Reboot bbc.co.uk

My BBC Cool Blue

Dan

I came up with this stylish modern cool blue look by both looking at the current BBC Home Page and the colour schemes of the new MSN Live Messenger. The design takes bits from the existing BBC Home which the user is now able to customize, as well as adding new content like My BBC Player and My Feeds and Explore the Web.

The top navigation bar is set out in a formal strong way to act as a sort of mini-index for the user to quickly select which area he or she wishes to navigate too. This bar also has another important use; the user can control whether to view the Basic BBC Page, an un-customizable page like the current BBC Home or My BBC which is the design idea I have come up with. When the user does this it sets a cookie so when the user visits bbc.co.uk next it will redirect them to the page they selected last. The bar also houses a My Settings and a About link, my settings would take the user to a page which would enable them to change their location, language, time zone as well as user information. The about link would take the user to a few pages explaining about the new My BBC and how to use and customize it.

The search box at the top left gives the user access to various searches all from one place, when they click on "News & Sport" for example it will not take them to another page it will just use a piece of java script, if an enabled java browser, to change the tab to the cool blue like "All BBC" and to change the form method. There is also a What"s New link which will take the user to a page where it would display information from what people are searching for to the latest updates to My BBC and the rest of BBC.co.uk.
Under the search there is the BBC A-Z, the user can click on any letter and will get taken directly to the A-Z page for that letter.

The welcome box shows today"s date in the users time zone as well as displaying new messages, either BBC ones or the user can set My BBC to get mail information from MSN, Gmail or Yahoo. It also gives alerts or reminders for the My BBC Calendar. As well as alerts about new contacts either on BBC or MSN/Gmail/Yahoo. The new discussions could be replies to this user"s past posts or new ones on a message board the user has subscribed too.
Mail, Calendar, Contacts and Discussions can all be edited on the My Settings Page, or a edit link can be added to that box. This box also houses the important Help and About links.
It also has a special feature, which I have had the time I would have liked to code up, a CSS or Theme changer. The user can select one of 6 colour themes, that when he or she clicks on them will either change automatically by java script or dynamically on a click, again this would be stored in a cookie so that the theme is the same when the user visits/logs in to MY BBC again.

Both the My News & My Sport boxes can be customised to use feeds from BBC Front Page to BBC Local Bristol News to Google Headlines to Sky News. The user can also select how many stories he or she wants on the home page, therefore changing the height of the box. If the user selects a BBC Feed multimedia links can be displayed in purple on the side, to play either that story, the headlines or in this example because its one o"clock, the one o"clock news. When the user clicks on a multimedia link it will be added to the top of "My Playlist" under the currently playing multimedia item.

The Weather is a lot simpler, the user can customise which area he or she wants displayed as well as how many days to display, the more the bigger the height. There is also a quick link to the 5 Day Forecast as well as a Multimedia link to display the latest weather report for that area.

The TV and Radio boxes can't be customise in this design, they just display the main Channels / Stations and a multimedia link to listen or watch them live on My BBC Player. The TV boxes also displays what's on now and next which are linked to that programs information site, both boxes also have a full listings link.

The My BBC Player is either in embed Flash or Windows Media Player or Quick Time Player which plays the "My Playlist' below. It automatically detects the user's browser, system settings and internet speed to determine which player would be best and what quality to show the program in. The user can watch anything from Live BBC News, to missed programs on BBC IMP to previews and updates. The MY BBC Player displays what's coming up now and next as well as basic pause select and volume controls.

The MY Playlist determines what the My BBC Player plays, and in what order at any time the user can click on the blue arrow head to skip to that program. Once a program has finished it will be removed from that box but can still be viewed to re-watch on the "More' link. The user can at anytime delete a program from the list or visit its information site. Adding a program to the playlist couldn't be easier the user can if they are using the standalone version, launch any multimedia link in the standalone from any BBC Site, or on the home page they can select Add and use a category or channel navigation to find what they are looking for. Users can also set the playlist to automatically add programs, like the 1 o'clock news or the weekly Tardisode.

The My BBC Player can be launched in a standalone window, the home page player would be paused and then once the window has opened it would resume playing in the new window. This enables the user to navigate through different pages of the site if they were just listening to the radio for example. Any multimedia link on the BBC would open this new player that could be customised when playing different sections like News, Sport e.c.t.

The My Feeds lets the user add feeds from a RSS link or select one from a list. The user can select how many stories per feed and how many feeds he or she wants on the page, the more feeds the bigger the height.

The final box on the page is the Explore the Web, now this is a mini-directory which the user can add or remove sites to. He or she can select how many are listed and the more times he clicks on the link it will move higher up the list.

The bottom information bar just gives links to information About My BBC, a link to the Mobile Site, as well as a link to the basic site and help. It also houses the BBC's external link disclaimer, which now also applies to feeds.

The footer houses copyright and BBC information links such as Press, Jobs, License Fee and Terms of Use.

And that concludes my site design hope you like it, sorry it was a bit lengthy but if you have any queries don't hesitate to email me!

• 25 May 2006 12:59