Comments on: New, improved Zopa: Now washes whiter! http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/ Zopa blog - updates, team, news, life and more. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:43:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Justin http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11920 Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:27:43 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11920 Jackie (and anyone else interested), whether to present headlines and subtitles as an image is always going to be a tough call: with my accessibility hat on, it's better not to for some of the reasons you mention but then with my designer's eye I wince at the thought of having to use <a>Arial</a> for headlines - the great work Poke have done for us would really lose some of its magic if we limited ourselves to the typographic control available through HTML/CSS. But... One thing we're very seriously considering is using, and have been running a few tests on is <a href="http://www.mikeindustries.com/sifr/" title="Rich typography, yes really." rel="nofollow">sIFR</a> which will replace standard browser text with our in-house style, but without losing its selectability (that's not a word, but it should be damnit). Have a look at <a href="http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/files/sifr/2.0/" title="sIFR example page" rel="nofollow">this example page</a>. Note that the headlines are in some very funky, non-standard fonts - now select a load of text and paste it into Textedit/Notepad and you'll find that the those tasteful image-looking headlines have been captured. God that's a bit techy for this time of day. Jackie (and anyone else interested), whether to present headlines and subtitles as an image is always going to be a tough call: with my accessibility hat on, it’s better not to for some of the reasons you mention but then with my designer’s eye I wince at the thought of having to use Arial for headlines - the great work Poke have done for us would really lose some of its magic if we limited ourselves to the typographic control available through HTML/CSS.

But…

One thing we’re very seriously considering is using, and have been running a few tests on is sIFR which will replace standard browser text with our in-house style, but without losing its selectability (that’s not a word, but it should be damnit). Have a look at this example page. Note that the headlines are in some very funky, non-standard fonts - now select a load of text and paste it into Textedit/Notepad and you’ll find that the those tasteful image-looking headlines have been captured.

God that’s a bit techy for this time of day.

]]> by: Dave http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11835 Tue, 25 Jul 2006 10:17:42 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11835 Hi Jackie! Tell you what - if you don't think there's a point to what we do with the embedded Flash, then I'll buy you a nice bottle of wine! I've seen my fair share of dodgy Flash gimmicks on sites, and we're working hard to make sure this one isn't. Get your point on the text / image thing - although there is this thing called typing... (as opposed to copying and pasting) :) I think the plan is minimal use of this though, just on a few 'hero' banners on some key pages. SEO - yes, we've been working with some gurus through this design phase - it's baked into the site layout and design in a way it never really was before. As for the copy and human voice - we have no intention of losing that, it's really key to the Zopa brand and personality...if anyone ever thinks we've lost that - please shout. VERY LOUDLY. Thanks. Hi Jackie!

Tell you what - if you don’t think there’s a point to what we do with the embedded Flash, then I’ll buy you a nice bottle of wine! I’ve seen my fair share of dodgy Flash gimmicks on sites, and we’re working hard to make sure this one isn’t.

Get your point on the text / image thing - although there is this thing called typing… (as opposed to copying and pasting) :) I think the plan is minimal use of this though, just on a few ‘hero’ banners on some key pages.

SEO - yes, we’ve been working with some gurus through this design phase - it’s baked into the site layout and design in a way it never really was before.

As for the copy and human voice - we have no intention of losing that, it’s really key to the Zopa brand and personality…if anyone ever thinks we’ve lost that - please shout. VERY LOUDLY. Thanks.

]]> by: Jackie Danicki http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11814 Tue, 25 Jul 2006 01:31:30 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11814 Man, subjecting mock-ups to opinions is always *such* a brutal process. I don't envy you. That out of the way... 1) I really hope there's a point to the Flash you will be using. It is so deeply annoying to find embedded Flash on sites, and it's never there for a good reason. (Also a pain to get quality screenshots of sites that use Flash, and you can't pull text from the movies so you can quote it on your blog.) 2) Words as images (jpegs, gifs, Flash, whatever) is so rarely justified. I can understand wanting to have maximum control over what people see when they go to your site, but again, it's so frustrating when you want to evangelise a company on your blog and can't quote the cool stuff they say on their jpegs. 3) I really hope you've got shit hot SEO experts consulting the designers at this stage. Now is the time to nail the search optimisation; post-build is very rarely a patch on doing it from the very earliest design concepts on through to the architecture and coding. Most importantly, please don't ever ditch the authentically human voice in favour of 'more professional' (read: cold, sterile, off-putting) 'copy'! Man, subjecting mock-ups to opinions is always *such* a brutal process. I don’t envy you.

