My new blog, and website

After years of telling myself that I should do it, I have finally dragged my own website, www.doctordada.com into the 21st century. The old site (still viewable at www.doctordada.com/old) was all hand-coded, which is why I had to have a separate blog, here. But my new website, running on WordPress, has an integrated blog. Other advantages are:

• visitor comments
• support for other languages (which I am using for Esperanto)
• a much cleaner design

I have copied over a few entries from this blog but there’ll still be useful stuff here that won’t be available there.

Trying to sell a bad interface

In our local newspaper the other day I saw an advertisement for a new website created to support the NSW Central Coast’s waste collection and recycling system. (Click the image to see it.) The main thrust of the ad was that the “fastest way to book your bulk kerbside collection is online”. And to show how “fast” it is, the ad listed an eight-step “Bulk Kerbside Checklist”:

1. Visit www.1coast.com.au - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
2. Select the ‘Click here to book a bulk kerbside collection button’
3. Review the collection guidelines & proceed to the booking page
4. First time visitors will be asked to register their email address to receive a password to access the booking page
5. Login using your email address and password
6. Search for your property and follow the on-screen prompts
7. A confirmation email will mean your booking was successful, and provide you a booking reference number.

But here’s the killer, eighth step:

8. Alternatively, you can call our Customer Service Centre on 13001COAST for help

Surely, seeing all the steps required to complete one transaction (namely booking a junk pick-up for your home, online) spelt out like that would make the website owners realise that the process is far too complicated.

New Australian Museum website

Have you seen the new Australian Museum website?

australianmuseum.net.au

(New URL, too; www.austmus.gov.au and www.amonline.net.au now redirect to it.)

It has an interesting What's on functionality: Tabs for different audience types: "General", "Kids", "Under 5s", "Teachers", "Members", "Tourists", with exhibitions, (permanent) displays, events and tours listed together.

All 'end-pages' (that is, pages with content, as opposed to links to content) have 2 buttons: "Add comment" and "Add tags" right after the page heading (you have to be registered with "My museum" to use them) and many of them have the name of the person who wrote them (eg: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Australian-Museum-Palaeontology-Collection), linked to a brief staff profile and a form to contact that person.

That last URL reveals an interesting fact about the site: despite the fact that I got to the page by clicking 'Minerals & fossils' > 'More about Fossils' (reveal) > 'Fossils' > 'More about Fossils in the Australian Museum Collections' (reveal) > 'Australian Museum Palaeontology Collection' (yes, 5 clicks!), the URL shows no hierarchy. The CMS apparently serves every page as though it is in the root directory. The advantage is that URLs are shorter than they otherwise would be but still very readable (a boon for search engines), but a disadvantage is that it obscures the context of the page.

But I have a problem with the "expandable links". Eg: About us:
Try to find out "More about Our Organisation"... It's not a link! You have to click the tiny , to reveal the sub-topics.

Still, overall, it's a very engaging site, full of opportunities to explore, contribute and be involved.

Shameless plug: Marriage celebrant website

Wanda, my nearest and dearest, is a registered civil marriage celebrant. Although I many of her gigs come through word of mouth, having a website seemed like a smart move. So, with a talented designer, Zoë Cooper (who happens to be our daughter), we set about creating one:
www.wandacooper.com.au

It's all standards-compliant of course, so it was a good way to practise – and learn – CSS skills. But its visual elegance is all thanks to Zoë.

Let me know what you think... if you feel like it. :-)