Datasheet

DISTINCTIVE DESIGN
22
Important
On rare occasions, a distinctive design can su er a negative impact. This is only
caused when the visitor’s fi nite resources su er and run dry (such as a lack of
trust or loyalty to a particular brand). Avoiding such events will be
straightforward if you follow any prescribed guidelines.
No visitor wants to endure the frustration of trying to adapt their skill set to match your
site’s requirements. Allowing a visitor to drift among the elements of your site undis-
turbed requires the capability to navigate around a site “brainlessly” (without thinking
twice). A user’s satisfaction increases if they have few obstacles to work through, and the
barrier to entry is as unobtrusive (or intrusive) as possible, so it’s worth the e ort. In
Figure 1-14 you can see how simple page numbering provides some sense of the site’s
depth to help users make basic, yet informed, choices.
Figure -: Page numbering within a blog helps visitors know how long an article might be.
When a site provides barriers to entry or an inconsistent, non-transitional interface, the
visitor is likely to become reliant on interpreting (usually on a whim) the exact nature or
depth of the content being explored.  is coping mechanism of trying to stumble on what
he or she is looking for usually comes at the cost of reducing the user’s patience, making
him or her feel inferior, and increasing the risk of a fast exit. Consider a popular site like
Amazon.  e sheer number of products acts as a barrier to entry as browsing without a
product in mind could lead you into spending days stumbling around one category listing.
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