Design Rationale

It’s worth reiterating that the CDG probably isn’t intended for casual, non-scientific users.  However, the bigger problem from a user interface viewpoint is the fact that it can’t seem to decide whether it’s intended for frequent users.

As a result, it has an ongoing identity crisis about how accessible it wants to be, and how easily it wants to allow users to provide input and new content.

Based on those factors, we’d suggest posting a YouTube tutorial right up front, to help walk through a variety of problematic user populations: casual users, non-web-savvy ecological science folks, and first-time users.

This would also have the benefit of showing off the various features of the site, and provide a more immediate multimedia presence on the front page than the existing slide show.

New Media

Since we last looked at the front page, the CDG added a pretty cool new slide, so there’s definitely no change from a multimedia presence right up front.

Sort of final graphics

This gallery contains 5 photos.

For now, you’re just going to have to imagine the slideshow graphics.

3C Comment Reply

In response to the suggestions, we decided to break down our main page into three basic content boxes (excluding the logo/header):

1. Simplified dropdown menu.  This means: a) renaming the “External” category to something less confusing, such as “resources”, etc.; b) limiting each dropdown column to no more than two levels.

2.  Expanded JavaScript slideshow, featuring: a) an initial slide describing “what is” the CDG; b) additional content relocated from the “popular data sets” and “featured topics” boxes; c) and additional slides for rotating content.

3.  A very bright/distinct, aggressive box sharing the central part of the screen with the slideshow, containing an invitation for new users, and/or a login for existing ones.  This will be the touchstone that all users can recognize as a starting point.  This will link to the same “About” page as the “about” header in the dropdown, as well as the initial slide in the slideshow.

Let’s see what this looks like.

Where do these links go?

The “search” “share” and “join” buttons seem to be very user friendly. They are large, easy to see, and users should be able to guess where the link will take them.

The “search” button does do what a user would expect. It takes you to the search page. However, the “join” button takes the user to a log in page with no other explanation.

To improve usability this page should have some instructions about joining the site.

The “share” button and the “Ten questions about data sets” slide both take users to the same page and the page is confusing to navigate. There are quotes at the top that I’m guessing are meant to promote the need for contributors, but there is no real explanation for why they are there. The “ten questions” are on that page but users need to scroll way down to the bottom. In addition, the slide show blurb makes it appear as though scientists are actually answering these questions, but the questions act more as contributor guidelines. The side bar to the right clutters the page further.

 

 

 

To improve usability the “share” and “ten questions” pages need to be made two separate pages. Include the quotes on the “share” page to make them more of a marketing tool. The right side bar should be removed. A new page featuring the “ten questions” needs to be created. This page should link to data sets on the site that feature scientists/researchers addressing these questions.

Menu Bar, Revisited

But the top menu bar is still confusing, with weird categories like “external” and a poorly functioning search element.  So let’s get rid of those:

Stop Dropping

We also looked at cancelling out the dropdown overload taking place.  This would entail each individual menu bar target having its own, more comprehensive page.  This would also require more clickthroughs, but less user fatigue, since each intermediate page would require less intense examination.

This might require a brief sidebar of popular links at the left or bottom of the front page, or a breakdown of the “Popular Data Sets” box.  Another possibility would be a direct navbar to the various data sets, which could possibly fit next to the slimmed down main page:

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.