Say I click logos, and then click the arrow to see more of them. I'd like a way to be able to instantly close the logos tab rather than having to press the other arrow a few times. It's fustrating that it takes so many clicks to get back to the main menu, if you know what I mean!
Does horizontal web design.. work?
- Thread starter Inazuma
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Soldato
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Ah right, I see what you mean. Thanks for that. It didn't come up at all that people would want to completely close something without opening something else, but I guess if you've opened everything the item to the right is quite far away!
Earth[Tera].bin;13223019 said:
lol! is it intentional that this is the same URL from the OP?
Sic, that site you linked to looks lovely; the dynamics are a subtle touch.
But it really REALLY REALLY needs some form of floating "collapse/home" button, top left to compensate for the non-standard [and therefore not ideally intuitive] interface. Otherwise you're making users think, and as you know users hate having to do that!
Incidentally, how would one point someone to a specific element, say, the Risen Business Consultants logo design?
Personally, I'm sceptical of horizontal sites, as the conventional paradigm - set in stone for millions of users - is scrolling down [probably] with the aid of a hardware device like a scrollwheel. Not that convention alone is enough to shy away from a horizontal site; but it's the old "making people think = bad!" problem. A horizontal site has to be that much better designed to overcome hurdles that simply aren't present in vertical sites.
But it really REALLY REALLY needs some form of floating "collapse/home" button, top left to compensate for the non-standard [and therefore not ideally intuitive] interface. Otherwise you're making users think, and as you know users hate having to do that!
Incidentally, how would one point someone to a specific element, say, the Risen Business Consultants logo design?
Personally, I'm sceptical of horizontal sites, as the conventional paradigm - set in stone for millions of users - is scrolling down [probably] with the aid of a hardware device like a scrollwheel. Not that convention alone is enough to shy away from a horizontal site; but it's the old "making people think = bad!" problem. A horizontal site has to be that much better designed to overcome hurdles that simply aren't present in vertical sites.
I think it desperately needs to have implemented a vertical-to-horizontal scroll translation system, like the deanoakley site has.
The thing a lot of designers forget is that a scrollwheel isn't perceived as a "scroll down" device; instead it's a "proceed along the flow of content" device.
Thanks 
Having been through it, you're right - it is missing a floating "close" type thing. That never even occurred to me, and if it occurred to the designer, he was quiet about it!
When it was done, pointing to a specific item was out of scope - the client was short on cash and the direct link thing was an optional extra that he could do without. If I were to implement it, though, I'd have the project linked to as the default item when the page loads, and have it animate-open on load. It's all driven by JSON files (no database access on his hosting and seeing as it's mostly asynchronous, JSON made more sense than DB) so that'd be totally doable.
Cheers for your feedback
Having been through it, you're right - it is missing a floating "close" type thing. That never even occurred to me, and if it occurred to the designer, he was quiet about it!
When it was done, pointing to a specific item was out of scope - the client was short on cash and the direct link thing was an optional extra that he could do without. If I were to implement it, though, I'd have the project linked to as the default item when the page loads, and have it animate-open on load. It's all driven by JSON files (no database access on his hosting and seeing as it's mostly asynchronous, JSON made more sense than DB) so that'd be totally doable.
Cheers for your feedback
I've also just noticed - perfect favicon![...] Cheers for your feedback
I was able to pinpoint the site among my mass of tabs instantly, and seeing as that's become the primary purpose of a favicon in these tabbed-browser days, kudos!
It's the attention to these little details that all add up to lift a design above the average
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I love all of the sites quoted, not just for the (relative) 'unique' factor, but it just feels a lot more natural. Like turning a page in a book sort of natural...
There is a reason why so few sites scroll horizontally and that is simple ergonomics. When reading, we prefer narrow, long pages. Hence books are the way they, hence the vast majority of website have a limited width, hence we have PgUp/PgDn keys and not PgAcross keys.
I had a look at a few of those sites, and they were all as awkward to view as expected; the massiveblack one actually scrolled vertically for me - have they learned their lesson already, or a quirk of my UA?
Ironically, there is a current fad for widescreen TVs/monitors. They are good for certain types of gaming but actually fly against the ergonomic grain for many other purposes. Obvious not designed for ergonomics, but more for economics; widescreen films came about because it was easier, safer and cheaper to build build wider cinemas (rather than taller cinemas) in the quest to squeeze in more punters.
I had a look at a few of those sites, and they were all as awkward to view as expected; the massiveblack one actually scrolled vertically for me - have they learned their lesson already, or a quirk of my UA?
Ironically, there is a current fad for widescreen TVs/monitors. They are good for certain types of gaming but actually fly against the ergonomic grain for many other purposes. Obvious not designed for ergonomics, but more for economics; widescreen films came about because it was easier, safer and cheaper to build build wider cinemas (rather than taller cinemas) in the quest to squeeze in more punters.
I'd disagree. I think the wheel *is* a scroll down wheel (among it's many other uses). Hence many mice, mine included have an (unused) scroll horizontal capability.
Just because you could use it that way, it doesn't make it any more logical to use it as a horizontal scroll- in fact, it is positively counter-intuitive, IMHO.