right? Plus, I think everybody can use some usability feedback when making an unconventional site.

[aaron.bennett]

Hey Joel.

I didnt mean at all thats its a bad thing to have soooo many clients, actually is a REALLY good thing, I think it was more the time they took to load in.

No probs on returning the feedback - once you posted about my site I really wanted to see what you have been responsible for. Share and share alike. Am glad I did as its such a cool example of good design and scripting.

Can fully understand your reasons for having the bee. And can now understand why the text moves rather than the bee.

On the grand scale, I would probably leave it the way it is, the fact the text has to move to make it readable is minor. Because it is an unconventional site, it shows that you want people to explore the site more than just clicking on the standard buttons (like mine!) - but that makes it that bit more interesting.

Hope this helps.

Aaron B

[JoelTHE]

Thanks. I appreciate all the comments, they have definitely helped.

A bunch of your comments made it onto my to-do list for the site, which I'll probably work through this weekend.

Thanks Aaron. I'll post on here when my site is "completed".

[ouz_ae]

Hey man

How you doing? Just returning the favor as promised. Also please note, if any of my comments have already been mentioned, I do apologize, it’s just that I didn’t read any of the previous posts.

First of all, great graphics, they are clean and have a fresh feel to them, good work. The menu bar is also sweet, but when you come down to services, it gets covered by the wing. Maybe you could align everything on the left side ‘left’ and everything on the right side of the menu ‘right’.

Contact page is fine.

Business page is good. But you must always remember the golden rule when designing web pages. That the user is stupid. For all of us flash designers, it would be obvious for us to click on values for it to be displayed. Many people wouldn’t know this and hence wouldn’t be able to read it.

Portfolio is also un-user friendly. Many of the file icons are hidden behind the wasp. It is good that you have made the icons changed colour once they were viewed, but maybe make it a colour that stands out more rather then a darker shade of grey.

Services has some really nice scripting going on. Again I would just say the problem is the wasp covering up some of the titles and that they don’t change colour so that the user knows he has already visited them.

Overall I would say, just change the colour of items that have already been viewed to a noticeable colour. Try to work around the wasp always covering up icons or menus, maybe make the wasp alpha when the user clicks on contact, portfolio etc. Tidy up services in the main menu so that the wing doesn’t cover it. Oh and also, when the user clicks any of the main menu items, it is unclear how to return to the main menu. You have made the main menu button in the top left fade from grey to white, again, it isn’t noticeable… remember the golden rule.

Great work though… can’t wait to see the finished product.

Internet Explorer 6.0
Win XP

[JoelTHE]

Thanks for the compliments!

The Contact page will be updated to be a form soon. I'm having some issues with that part though (PHP is a weakness of mine), whatever is there now is temporary.

Know what's funny about the business page? Of all the people I have had test it, only designers have mentioned the hidden text as a problem. This site is meant to challenge some of the "golden rule" ideas...people aren't as stupid as you might think. AND, this site really isn't for the general public, so I'm not too worried. If anything, designers tend to be over-cautious, which is why they're great for feedback!

The wasp does alpha so you can see what's under it. You have to mouse over it though...but you have to get your mouse there to click the stuff anyway, so it's fine.

Your point about using a more visible colour for used portfolio icons is a good one, I had considered that before...I will look into it, thanks.

I will also add a colour change to the services buttons...why didn't I think of that?

The Main Menu buttons are already on my list of things to do, many people have had trouble locating it. This might be the single best thing I have learned from this feedback.

In terms of the main menu, my question to you is this: If you can read that it says 'services' then why is being under the wing bad? This is kind of what I am talking about as far as design rules for websites; just because it's different doesn't mean it isn't functional. Nobody has ever asked what the fourth button says, so I think it willl stay as is. Personally, I think being under the wing adds some realism and depth so it feels like the wasp is more three-dimensional.

I appreciate the feedback, thanks for your time!