The Henry Ford Museum website - too much of a good thing?

I just had reason to visit the website of “The Henry Ford” (comprising The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village)

This site is an example of what happens when the aim is to give visitors to a site as much control and as many options as possible, in the smallest possible space.

On the home page alone, I found:

• 2 quick-link drop-downs: “I am” and “How do I” (see below)
• 2 ticket-purchase drop-downs: “Purchase by venue” and “Purchase by event”
• A search box
• A login-in form: user name + password
• A “Plan your visit” form: 4 fields + 5 buttons
• A menubar with 13 menu items, each with a roll-over drop-down of up to 12 items
• 13 buttons (apart from the ones as part of forms)
• 20 text links (including 4 in a scrolling field and 9 in click-to-expand boxes)
• 3 image links
• an auto-start video (with sound) + 5 video links

Many of the features are good ideas by themselves. (I particularly like the “I am” and “How do I” controls; the auto-start video is a mistake, especially on a home page.) But taken together, all these elements would just cause bewilderment.

[More about the “I am” and “How do I” quick-links (shown as “smart site”):

Choices for “I am”:

• Just Browsing
• Educator
• Private Event Planner or Bride
• A Local Visitor
• Group or Tour Planner
• History Enthusiast
• Tourist/Out of Town Visitor
• Member
• With Media

Each choice produces a different menu for “How do I”. Eg, for “With Media” the menu is:

• Get Member Discounts
• Buy an Annual Ride Pass
• Upgrade my Membership level
• Renew my Membership
• Buy a Gift Membership
• Donate to the Annual Fund

MoMA does a similar thing in its navigation footer-bar.]

Is there such a thing as too much navigation?

In Steve Krug's excellent book, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, he talks about the street signs in LA compared to those in Boston, his home city*. When my wife and I were in the USA last year, I was able to confirm his observations. One street corner in downtown Boston particularly caught my attention:

[* Actually, I believe he lives in Brookline.]

The Memory Book: Museum gathers content online

The Smithsonian Institution's museum dedicated to black history and culture, National Museum of African American History and Culture launched last month with an interactive website, "The Memory Book" - long before its building opens.

Blogging technology allow visitors to help produce content for future exhibits at the museum, with long essays, short vignettes of memories or recorded oral histories.

According to Lonnie Bunch, the museum's founding director, museum staff monitor the site for historical accuracy, and technical filters apparently block racist or inappropriate comments. Bunch regards the site as a "virtual museum" and a new source of research for curators and scholars.

Apart from the interesting use of social-networking technologies, I was intrigued by the navigation system: the first time I have ever seen an interactive 'link-web' diagram used as a navigation device throughout a website:



It's one of those applications of web technology that I classify as "Cool, but not very practical".

More information:
Memory Book Overview
Sydney Morning Herald article