Melzoo is a meta search engine, that is unique thanks to its ‘visual previews‘ of results. While browsing results screen is divided into two parts, on the left we have results and on the right there is a preview of specific result. It takes a while untill it loads.

This feature was designed in order to provide ‘quality of traffic‘ - users really interested in what is on the specific page, in this way the risk of re-directing random users from search engine was minimized.

The thing is hard to understand is why Melzoo is called meta search engine. Meta search engines enable to recognize profiles of sites from results (are they blogs, news, social services etc.) or divide reults into clusters by assigning them to categories. In Melzoo’s case there’s not even a mark of anything like that, nor even any advanced search settings, that could enable to find results from specific field.

-mw

I write here also about methods of organizing information and the way how we can handle its surplus. These surplus is visible also in our desktops - where we save all files that we were going to read but it turned out that there wasn’t enough time. Sometimes it happens that one does not want to remove such files and keeps them on his dekstop for more conducive time.

BumpTop is a project annouced at least two years ago, than its presentation looked very impressive. They claimed that they were going to give us desktop in 3D, where icons can be moved and interact between each other according to laws of physics.

Most innovative feature was the possibility of creating piles of icons, for example of the same type or regarding the same case. BumpTOp also presented some fresh ideas on how to manage, sort and browse this piles. Everything was presented on video, published in June 2006:

Right now there is beta version available, but only for those, who were previously registered and accepted by authors of BumpTop. It looks like we have to wait for more opened tests.

BumpTop can be extremely helpful in handling with the choas on our desktops and of course, by the fact it has 3 dimensions the volume of possible data storage (number of files) increases - not only we can put files into piles, but also we can stick them to walls.

-mw

Recently few new web search tools were launched, I mean Kedrix.com, Soovle.com and Viewzi.com. They have few things in common - they represent quite new approach on search results presentation. It has to be stressed that these tools are not search engines, they just present search results from different engines at the same site. Their authors might be right. In a society in which everything tends to be visualised, not written this way can seem to be a proper one.

I am not 100% sure how to classify these tools. Kedrix is a sort of search results aggreation tool - it presents search results from G-gle, Y-hoo, Windows Live and Aks.com in separate tabs. Soovle shows us top auto-complete terms from 7 top-services, not only search engines, but also YouTube and Amazon. After selecting the terms we are looking for we are being redirected to the search results site of particular service we chose. Viewzi is most advanced tool it gives us possibility to switch between different views, from which every single one has another destination - to present images, sites from search results screen shots, videos, audio files etc.

Each of these services gives us search results from different search engines - and information about where particular search result comes from. Soovle and Viewzi have very tricky navigation, in Soovle you can navigate with cursos to select the search engine you want to use by turning all of them clockwise or counterclockwise (the default one is G-gle). Its design is fresh and the tool itself, by presenting top keywords from different services, has potential to become very popular among SEO exprets. The same argument can be used for Kedrix, which also provides similiar solution.

Viewzi seems to be a good tool for searching the content of particular categories like images, audio files or videos. Similar solution was recently implemented by Hakia, I wrote about it few posts ago. Although Hakia presents search results in the old way - by displaying list of links and in Viewzi we can navigate through search results by watching their screen shots, so we do not have to click and click back all the time. Viewzi gives us 18 varied patterns of displaying search results, we can set one as default and switch to another view anytime. For those who want to use graphic search results presentation just once for a time, there is an option to scan search results in traditional way with links list.

It seem that it may be a new trend in search results presentation - aggregation of search results from different engines and displaying it in more attractive way than old, we may say analog-like, list of links. Maybe they will not gain global popularity, but at least they can gain something basing on long tail effect.

-mw

Have You ever wondered about how the information on websites is organised? How is it connected to make it easier finding what we want on particular pages? Most of us are not even aware that navigation is most crucial part of design for page’s usefulness. Most typical navigation types are: vertical and horizontal menus, but recently, mainly thanks to flash technology it became possible to design navigation that brakes this convention.

I’ve selected few pages characterizing with unconventional navigation, the choice was made basing on the bestwebgallery.com, which presents fresh ideas in web design. Common features of chosen pages are technical advancement and navigation far different from classic one.

Navigation at most of them is commonly defined as an act of directing the way of something. In the web it is an act of directing a way for ourselves and to move around the information. Designing unconventional navigation is a risky task, it has to be intuitive (many different users have to act in the same way to find information we want them to). That seems to be most important thing in designing non-linear navigation - prognostication of intuitiveness among page’s target group.

One of my former lecturers said that Internet is a cluster of technologies, which are the adaptation of technologies existing in the past. He meant mainly the map and telegraph. I will focus on the example with the map. Map is a copy of the real surface, it presents two-dimensional projection of reality by educing it from its surrounding.

Simcityds.ea.com and Betaclan.net - this examples give the most simple illustration of that process. It is also visible in the case of Agencynet.com and Creaktif.com, where designers replaced the open-area map with plans of buildings.

"Flying islands" at Rakugaki.iekaki.jp

Other example of such a map-alike projection is given by designers of Rakugaki.iekaki.jp. This is more advanced and very innovative method of data presentation. It worth adding, that this site is a poll results presentation. Flying islands suspended in three-dimensional space can serve us as an very inspiring example of breaking convention of navigation design.

We can find something similar at Javierferrervidal.com, where we can preview the photos, which seem to be spread in 3D, their configuration is chaotic and irregular, but we can randomize them even more. Before we got to the portfolio, we can navigate moving towards unexpected and random directions, what can be also considered as one of characteristics of unconventional navigation.

Please note, that in case of Rakugaki.iekaki.jp the navigation is doubled, below the content we can find images of particular islands, we can switch between.

"Board game" at Problemplayground.com

Sort of projection of map was implemented by designers of the site Problemplayground.com, whole content is interactive, its graphic presentation looks like a board game, we can switch between sections. Navigation is also doubled, we have classic horizontal menu in the left-upper corner and we can navigate by clicking on the content or the arrows, that display on the edges after moving the cursor.

The other innovative form of navigation are interactive videos. It was implemented on Theovenreinvented.com. Users can interact with the virtual characters, representing the organizations by clicking on items in the video. User gets the opportunity to choose between few different scenarios, which is also a characteristic for non-linear navigation, it is more individualised.

"Chaotic" portfolio in 3D at Javierferrervidal.com

Unfortunately common feature for most websites with untypical navigation is the lack of two-sided communication between the users and admin. In 2.0 era simple e-mail form may look like a step back,  as far as design is concerned. As far unconventional navigation is lonely one not social. It seems to be the result of destination of particular services. Their nature does not require implementing all new forms of communication - most of them were designed to be presentation of product, portfolio or idea. The exception is site Rakugaki.iekaki.jp, which is a very advanced poll result presentation where we can add our comments and opinion.

Non-linear navigation is predominantly supported by using the classical navigation forms, but also some technical tricks can be helpful, I mean - lightening clickable elements, or sound effects after moving the cursor on them. This can vastly improve the intuitiveness of navigation. Also leaving the space between particular elements of design increases the comfortableness in browsing the site.

It seems that significant thing for intuitiveness and user’s confidence while browsing with unconventional navigation is using popular-culture references in the design, they can efficiently amplify the message.

It looks like it is a popular idea among non-linear navigation designers to secure themselves by introducing double navigation - classical and unconventional one. It should, at least in some part, prevent outflow of users, who cannot find themselves using such an innovative service.