emchi.co.uk

As some of you may know I work with web technologies.  At the moment specifically I’m looking at a massive intranet re-development.  So part of what I do, is to look at usability and accessibility.  Most of the sites I’ve looked at have had to try and comply with WAI standards.  So one of the biggest websites that I always follow for changes is BBC.  They seem to be one of the few organisations that spends a lot of time and effort (read money) in developing websites that are of a really high standard.  They take the time to combine current trends with accessibility.

So I was reasonably surprised to be presented with a new BBC home page a few weeks ago, being a div, I haven’t really had a chance to look at the site until today.  It would appear at the moment it’s only the home page that has undergone a massive update, but even so you have to look at it for it’s revolutionary approach to delivering content.

When I say revolutionary, I mean look for the navigation.  Breaking with a massive norm, the main navigation is at the bottom of the page, below the fold.  To do something like this, and not have people shouting “you can’t do that” is quite an achievement.  I suspect not many people have noticed though, because what you’re presented with is an eye catching diversion from the norm.

At first glance the page does appear a bit cluttered, but if you stop for a moment and click your way around it’s very well thought out.  Whilst they have taken the time to include bright promo panels, they don’t flash and move around distracting you from the content.  OK so they don’t have to have advertising on the site, but you have to ask why so many companies need to cram in as much junk as possible.  There is no need for it, a well thought out advertising policy, that’s controlled by the site owners and not by the advertising agencies that buy the space is important.  Anyway, I feel that even if BBC had to have advertising content on the site, they would approach the problem with good thought and the users of the site in mind.

The customisation abilities of the page on their own are quite impressive.  You can control you location in individual components or select a page wide change to your location.  So if you want to keep an eye on the weather in one part of the country, but the news in another, it lets you do that.  Quite clever.

As for the seemless changes to the colour when you click on the bottom tabs of the promo box on the right of the screen, completely effortless. Smooth transition without juddering effects.  It’s a really well presented page.  I hear on the grapevine that the news and sports pages are due for release next week, I’m looking forward to seeing what changes they have made here, as it’s always been one of my favourite websites.  Let’s hope they’ve moved into the middle of the page and lost the big chunk of whitespace down the right of the screen.

Now for website nightmares… go check out the Sky Showbiz news website.  What they were thinking? I have no idea, but with lack of decent navigation, page weighting, structure or sense of direction, it’s a wonder anyone uses the site any more.  With all the money they have, and all the design agencies in London, they end up with something that’s akin to Heathrow Terminal 5, i.e. a complete disaster.