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Comment by uxcolumbo

20 days ago

Neat experiment, but this is not good design.

Design is about solving problems.

A menu is suppose to help you to quickly find and get to a specific section of your site.

Why do I have to click on a thing to reveal the menu even though on my laptop there is enough space to show it all? And then I have to move my mouse all to the other side of the screen?

Who is this for?

Nothing wrong with experimenting with CSS, but avoid ‘dribbblizing’ your designs if you intend to ship it to users who use your site for information or to get a job done.

Edit: commenting more on the iventions.com website where this effect is in use.

“I have a cool idea in my head that I’d like to show other people” is a problem that some people need to solve.

Iventions site is clearly a showcase and uses maximalism, which is most definitely a design philosophy. Design may about solving problems, but the fact that you feel entitled to think that you know the problem that Iventions is trying to solve, and also that they are doing it wrong is very presumptuous.

  • Not presumptuous. All based on doing enough usability testing to understand that time and time again people get confused if you try to reinvent the wheel or trying to be fancy when it comes to navigating around your site. Stick to best practices.

    That's all.

> Who is this for ?

This effect imitates a spotlight, which is cited on the page and quite relevant for a company in the arts domain

  • I tried to use it yesterday on my iPad. Some kind of element was blocking the menu.

    Tried it today on my PC (big screen) - the intro animation is slow - 6-10 FPS and clicking on the menu item to reveal the items is slow as well. I could hear my fan spinning up.

    Not everyone uses the latest greatest Mx chipset.

    This tells me they haven't done any testing. Basically 'this looks cool' and 'works on my machine'.