The Ink Spot

2:38 PM

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Q: Is this colourful side navbar distracting for my portfolio website?

I have noticed a lot of designers who use side navbar in their websites and keep the navbar white and minimal. I guess that is to minimise distraction from their projects. (Examples: 1) https://bit.ly/2KVXN4Q 2) https://bit.ly/2IYc3bG ) On the other side, some websites that have complex director...

I have no idea why this was reopened. I won't hammer it but I greatly disagree with everything going on there. Its not a good question and cannot be answered as it is with anything meaningful. CC: @ZachSaucier

Ryan

2:52 PM

hello @Vincent

Zach Saucier

@Ryan why do you feel like it can't be answered?

Ryan

its the wrong question to ask and is eliciting incorrect answers

Zach Saucier

What do you think the right question to ask is?

Ryan

Are these colors too distracting? Which requires substantially more information and would still be difficult to answer outside of opinion

Vincent

hey @Ryan and @Zach

I saw this as a critique question

Ryan

2:57 PM

13ruce for example says the colors aren't distracting. That's wrong and why I downvoted it. Colors being introduced are always distracting. The only possible answer is yes to that question

Zach Saucier

Do you think it meets our critique guidelines?

Ryan

not as it stands

Zach Saucier

which part of the guidelines is it not meeting?

Ryan

It doesn't have a clear question or the necessary information

It needs to explain why the color was introduced in the first place and then ask if its working for that goal without ruining the other goal (being the portfolio itself)

right now its no different from, "Hey here's my design. Is the red color I chose working?"

....working for what?

And the answer so far is instead answering why someone might add red

hi @Bluebug

Bluebug

Hi @Ryan and @ZachSaucier

This seem good?

"I'm working to make a layout of a portfolio website. The website will have a side navebar, which will collapse in the mobile view.
What I'm trying to do is to eliminate all possible flaws from the desktop layout and direct the attention to the contents in the main body. So should I make the navbar coloured (regardless of what colour) or leave it white? What design principles can be applied here to keep the user's attention to the main body?"

Ryan

3:14 PM

That's a much better question in my opinion. Now we know your goal. I might change the word "flaws" but I don't think its a huge deal.

I am concerned the last sentence may make some people vote to close it as too broad though. There's probably a better way still to word it but having that goal IMO is key to getting a meaningful answer.

Bluebug

That's great! Let me tune it more. By flaws, I meant anything that will be distracting the viewer from the main body, for example, I'm worrying the coloured navbar may. But it's also part of the brand. So I don't see it quite wise to eliminate.

Ryan

hmm I see this going two ways. Either you can ask, "What methods for testing or research could I use to determine when my sidebar is distracting from the content?"

Or keeping it more along what you've been working towards asking, "My goal is to pull the readers eye into the content while still having our brand colors X and Y on the sidebar. What strategies might I use to do both of these?"

Think either of those will be really good questions that get more useful answers for you. I could be wrong though. Maybe let @ZachSaucier or @Vincent weigh in first

Bluebug

Lets combine those two

Ryan

hi @Emilie have any take on all this?

Emilie

Hi! Catching up :)

At first glance I thought the question was fine. I don't think it's opinion-based but for sure the wireframe sort of abstracts the question a bit much

we can only imagine what kind of image will go in the grey squares... but I think I would have been able to form an intelligible answer based on the question that is here

Ryan

3:27 PM

@Emilie how is color ever not distracting?

Emilie

but maybe there was an edit I did not see, I didn't dig yet

@Ryan Actually I would have answered it would be distracting :)

elaborate on why you might not want that, especially in a portfolio where it might mess with other color harmonies of individual pieces

Bluebug

@Ryan @ZachSaucier @E

Oops

Emilie

but I think color can become less distracting overtime if you get used to an interface

kind of like we get used to see and ignore certain things

Bluebug

@Ryan @ZachSaucier @Emilie
This is the new question:

"I'm working to make a layout of a portfolio website. The website will have a side navebar, which will collapse in the mobile view.
What I'm trying to achieve is to keep the user's attention in the contents (which will be mostly images and minimal texts) of the main body without causing any distraction while still keeping the brand colours (regardless of what colour). So should I make the navbar coloured (regardless of what colour) or leave it white?

