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Tra5is
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
I got pretty bored of Penny Arcade about two years or more ago. I stopped reading every day. That was back around a period where Tyco seemed to be reveling in his own (deserved) awesomeness. Unfortunately, the occurrence of run-on sentences and obscure/ridiculous allegories were simply too often for my sanity to bear.
So tonight, after getting a little drunk and staring at my #175 Twibs and Catsby laser cell on the wall, I decided to check out the blog again.
I'm on an HCI (human computer interaction) kick. Y'know, how happy does using a website/program make you? So here are my opinions:
Penny-Arcade.com is a wonderful combination of wit (in the form of prose and comic stories) and artistry (in the comic). Now, why the fuck is the link to view the comic about the size of my fingernail way at the bottom of the page? Why is the comic not a more obvious and easy to find part of the presentation!? That's not ballance, that's Tyco stealing the show! I can only guess that there is a significant percentage of people that come to the page, get drawn in with an interesting post but not have a fucking clue that there's a whole series of beautiful comics that await them!
Now the assumption I'm making is that in general the average person is a slobering idiot. Generally that's true, but current Penny-Arcade readers more than likely -do not- fit that mold. It's a more intellectually developed (maturity is in doubt) crowd. Perhaps you (Tyco and Gabe) have made a conscious decision to not make the idiotic demographic a target audience (which would seem like a bad idea to me, but I'm not the one with a 1 mil+ readership!). In that case, stop reading, bury your head in the sand an I'll go along my merry, self-important way.
You've continued reading... ok: my guess (which needs to be backed up with some empirical data) is that these passerbys have a slim to none probability of finding the comic. Unfortunately, these slobering folk, as idiotic as they may be, make up a huge percentage of the population. It's important to understand that amusing them can be both fun AND profitable.
There's text 'comic' at the top which I figured would take me to the comic (which since I'm relatively cognizant worked out to be a correct assumption) and a link way at the bottom that takes me to the comic too. It would seem to me that these two links, essentially identifiable only by their text (which as a rule people don't read anyway) aren't really clicked all that much by people who fit the 2.8 second attention span demographic. Why not do something intuitive/easy-to-understand/attention-grabbing to tell me that when I click that link I'm going to be greeted with your comic awesomeness! Hell, a better idea: don't put the comic behind a goddam link! Don't rely on word of mouth or the assumption that the user is going to read every image, text on the site for them to find the comic.
Now, why do I think anyone is interested in my lame opinion? Mostly self-importance, but also because I know that understanding usability is like any skill that needs to be practiced. Like ED. If you don't use it, you'll lose it. (Which is another reason self-flagellation is good for your health.) So, after seeing the same site design after what I feel like is an eternity and to have to try to REMEMBER how to get to the comic and jump between them in logical order seems like something that could be improved upon. I suppose I'm coming at it from a unique perspective but am hoping that this point of view can be constructive and productive.
I want to finish on a positive note. I liked the post I read tonight. Gabe's art is better than ever and Tyco keeps me engaged with his wit and flourish (but it's not too over the top). It feels like Penny Arcade is getting close to something like a Michelin 3-star 4-course dinner; flavor flavor flavor, but not too many and just the right proportions. The second course, the comic, was really great; engaging story, amazing art. I love what you guys do and love the fact that you're still doing it!
Keep up the great work.
So tonight, after getting a little drunk and staring at my #175 Twibs and Catsby laser cell on the wall, I decided to check out the blog again.
I'm on an HCI (human computer interaction) kick. Y'know, how happy does using a website/program make you? So here are my opinions:
Penny-Arcade.com is a wonderful combination of wit (in the form of prose and comic stories) and artistry (in the comic). Now, why the fuck is the link to view the comic about the size of my fingernail way at the bottom of the page? Why is the comic not a more obvious and easy to find part of the presentation!? That's not ballance, that's Tyco stealing the show! I can only guess that there is a significant percentage of people that come to the page, get drawn in with an interesting post but not have a fucking clue that there's a whole series of beautiful comics that await them!
Now the assumption I'm making is that in general the average person is a slobering idiot. Generally that's true, but current Penny-Arcade readers more than likely -do not- fit that mold. It's a more intellectually developed (maturity is in doubt) crowd. Perhaps you (Tyco and Gabe) have made a conscious decision to not make the idiotic demographic a target audience (which would seem like a bad idea to me, but I'm not the one with a 1 mil+ readership!). In that case, stop reading, bury your head in the sand an I'll go along my merry, self-important way.
You've continued reading... ok: my guess (which needs to be backed up with some empirical data) is that these passerbys have a slim to none probability of finding the comic. Unfortunately, these slobering folk, as idiotic as they may be, make up a huge percentage of the population. It's important to understand that amusing them can be both fun AND profitable.
There's text 'comic' at the top which I figured would take me to the comic (which since I'm relatively cognizant worked out to be a correct assumption) and a link way at the bottom that takes me to the comic too. It would seem to me that these two links, essentially identifiable only by their text (which as a rule people don't read anyway) aren't really clicked all that much by people who fit the 2.8 second attention span demographic. Why not do something intuitive/easy-to-understand/attention-grabbing to tell me that when I click that link I'm going to be greeted with your comic awesomeness! Hell, a better idea: don't put the comic behind a goddam link! Don't rely on word of mouth or the assumption that the user is going to read every image, text on the site for them to find the comic.
Now, why do I think anyone is interested in my lame opinion? Mostly self-importance, but also because I know that understanding usability is like any skill that needs to be practiced. Like ED. If you don't use it, you'll lose it. (Which is another reason self-flagellation is good for your health.) So, after seeing the same site design after what I feel like is an eternity and to have to try to REMEMBER how to get to the comic and jump between them in logical order seems like something that could be improved upon. I suppose I'm coming at it from a unique perspective but am hoping that this point of view can be constructive and productive.
I want to finish on a positive note. I liked the post I read tonight. Gabe's art is better than ever and Tyco keeps me engaged with his wit and flourish (but it's not too over the top). It feels like Penny Arcade is getting close to something like a Michelin 3-star 4-course dinner; flavor flavor flavor, but not too many and just the right proportions. The second course, the comic, was really great; engaging story, amazing art. I love what you guys do and love the fact that you're still doing it!
Keep up the great work.
Tra5is on
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This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Usability tests have shown that on average you've got 2.8 seconds to grab a surfer's attention. When the user has to search the page for a link you've potentially lost that surfer's attention.
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Crap... ok I just figured it out. I wrote the above and started second guessing myself. "There's got to be *some way* to send these guys an email. Maybe I missed something." I was looking for some sort of 'feedback' link... then I saw it! Tyco was underlined! Yay! Hovering the cursor over the link tells me its a mailto! Yay!
Normally I'd just say I wasn't persistent enough and I was totally at fault for not searching hard enough to find what I was looking for, but now, with the HCI hat on, I'm on the opposite side of the fence.
Change the goddam site and take my expectations into account! Give me a link that says "Feedback", or "Contacts" or "Be a jack-ass and send us your drivel". Something that tells me quickly, something that every other corporate/interesting site has, to help me contact you!
At first I thought maybe you honestly missed the "Comic" link at the very top-left of the page. Then I got to this part, and realized you are just being dumb.