Usability Tools Podcast: Mouseovers in Navigation
Usability Tools Podcast: Mouseovers in Navigation
Recorded: November 20th, 2007 from the studios of UIE
Brian Christiansen, UIE Podcast Producer
Duration: 24 min | File size: 14 MB
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Each week in our Usability Tools Podcast, we will be sitting down to discuss tips and tools for improving your site’s user experience. We’ll share some of the most important findings from UIE’s research on web design and usability.
It’s tempting to spend a ton of time creating slick flyout, dropdown, or pop-up navigation on our site, but is it worth the effort?
This week, Brian Christiansen and I discuss interactive mouseover techniques for navigation. Are they a good idea when it comes to actually using your site? Based on our testing, we don’t think so.
Some of the issues we address are:
- Why would designers want to use mouseover navigation?
- How do mouseovers become an obstacle to navigation?
- What effect does mouseover navigation have on users finding their trigger words?
- What sites are good examples of navigation without mouseovers?
Here’s our list of referenced links for the episode:
- The UIE research article that started it all: User’s Decide First, Move Second
- Our research in link-rich home pages: an article, Lifestyles of Link-Rich Home Pages; a podcast, Home Page Design; and a 90-minute Virtual Seminar, Initial Scent: The Latest Thinking on Home Page Design.
- Our research on gallery pages: an article, Galleries: The Hardest Working Pages On Your Site; a podcast, Gallery Pages; and a 90-minute Virtual Seminar, Gallery Pages: The Hardest Working Pages on Your Site.
- Two sites we believe are good examples of link-rich designs: Staples.com and Analog.com.
As always, we’re very interested in hearing from you. Do you have questions or comments about this episode? We love to create shows based on your questions. Please leave a comment below or email us directly at [email protected].
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