Evolution, not revolution
This homepage design is a mixture of html, flat graphics and javascript. A hyperlink to a flat graphic file is included at the very bottom of my design in case of incompatibility issues.
Dynamic (rollover/click) items include;
- BBC Box
- BBC News (World, Scotland, Business, Technology)
- BBC Sport (Sport, Football, Liverpool FC)
- BBC Where I Live
- Browse menu
Below is an outline of my design thinking.
NAVIGATION
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TOOLBAR (Find)
The site-wide toolbar has been retained as a simple, consistent navigational “glue†to frame the entire bbc.co.uk site. Subtle, but important changes here however with, 1) an increase in the size/width of the site-wide search box - very cramped currently and makes the search feature look a bit like an after-thought, 2) the addition of a 'Languages' tab to promote the BBC's incredible depth of multi-lingual content, and, 3) a 'BBC Box' button (more about this function below).
BROWSE (Find)
The current browse panel is a great visual clue to the breadth of BBC content, but consumes a huge amount of screen real estate. While I'm not a big fan of flyout menus - dropdown or expandable/collapsible divs may be an alternative here, some mechanism is needed to replace the current browse directory. I would therefore consult extensively with the BBC's Information Architects and Content Owners to determine what items should be included as flyout/second tier links.
A-Z INDEX (Find)
The directory that sits behind this A-Z Index has been painstakingly compiled and I believe it is essential to re-instate this A-Z Index as a further 'Find' cue (to complement the search box(s), browse panel and popular listings).
SEARCH (Find)
I have two search boxes on my homepage design, a site-wide search box in the toolbar and a multimedia search function integrated into my iPlayer presentation (see discussion below).
The new BBC search is a nice progression from the old BBC search, but still not a tool I would use to search the wider world wide web. A purely personal view here is that the BBC should stick to indexing/returning it's own content before taking on Google (as a little test, type “Reboot BBC†into both Google and BBC Search and compare the results).
I trust Google with my web searches - results are fast and relevant and until they start to subvert their search results with further paid inclusions, I see no (personal) benefit in moving to another search provider.
CONTENT
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PROMO (Find, Play, Share)
Probably the most controversial component off my proposed redesign. A large piece of prime screen real estate is reserved for BBC editorial and marketing content. This promo panel sets the tone for the homepage. An Ashes banner to capture the mood of the nation after Freddie Flintoff's heroics, a Christmas panel for the festive season, a communications medium to respond to events such as July 7, an opportunity to promote new BBC programming and services. The current (UK) promo panel ensures, 1) the BBC site always looks fresh, 2) is an important pointer to the breadth and depth of BBC content, and, 3) enables the BBC to meet its many public service/charter obligations (to inform, entertain, educate, etc).
TABBED BROWSING (Find, Play)
The key feature of my redesign is the layering/tabbing of BBC content into bite-size blocks. By default, my BBC homepage would display three tabs, News, Sport and Where I Live.
WHY NEWS, SPORT AND WHERE I LIVE?
News because it is the most heavily used area of the current BBC site, Sport, similarly, because of its high use/broad appeal and Where I Live to consolidate local/shared resources.
News and Sport panels could be built around basic RSS feeds with the user able to nominate their areas of interest (e.g. technology and football in my case). Tabbed content panels would provide quick, casual browsing of headlines/top stories/new content without having to visit individual content silos (e.g. BBC > Sport > Football > Liverpool FC)
Where I Live brings together local news, weather, travel and entertainment information with content tailored by entering a postcode or place name. I have included a country option here as while travel and entertainment content may not easily be able to be personalised to an international audience, news and weather certainly could/should.
Also included are links to local multimedia resources such as BBC London TV and BBC London 94.9FM, and a prominent 'Action Network' visual cue to promote collective, community and shared experiences.
WHAT IF NEWS, SPORT OR WHERE I LIVE CONTENT IS IRRELEVANT TO MY NEEDS?
A simple one/two click process would be offered to add or remove tabbed content. The Sport panel for example could be replaced with History, Travel or Weather content.
BBC Content Owners would be responsible for producing customizable panels (640px by 225px) that users could add as tabbed content to their homepage. The History homepage panel for instance may not suit a RSS headline-style presentation so may instead feature content such as 'The People's War' project or be used to advertise new/upcoming BBC History programming.
Users would stack panels to suit their individual needs - if it was me for instance, I would set Sport as the default panel to display when my BBC homepage first loaded.
Many users would likely perform little or no customisation hence customisation features are subtle, rather than demanding the user take action/time to massage their BBC homepage.
iPLAYER (Play, Find)
The BBC iPlayer becomes the gateway to the BBC's audio and visual content. The terms 'Listen' and 'Watch' have been used as catchalls for content such as podcasts and web-only video. A custom search box is included to enable easy searching across video and/or audio resources. Fine-tuning/evolving this multimedia search technology would be crucial to unlocking the BBC's rich video and audio assets.
Highlighted content would be personalised based on items users have included in their BBC Box (see discussion below).
I have bookmarked a Hustle episode in my BBC Box, the site's suggestion engine is smart enough to highlight upcoming episodes of Spooks (programming from the same producers of Hustle) and suggest I explore non-TV multimedia assets such as interviews with the stars of Hustle. I have bookmarked the Liverpool FC homepage, the site offers me links to topical Liverpool multimedia content - whether this be in BBC Sport, Match of the Day or Football Focus silos.
