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New Design: Too much?

by CreekChub
10 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Howdy Folks,

I design primarily in Wordpress, and I've been playing around a bit with Parallax lately. This is a new design that I'm working on. The question is: is it "too much?" I want to say it works, but there's a little gremlin in the back of my mind telling me that I'm using the bells and whistles because I can - not because it's the right thing to do. The interior pages are pretty much bare right now, mostly considered with the home/landing page. Here it is:

South Bend Paper and Packaging | St. Joe Paper
#design
  • Profile picture of the author LynnM
    The moving header was a little freaky as it started, then stopped, then started again. Second time it didn't work at all, third time it did. Possibly my internet connection? Aside from that, it looks good imho, not over the top - from someone who's not a Parallax fan.
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    • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
      Yes and no, on your internet connection. It's actually a video - and right now, a pretty large one. Hence, the hiccups. I need to compress it much, much more and that should help quite a bit. Good to hear about the parallax, as that was my main concern. Thanks for the input!
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  • Profile picture of the author thatjc
    For me (DSL 1,200 bps) in Chrome, the zoom is very jerky and hesitates for several seconds between zooms. Also a noticeable lag before the large black text on white near the fold changes to a more decorative font.

    And the dark grey top header text is much too dark against the black background.
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    • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
      Thanks. Right on all accounts. I haven't done anything to optimize images (some of them are very large) and the "zoom" (which is actually a video) is currently a resource hog. Next step is optimizing everything so that it loads faster and is more seamless. Thanks for the input.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    I gotta say, I really hate all of these parallax sites... it's the kind of thing that the site owner and designer is cool, but always makes the customer experience a pain in the ass.

    You have an expectation when you visit a site... as you touch or scroll with your mouse wheel, you expect that site to move at a predictable rate. When you scroll down, everything moves up. When you scroll up, everything moves down. All of these sites with unnatural movement break the normal flow and make it harder to navigate.

    Here's a site TechCrunch talked about recently that's using the technique: https://kairoswatches.com/

    Try to navigate that site on a touch screen. Or better yet, use a mouse wheel ... scroll down a little to read, lots of blank space while you wait for the elements to pop in. Then scroll back up to the top using the mouse wheel like you normally would, only now you can't see any navigation, just a splash screen.

    Some designer finished that site and said "There, it's perfect" and the owner of the company said "Yep, looks awesome" and neither gave any consideration to navigability and user experience.

    I'd like to show you guys one of the watches right now, it looks pretty cool. Except I can't link to it... I can only send you to the home page. It's like the days of full Flash sites all over again.

    Anyway </rant> ... skip the parallax, web designers are the only people who think it's cool. It's annoying as hell to everyone else.
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    • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      I gotta say, I really hate all of these parallax sites... it's the kind of thing that the site owner and designer is cool, but always makes the customer experience a pain in the ass.

      You have an expectation when you visit a site... as you touch or scroll with your mouse wheel, you expect that site to move at a predictable rate. When you scroll down, everything moves up. When you scroll up, everything moves down. All of these sites with unnatural movement break the normal flow and make it harder to navigate.

      Here's a site TechCrunch talked about recently that's using the technique: https://kairoswatches.com/

      Try to navigate that site on a touch screen. Or better yet, use a mouse wheel ... scroll down a little to read, lots of blank space while you wait for the elements to pop in. Then scroll back up to the top using the mouse wheel like you normally would, only now you can't see any navigation, just a splash screen.

      Some designer finished that site and said "There, it's perfect" and the owner of the company said "Yep, looks awesome" and neither gave any consideration to navigability and user experience.

      I'd like to show you guys one of the watches right now, it looks pretty cool. Except I can't link to it... I can only send you to the home page. It's like the days of full Flash sites all over again.

      Anyway </rant> ... skip the parallax, web designers are the only people who think it's cool. It's annoying as hell to everyone else.
      I disagree, a little. I'm the first to admit that Parallax can be overdone - hence the point of this post. I'm pushing the envelope (or at least, "my" envelope) a bit with this design because the client wanted something out of the box.

      If you're talking about one-page designs that seem to be never ending and scroll on forever, I completely get it. The design for the site above isn't that. I've still kept a menu at the top and the site is set up as pages (that you're able to link to). Just a few parallax images that get all silly when you're scrolling down. FYI - it works the same whether you're scrolling with a mouse or your finger.

      Mainly, I think you may be talking about something else entirely. There are plenty of sites out there that scroll on endlessly, where even if there IS a menu at the top, it merely links to somewhere further down the single page. That sucks. This isn't that. It's a site for a smallish business. I was just concerned it might have a couple too many bells and whistles to be practical or well received by potential clients.

      PS - If you need any help breathing some life into your personal site, I'd be happy to...
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  • Profile picture of the author ecoverbee20
    I found it quite difficult scrolling and didn't get a good user feel about the site. good use of design and text just too much overlay I think.
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  • Profile picture of the author AprilMSU
    I dont like the moving video, made me feel sea sick
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      I think it comes down to this. Does the Site overall topic in this case boxes and packaging "Match" the Parallax feel? I use the Virtue Theme a lot on my more techy pages. I have a UHDTV page, and all of the sliders and such are a "Match" If I were to use the same theme on my soccer page... almost the same demographic I might add, it would fail miserably ( I tried and indeed it failed ) It was just not the right match.

      I don't think there is never a point of overdoing it or crossing the line, there is simply a context mismatch.

      A suggestion... the image you have with the box and the peanuts? I might suggest retaking this... with a box that is not damaged in the top right corner. To be honest here I was just looking at the design as a whole and not going over the site with a fine tooth comb... this for whatever reason just stuck out like a sore thumb!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    I could be very wrong, but I don't see this as a good fit for this business. Those types of sites seem better for the latest apple product, or something that needs to be "cool".

    What people is this site needing to attract? Business owners who need a solution to their packing and shipping problems. How many are going to think, "Wow, this website is so awesome we gotta do business with these people!'.

    Not to be rude, but the way your defending your design, seems that's it's more you wanting to make something slick, rather than what is best for the client and most important, what is best for the site visitors. As you said, that Germlin is talking to you. Probably for a good reason

    Of course nothing wrong with with making some that looks awesome, but is it the best design for the client? Most clients don't think about user experience, navigation, ect. They don't know this stuff, that is one of the reasons they are paying some one else to do it. Some one that knows what's best on the web for them.

    Just my two cents.
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