Some thoughts

• The slideshow only has two items in it. That doesn’t make for much of a rotating slideshow. I think coming up with 4-6 slides that really encapsulated the core concepts of the Climate Data Guide would make a much stronger front page.
• Noticed that some of the nav bar links have hover text that describes what the link is about. This is just plain bizarre. If your nav link requires explanation. Then you are doing it wrong. A nav link should ideally be brief and easily understood so as to simplify navigation. Their nav bar has soo much in it that it somehow manages to complicate it. I tried to take a screenshot of the hover text but my mac isn’t playing nice tonight. One example is that if you hover on the link “External” it says “external sites relevant to the Climate Data Guide”
  • This brings up the point why didn’t they just use the word “links” for that menu item. Good user design involves following internet conventions so that the user knows what to expect
• I like the featured topics and popular data sets lists. I think they do a good job of showcasing part of what the Climate Data Guide is all about. Maybe they could become slides?
• Put a log in link up at the top to encourage users to log in and contribute. Perhaps it could be in the upper right hand corner or in the nav bar?
• Clicking About Us and Home taking you to the same page. This is just bizarre, unexpected, and confusing. About Us should take you to a page that gives a brief introduction to what the website is all about.
• This website seems intent on burying the lead. The project is such a cool idea but there is simply too much clutter to really even get a handle on what’s going on. Everything needs to be simplified and streamlined. This may mean cutting some content but in the end a simpler website will be better able to communicate to the user what it is about and that will make people more likely to participate. Increased participation is one of the outcomes that NCAR really hopes to achieve with a redesign.

Better searching through technology

The search page begs for faceted searching. WorldCat.org demonstrates faceted search interface for bibliographic data. This site would be a great model for a redesign of the search functionality for the Climate Data Guide.

Users enter keyword(s) into the search bar and limiters appear to the left. The number of results returned on clicking a limiter are displayed next to the specific limiter. Leaving the search bar blank returns all data sets. Clicking a limiter will update the returned results in the main body of the page. Using faceted searching in this manner allows for greater search functionality and displays results so that users can more readily see them.

Priority Table

Main page redesign possibilities

We discussed two potential redesigns of the main page:

1) Pare down the front page drastically. Remove most of the text, so users would not have to scroll down at all on the home page. The logo would remain at the top and would move toward the center (this is more of an aesthetic change than a usability change). The navigation bar would also move toward the center to be more inline with the user’s eyesight which would follow the body of the page. A “log in” button will be added to the top of the page. We would leave the slideshow and add in an clear and focused “about” blurb. The inspiration for this redesign came from the Gapminder main page. http://www.gapminder.org/

Gapminder home page

Usability advantage: The main page looks cluttered. It is difficult to decide where to look or click. As evidenced in “dreadful dropdowns” the navbar is difficult to use in its current state. Users cannot decipher what information will appear when clicking on links. This discourages site browsing and extended use. First time users should be drawn in to a simple, clean, page and will be able to determine the mission of the site at a glance. Returning users will easily be able to see where to click to log in and contribute.

2) Have a simple navbar to the left and add a basic search bar at the top right. Then add lists that represent the more important dropdowns (“data” and “processing”) with clickable links in the main body of the page to the left.  This second iteration is modeled after the NOAA National Climate Data Center. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/

Usability advantage: This version would allow users to scan their options from the main page. There still might be some information overload, and the site won’t be as friendly to novice users but people with particular data needs would be able to find what they need quickly.

Searchable data?

For a site all about datasets it sure is difficult to search for them. There is a basic search function and users may apply different limiters. However, the limiters may only be applied one at a time and the user must click “apply” and wait as the script processes before the limiter will actually be applied. The results of the limiters being applied refresh below the search function, but it is difficult to see any changes.

Dreadful Dropdowns

The immediate issue with the dropdown menus: breadth.  Depth can be a good thing, but here we just see a ton of overwhelming content.

Intros Are Intro

The existing design doesn’t do very much to clearly explain the purpose of the site to newer users.

Too Much Interesting Stuff

It’s clear that there’s a lot of unnecessary clutter on the home page:

About the Climate Data Guide

Affiliated with NCAR (The National Center for Atmospheric Research) the Climate Data Guide site was developed to provide a showcase for climate data sets, to encourage dialogue about the data, and to promote broader access and appropriate use of the data. The site is focused with a target audience of researchers, academics, and professionals. Participants are asked to submit peer-reviewed, freely available data and to comment on, make corrections to, or assist in the use of this data. Moderators ensure quality commentary. The public are welcome to view the site, but are strongly discouraged from contributing.

Unfortunately participation has not been as active as the founders of the Climate Data Guide had wished. We hope that some design changes with usability in mind will encourage more participation.