Homepage reflections

Just to explain our thinking... the hot-spots aren't live in excerpts, nor do they display whole articles, nor do they offer right-click functionality, etc. because they're there to get you to jump into the book itself. It would take a lot of code to re-create all the standard book functionality in the Home Page, and it would still never be the whole book. So our hope was that you'd see something interesting, then click on it, after which you could read it in full-context, use popups, menus, features, etc.

Bob,

I understand that it may not be possible or be way too much effort to recreate the functionality of the regular article on the homepage. Could I suggest then that the department responsible for creating these excerpts follow the standard practice of both Newspapers and academic resources of placing in brackets information which is absolutely necessary to understand the quotes. For example, replace vv.13-14 with ...[Rev 11:13-14]... 

My interest is in understanding the excerpt and thereby being interested enough to click through.

5) I like having a large picture on the home page - sometimes there is sometimes there isn't. I can't work out the logic behind it. The pictures are something that make me click and read.... I'm not sure why they are one of the first things bumped from the page.

My favourite element in the Home Page design is the appearance of pictures, I think that this is especially true of the line drawings from 1000 Bible Images and the new Infographics because they provide desperately needed white space.

On my 10" netbook, with the program maximised, I get no pictures at all. Often when I change the window sizing on my notebook (19" external monitor) all the pictures disappear. Sometimes, I have to go to page two or three to find the pictures. There seems to be a bit of a problem with the algorithm for placing these elements.

The articles are laid out top to bottom, left to right, with "features" pushed into the four corners.

Just as in a paper newspaper, shorter headlines often get bigger fonts ("They win!" is in bigger type than "Man finds alligagator in backyard kiddie pool" because one headline size would make one of these look funny. For reasons not having to do with alligators.)

There is an element of randomness, to break up the monotony. Our point here isn't to make an easy to read linear list. I know some people do prefer that, but we're aiming at what we believe is the larger audience of people. (The fact that you admit hating how print nespapers do this, too, inclines me to believe that our disagreement may be just your preference. Print newspapers have had great success with this style for around 100 years, around the world and in many culture. I'm guessing that if people found them as annoying as indicated here, they'd have reverted to uniform headline size a long time ago...)

The more time I spend with the home page the more frustrated I become. This is not because I am opposed to the principle - on the contrary, I think it is a great idea. Rather, it has been very poorly executed.

1) It does not pay attention to the principles of Newspaper design. A newspaper would never push a major article to the bottom left of the page. I think everyone understands the idea of lesser articles being "below the fold."  The reason for this has nothing to do with the fold but with the way in which eyes track across a page of articles. We expect the major item to be in the top left followed by a secondary and even tertiary item to its right. Our eyes then track down to the bottom left before moving to the bottom right corner.

2) It is not simply that shorter headings get larger fonts. Font size of headings in newspaper articles are always related to the importance of the article. Headings are often abbreviated so that they can be given the proper weight for their importance. It is complete unclear how font sizes relate to anything on the home pages.

3) I have never read a newspaper which uses an italic for headings. Headings are always either normal weight or bold.

4) Headings must tell us something about the article. Reading research (which is what I studied for my doctorate) tells us that there is an "contract" between authors and readers - implicit in that contract is that the heading will fairly summarise what is to follow. Many of the headings tell us nothing - "The Dating of the Letter", for example - what letter? I actually feel manipulated into reading the article rather than invited to read it.

5) The layout of a newspaper is never random. It is the predictability of a newspaper which is part of its appeal. We know where to look on a page for the most important articles, which pages to look at for very important news, which sections of the paper to go to for articles on topics of special interest. One only has to read the letters' page of a newspaper after a redesign to know how unexpected change to a layout disturbs people - this is also why much research is done by newspapers before they change their design. It frustrates me that with the new home page I have to go hunting for the pictures, that the devotionals appear in different places each day, that I will never know where the book of the day is...

6) The home page is desperately in need of more white space. While there may have been an increase in the lead-in space, the space between columns is way too small. 

I love newspapers. I read several different newspapers every week. I have read newspapers daily in every country in which I have lived. I have never read a newspaper with a layout like the home page.

In fairness the lack of white space makes it a bit like a few of the older established American newspapers, most of which are going broke...