A couple days ago I was giving Gonzo a sneak peek of the redesign that is about to go live here, and in the process, earned myself an information architecture critique of the current design, titled “IKEA.”
He explained that, while he really likes the current design, the tagging system located on the left of each post wasn’t very efficient. This is something I’ve been telling myself for a while. It becomes painfully obvious when you look at the analytics generated during this current design’s tenure, and realize that most visitors click around to a maximum of three posts, and then leave. I blame this on the fact that the primary, most enticing, navigation element is the tag collection on the left. The more you click on it, the more narrow your focus gets, leaving you no option but to click back to the top level, or leave the site completely. The “leaving” option becomes extra attractive when you don’t find more posts related to what you are in interested in, mostly because I haven’t been very consistent with my tagging conventions. A single misspelling or a missing plural “s” leaves you unable to get to a post you’d probably be interested in. And the searchbar is hidden on the 404 page. Yea, so this wasn’t entirely thought out.
I’m the first to admit the tags aren’t consistent. Half the time, I tag posts with words to serve more for comedic value than topic titles. I run very few categories (2, actually) on this site, and the tag system was a great way to suggest structure without letting dedicated categories run amok. But now it is very very large, and tough to manage. If I had the energy, I’d retag each of them. Or ideally, WordPress would provide suggestions for consolidation. Hey, that’s a great idea for a plugin, hint hint.
After this analysis, I went back to the redesign and had what I equate to a small breakthrough. It may not be obvious when it goes live, but it is moments like that that make redesigning such a useful and educational experience. It forces you to push past your known limits and reach for a new level. I often find myself becoming comfortable within a groove I’ve made for myself. Where I don’t take risks, and instead rely on something that I know “get’s the job done.” If you aren’t constantly re-evaluating your approach to tasks and projects, you aren’t making progress. So get your work slammed. It makes you stronger (and rage makes you work faster!).
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