[Sigia-l] length of nav labels

[Jared M. Spool]

At 08:31 AM 8/10/2005, Todd Warfel wrote:
>On 10/8/05 8:16 AM, "Jared M. Spool" <jspool at uie.com> wrote:
>
>
>http://www.mcmaster-carr.com (My all-time favorite. This site tests
>tremendously well with its users and most designers HATE it. I mean,
>visceral, OH-MY-GOD "How could anyone use it" hate it. Yet the users just
>love it, usability tests rock, and site revenues are great.)
>
>Imagine how much better it would do then with a good design...
>
>Out of curiosity, what do they "love" about it?

What they tell us they love about it is very interesting: (There are a 
bundle of other things they love about the site, but these are the comments 
we've collected about the home page.)

They tell us they love how easy it is to find things. How well organized 
the home page is. And how the home page is not "cluttered". (Yup -- the 
users of this site believe that other designs are far more cluttered than 
this one. Isn't that nifty?)

Keep in mind, this is *not* a consumer site. It's a site for people steeped 
in the commercial construction and building maintenance industries. The 
users of this site have very different needs than someone shopping at a 
Home Depot. (Home Depot and Lowe's aren't even considered competitors. 
Grainger is a big competitor, another site not really used by consumers.)

I'm sure if Home Depot copied this design, it would not have the same effects.

Jared


Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
http://www.uie.com    jspool at uie.com

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