The iPlayers look and feel on the page should mirror the interface design of the iPlayer software itself. Depending on the final form the BBC iPlayer assumes, a users gateway to the BBC/web may in fact become the iPlayers homepage - perhaps the basis for a future homepage competition?!
A final point centres on the decision whether to imbed the iPlayer/add sound to the BBC homepage. More research is needed in this area, but my initial reaction would be to have the iPlayer as a standalone application and no sound on the homepage. Over a dial up connection sound still, generally, does not stream consistently well and until broadband has near ubiquitous penetration I don't think the BBC can risk having sound lag on its homepage.
YOUTH (Find, Play, Share)
One of the most telling statistics I read while researching this project was that an estimated 25% of British children now watch no BBC programming. Any homepage redesign therefore must seek to re-engage its youth audience.
Permanent panels would be used to highlight child-friendly, learning and education resources. With News, Sport and Where I Live displayed at the top of the page by default, the site still has a hard, news-edge feel to it, but the ability to easily customise these tabs with content from across the wider BBC network (CBeebies, Schools, Learning etc.), a users homepage could quickly assume a softer, more youth-friendly appeal.
The Promo panel could also be automatically customised by the sites suggestion engine based on items bookmarked in the users BBC box - e.g. a big, colourful Bob the Builder header for younger browsers.
CORPORATE FOOTER (Find)
Not much change here other than collapsing a few links under the About the BBC link (Licence fee, Annual Report, Future Direction etc).
PERSONALISATION
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PERSONAS (Share)
Much of the talk surrounding Web 2.0 is about customisation (an old chestnut!), participation and citizen journalism. Personally, I have never contributed to a blog, commented on a news story, posted on a message board and neither have I ever really wanted to.
I am quite happy to surf the web for tech and football stories in relative anonymity and haven't the time nor desire to rant or muse online. Therefore I am still very sceptical of all this talk of a more participatory web experience.
Broadly however, any user-generated content should be very clearly labelled. I trust the BBC to inform, entertain and educate me, not Simon Jones from Wandsworth - having said this, I have been very impressed with the Guardian's new blog initiative - a great example of open, but structured web participation stirred by some engaging public figures.
BBC BOX (Find, Play Share)
Couldn't decide what to call this feature - myBBC, yourBBC, BBC Box. Whatever the final name it should perform one simple function, the easy bookmarking of BBC content. This content is then carried with you as you navigate the BBC website due to its positioning in the site-wide toolbar.
I am lazy when searching the web and seldom bookmark pages because I simply can't be bothered performing the Favourites > Add to Favourites > Give the page a name > Select a Folder routine. What I would like to do is simply click and drag content onto/into my BBC Box. All dragable content could perhaps be denoted by a blue triangle and all associated meta data would be automatically transferred to the users BBC box for easy identification.
Links (including those to any conversations or message board postings the user has open) could later be organized into folders using an interface similar to those employed by the main web browsers. Any bookmarked multimedia content would automatically open in iPlayer when clicked on.
STORING PREFERENCES (Find)
Certain user preferences (including the contents of the users BBC Box) would need to be stored in some sort of login script rather than risk using cookies to track personalisation preferences. The sites suggestion engine could use some clickstream/cookie settings to deliver a small amount of personalisation to anonymous users (such as what to deliver in the iPlayer panel), but, ultimately, the system would be vastly improved if individual user activity could be recorded alongside a username and password.
OTHER
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DESIGN
My homepage design retains the current 770px fixed width layout. According to W3Schools statistics something like 25% of web browsers still have a screen resolution set at 800x600. Until this figure falls to more like 5% I think the BBC homepage design needs to stay at 770px (interestingly, the prototype Yahoo! homepage looks much cleaner and crisper at their narrow width setting rather than in full screen mode). Having white space aids readability and imposes good design discipline to clearly communicate your key messages and tools.
While not particularly keen on the blue colour, these tones have been retained to aid the users transition to a new homepage design. The more change the homepage undergoes the greater the potential (negative) reaction.
Button design has remained unchanged as this is one of the current's sites strongest visual cues. A button means something happens, usually the opening of multimedia content - a key feature of the BBC's web offering, now, and into the future.
INTERNATIONALISATION (Share)
As a user browsing from New Zealand I see the BBC's International homepage by default. I can understand all the thinking behind two separate homepages - especially as more and more content (particularly multimedia resources) become available to UK users only.
Offer however your International audience a subscription service so I can unlock all the BBC's wonderful online content. Please, please, please don't resort to banner advertising to fund international activities. I (like many others I'm guessing) will pay to keep my homepage free of bloody ads!
The two radio buttons denoting the two different versions of the BBC site create a 'us and them' divide. I lived in London for five years in the late 90's and early 00's and although I now live 26000 miles away, I still want to be treated just like everybody else and not left wondering what resources/content I am missing out on.
EMAIL (Share)
I have read with interest Martin's thought's on sophisticated API's to integrate a user's email services into their BBC homepage. While a nice idea in principle it has a certain Microsoft Passport sound to it - one logon to access all secure Internet sites - and something I (personally) would never be particularly comfortable with.
I have therefore excluded this feature from my design concept but would keep an open mind and get some wider user feedback on the merits/issues surrounding this functionality.
- 25 May 2006 15:26
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