[Sigia-l] Facets, Flash, and Fun

[Eric Reiss]

Funny enough, I’m actually in the market for a bike, so I was
delighted to see Peter Merholz’ link to Gary Fisher’s site.

However, the many problems with this site’s architecture have little
to do with its otherwise excellent use of Flash.

For example, if, from the front page, you are out to buy a bike,
”Store” is actually the most sensible menu option. Unfortunately,
this leads you to clothing. It took me several clicks to find
”Matchmaker”, which was Peter M’s original deep link. Then, once I
had entered all my personal data, there was absolutely nothing to
describe the differences between the six different bikes suggested by
the site. Hence, lots of pogo-sticking with invaluable help from the
back button (the breadcrumbs were useless).

The bike pages themselves were thorough, but were aimed at a far more
sophisticated biker than myself (people who salivate like Pavlov’s
dog each time they hear the word Shimano – is this a kind of sushi?).
I simply lacked the share reference needed to understand the
individual descriptions. Prices would have been convenient, too.

Finally, although the application asked me if I was from the U.S.,
Canada, or Elsewhere (I’m in Europe so I clicked Elsewhere), the
dealer locator insists on U.S.-type information (zip code for
example). So why bother to ask me where I’m from with such a
nationalistic interface?

In short, even though I’m in the market for a bike, I was unable to
find a suitable one on the Gary Fisher site. On Friday, I’m going to
head down the street and buy a good old-fashioned Raleigh. At least I
know what I’ll be getting.

I give this site an A for ambition and a B- for IA/usability.

JM2C
Eric

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eric reiss
principal
e-reiss aps
copenhagen, denmark
http://www.e-reiss.com
office: (+45) 39 29 67 77
mobile: (+45) 20 12 88 44

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