Vertical webpages

NathanT · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:35

Horizontal webpages

So, I've just been tinkering with a site that I made up for a company a few months back adding some additional images, and thought I would ask you guys what you thought of the principle and idea of having a website that navigates horizontally.

The original concept was the website was going to represent the guys desk, with all of this drawings and designs layed out randomly, but that got messy very quickly so we had to organise it and uniform a bit more.

I guess its now more of a continuous slideshow, its grown a lot larger than I originally intended and personally like, and that is why I'm probably going to have to go back and re-think the navigation.

Its a little bit different, but then the client is a bit extravagant and was dead set on it being done this way.

http://www.thorpewheatley.com/

Edited title as being a prat I originally posted Vertical not Horizontal

Russinating · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:39

You mean horizontally?

If so, web pages are usually vertical for a reason - they're easier to navigate and more flexible.

Martins · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:40

What's that website for? I've scrolled back and forth several times and still have no idea what the guy does or why I should hire him to do it...

NathanT · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:44

rghjones said:
You mean horizontally?

Yes, I do, complete brain fart

NathanT · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:53

Martins said:
What's that website for? I've scrolled back and forth several times and still have no idea what the guy does or why I should hire him to do it...

The website is not for enticing customers from the web as he has a pretty select client base, anyone on the site is going to have been directed there by him. He's an industrial architect so will only be approached by people that know of his name already.

He just wanted something a bit different than a run of the mill site (he didn't really even want a website until he was getting some new business cards printed and the printer gave him a funny look when he said he had no web address)

I know vertical webs are the way to go as general rule, as this is only the second "horizontal" site I have seen.

Russinating · 27 Jul 2009 at 18:56

NathanT said:
Yes, I do, complete brain fart

Thought so

.

First up, the page doesn't navigate correctly on a wide screen monitor (which is fairly commonplace nowadays). Basically I can see two-thirds off the second slide, and so I automatically go to use that navigation ( < > H ) which skips slides 2 and 3.

Perhaps to get around this the navigation could be fixed at the top/bottom rather than being on every page as on further slides I can see two sets of navs (which all gets very confusing towards the end).

As has been said, there's not much information. It's all very visual and lacks content. I'm guessing he's an architect? I'd have worked that out one minute quicker if it had just said that on the first page. Whether people going there know of him or not they'll still want confirmation that they're in the right place.

The low quality images also put me off - I'd trying upping the quality. Most people at home have 2mb+ broadband and I'm guessing your target audience is large multinational companies which should have even faster access.

suarve · 27 Jul 2009 at 20:30

Martins said:
What's that website for? I've scrolled back and forth several times and still have no idea what the guy does or why I should hire him to do it...

I'm with you. Have been looking at it for 5 mins now and have no idea what's about - not even in rought idea/clue.

NathanT · 27 Jul 2009 at 20:46

Like I said, its not something you are going to stumble upon or what you would find on a google search unless your looking for an architect to build you an airport.

My original idea of making the post was to ask if anyone else has any experience or ideas having a website that navigates horizontally

EdAllonby · 27 Jul 2009 at 20:50

Lol it grabs attention.

Mattus · 28 Jul 2009 at 18:01

I quite like the concept. It just needs some usability tweaks.

Firstly, people want to be able to scroll with the mouse wheel. Seeing as the site's a bit different from the norm, it's reassuring and will allow them to get to grips with it more quickly. All you need is a bit of JavaScript which translates wheel movement into a horizontal scroll. If you do it with JQuery, there are plugins to make it scroll more smoothly.

Secondly, I think it needs a simple header and a fixed navigation bar above the part that scrolls. Even if all it does is scrolls the content back and forth, it would make the site a lot more functional. At the moment it's quite easy to get 'lost'.