Ryan

@Emilie heh I was writing a pretty similar answer

Emilie

3:29 PM

I didn't start writing it except here so be my guest :)

Ryan

oh im not going to post it

Emilie

the bigger issue I see is how do we decide if that's graphic design or UX, there is a lot of overlap

Ryan

the thing I see is that there's a really wide breadth of solutions. Like you could keep the color but maybe detect where the cursor is and have the menu fade or collapse while the user is looking at the content

or lightboxes ave always been popular with designers because it brings all of the focus to the image by darkening the rest of the display

Bluebug

Well graphic design will play a big roll in establishing the ux. Btw is there a certain UX channel?

Emilie

"Please also tell if there is anything else that might be distracting the user from the mainbody other than the mentioned facts or what methods can I use to test whether the current layout is distracting or not. " (this is becoming really broad now IMO)

Ryan

3:32 PM

@Bluebug ux.stackexchange.com

Emilie

@Bluebug There is a UX community on Stack Exchange also

Personally I like that question, I would keep it but it's up to OP, especially if it just ends up being closed might be worth a shot posting it there

Ryan

I think its a big improvement and even as it stands I wasn't going to hammer it just expressing my own views. I won't go against the community like that.

Emilie

I don't think the question will generate a definitive answer but we could at least bring up a few things to keep in mind. It's general enough to be of use to others

Bluebug

Remove this part? "Please also tell if there is anything else that might be distracting the user from the mainbody other than the mentioned facts or "

Emilie

@Bluebug "But also remember, as the colours that will be used are the part of brand. So I didn't think it's wise to remove it completely." I think this is also a bit problematic since we can't make that call on your branding with the info we have here

Ryan

3:40 PM

it seems like you're trying to ask us to critique something without letting us in on what that is.

Bluebug

Well now you understand my goal: All I'm asking is how can I increase the attention in the main subject? Because I'm feeling like the users will end up seieng the bright colours on the side rather than the images on the mainbody.

Emilie

@Ryan I agree on that aspect, I read it more like a general question than a specific question (i.e. are colorful navbars too distracting for portfolio websites)

Bluebug

Another idea is instead of making the navbar coloured, the logo can be coloured. Now it's a monochrome logo on the coloured navbar. Just the opposite of that is the idea. But that will become so typical.

Emilie

@Bluebug I don't think we'll be able to answer you without seeing what's in the main subject (and if the other variables are subject to change like the color in the side navbar)

and it's likely to be personal to an extent, someone who is interested in the type of work you do will give more attention to what's there

Bluebug

The problem is main subjects can be seen only when the website is up and live. I was thinking to resort to some design principles to keep the users in the main body with a certainty.

Ryan

3:46 PM

sorry I don't understand what you just wrote

Emilie

@Bluebug I had something to address that I believe, I'll give it a shot

Ryan

What does "main subjects can be seen only when the website is up and live" mean?

Bluebug

@Ryan means I can't put the portfolio contents ie images and all in my mockup until the website is up and live.

Anyways, give me an idea guys. What should I do with the question. You understood what I'm trying to ask: "how can I keep the user attention in the main contents".
Should I edit the question finally or ask in the UX community?

Emilie

I can't predict if it's going to get closed again but I think it could use a title edit re: "How can I keep the user attention on the main content". It's a bit abstract but I think it's answerable

Off-topic, I really want to applaud that chat was leveraged here to help with formulating this question. I haven't been around much this weekend so didn't see the original question but it looks like you've reflected on it quite a bit @Bluebug and it's great that you've stuck around to work on edits.

Bluebug

4:09 PM

because it is indeed important to me to find out what I was looking for at the first place. I made the final edits. And thanks to you all guys @Ryan @ZachSaucier @Emilie , instead of giving up with a downvote, you all worked together to perfect the question. Thanks a lot!
And it was nice talking to you all!

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