That out of the way…

1) I really hope there’s a point to the Flash you will be using. It is so deeply annoying to find embedded Flash on sites, and it’s never there for a good reason. (Also a pain to get quality screenshots of sites that use Flash, and you can’t pull text from the movies so you can quote it on your blog.)

2) Words as images (jpegs, gifs, Flash, whatever) is so rarely justified. I can understand wanting to have maximum control over what people see when they go to your site, but again, it’s so frustrating when you want to evangelise a company on your blog and can’t quote the cool stuff they say on their jpegs.

3) I really hope you’ve got shit hot SEO experts consulting the designers at this stage. Now is the time to nail the search optimisation; post-build is very rarely a patch on doing it from the very earliest design concepts on through to the architecture and coding.

Most importantly, please don’t ever ditch the authentically human voice in favour of ‘more professional’ (read: cold, sterile, off-putting) ‘copy’!

]]> by: Dave http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11788 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:10:52 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11788 :) Something about all the people all of the time? In case I wasn\'t clear (It does happen...) the left hand one is a proposal for the home page, and the right hand one the main lending page (And shares it\'s navigation and lay out with pretty much every other page on the site). Robert - We are thinking about accessability, and I\'m a little surprised that your colleague has problems - we have had many comments about how well the site works for blind and partially sighted users. Are there any specific problems he / she is experiencing? :) Something about all the people all of the time?

In case I wasn\’t clear (It does happen…) the left hand one is a proposal for the home page, and the right hand one the main lending page (And shares it\’s navigation and lay out with pretty much every other page on the site).

Robert - We are thinking about accessability, and I\’m a little surprised that your colleague has problems - we have had many comments about how well the site works for blind and partially sighted users. Are there any specific problems he / she is experiencing?

]]> by: John http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11787 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:51:21 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11787 I like the second one much better. In the first one, too much of the information is below the fold. The left-hand navigation bar in the second one is good at bringing some of the primary informatio above the fold. Like the color selections in both... nice stuff. I like the second one much better. In the first one, too much of the information is below the fold. The left-hand navigation bar in the second one is good at bringing some of the primary informatio above the fold.

Like the color selections in both… nice stuff.

]]> by: kea http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11783 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 12:53:24 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11783 I definitely prefer the first option and can't offer any more than that! I definitely prefer the first option and can’t offer any more than that!

]]> by: iain tait | crackunit.com » Blog Archive » Trial By Blog http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11776 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:55:24 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11776 [...] [...] […] […]

]]> by: Robert http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11773 Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:06:44 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11773 The design looks better but can I ask you to consider the accessibility issues, particularly for visually impaired lenders/borrowers. My colleague who has a visual impairment finds your current design impossible. The design looks better but can I ask you to consider the accessibility issues, particularly for visually impaired lenders/borrowers. My colleague who has a visual impairment finds your current design impossible.

]]> by: Dave http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11611 Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:22:16 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11611 Dave - although the site will look (and hopefully function) better with Flash, it won't be necessary to your using Zopa. We're limiting Flash to just a couple of areas of the site - and working to open up the information presented in other ways as well (Can I hear the letters A, P and I? I think I can...). Cheers Dave Dave - although the site will look (and hopefully function) better with Flash, it won’t be necessary to your using Zopa. We’re limiting Flash to just a couple of areas of the site - and working to open up the information presented in other ways as well (Can I hear the letters A, P and I? I think I can…).

Cheers

Dave

]]> by: dave http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11514 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:23:54 +0000 http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/07/19/new-improved-zopa-now-washes-whiter/#comment-11514 How will the site handle those of use who cannot install a flash plugin? (I run FreeBSD, and the unofficial plugins are too buggy, while the offical one is forbidden to install by its license) Dave How will the site handle those of use who cannot install a flash plugin? (I run FreeBSD, and the unofficial plugins are too buggy, while the offical one is forbidden to install by its license)

Dave

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