longer page vs. more clicks - what's better?

[DoubleV]

i am working on a new design for our site and trying to figure out the general site structure at this point.
i have a "design template" whiich is not final, but will help to illustrate the point:

http://nimlok.com/new_site/custom-modular2.htm

right now it is a sort of a dummy page, but eventually there will be more text under the red "custom modular" to describe more product features/benefts. The current idea is to also list all the accessories available for the product on the same page.
as a result, the page will end up sort of long.
What do you think is better? to just have features/benefits on the page and then have sub buttons for accessories and other stuff, or have one longer page without making the person click.
as an example, the difference is well represented in web sites of our competitors.
compare:

http://www.skycorp.com/skyline.asp?...1ss ps3000_is

vs

http://www.abex.com/600/mainpage.html

(the page is supposed to be in a pop up window, so there's no background repetition).
what do you think is a better solution and why?
my marketing manager keeps talking how everything should be the minimal cklicks away, but how do we accomplish that without sacrificing the design?

do you think that a site's design should dictate pages' length or that projected pages' length should dictate the site's design?
when trying to come up with a new design for the site, i am sitting and thinking that i have to come up with something where the bottom is "easily exandable", i.e. it can be as long as nessesary.
Our current design, on the other hand puts the site into a 640x480 invisible "frame", so our pages are short, but then we have to use "more" or next" id we need to have more content (for example

http://nimlok.com/us/faq.htm)

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Goals are dreams with deadlines
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http://www.nimlok.com

http://www.orbusinc.com

 

[DoubleV]

potentially, the pages could go on longer on or current site, but the idea was to "frame them". BUT on abex's web site (link above), their design definitely restricts how long the page can be, because the graphical greying texture borders the bottom of the page. --------------------------------------------------
Goals are dreams with deadlines
-------------------------------------

http://www.nimlok.com

http://www.orbusinc.com

 

[DoubleV]

yeeiks,
very sorry. the link for skyline was supposed to be

http://www.skycorp.com/skyline.asp?cmd=!dsp ps3000_is !ss ps3000_is

--------------------------------------------------
Goals are dreams with deadlines
-------------------------------------

http://www.nimlok.com

http://www.orbusinc.com

 

[Kjonnnn]

"mininal clicks aways" would be dependent on how your page/site is organized.

If you threw everyting including the kitchen sink on one or two pages, you readers would have minimal clicks, but would information get lost in the mix. Would your visitors and read a lot of unnecessary things and constant scrolling to find what they want.

On the other hand, a well thought out and organized menu would go a long way even if visitors had to make 3 or 4 clicks.

You answer is a balance between the two.

 

[bludonda]

DoubleV,

You have a couple of possible solutions each unfortunately with their own pros and cons as far as usability are concerned.

One is to use the infamous "frames" layout technique for pages long in content, but that is usually not a very elegant method and is despised by many web users and usability experts. It's advantage is that the user need only scroll down the page to access more information or content. The disadvantage is that it breaks up your page into yucky frames and all the problems they bring with them. Usually not the optimum solution, but one still widely used and effective in certain situations.

Another possibility might be to implement some DHTML tricks like layers to display information without scrolling or clicking to another page. You apparently already use the technique on your reference page. Now imagine using that same technique to display contiguous information or content, where the user places or clicks their cursor on an icon or button to display the content. If you wanted, you could arrange the layers to display in a timed fashion in a sort of "slide-show" fashion instead of making the user click on another button to proceed. Although you could conceivably use both options. The good news is that you can keep your base page at a constant viewable size and the user stays there while the content is displayed. There are several off-the-shelf free scripts available out there that you can essentially plug right into your pages and modify to suit your needs, and lots of affordable reference books that can help too, so you don't need to be a total programming geek to implement the scripts.

Now the bad news about this concept... It can be problematic depending on what browser or version of browser they're using. Layers display slightly differently on Netscape and IE due to their implementation of the technology. Older browsers won't display them at all. Worse, if the user has JavaScript turned off for some reason, (like to stop annoying pop-up ads,) then the whole technique falls apart. Of course you could put some browser detecting scripting in your page that could circumvent that possibility and either direct the user to turn JavaScript back on to view the site as intended or would bring up an alternative page with non-JavaScript friendly content and design.

Having said all that, the other obvious problem is that your site's pages then become loaded with coding that may be a hassle to maintain and troubleshoot as time goes by depending on your skill level and time constraints.

A lot depends on the sophistication of your site's average user - what kind/version of browser they use, etc.

A lot to chew on I know, but it may help you decide which way to go. Plus there are many more experienced and knowledgeable designers out there that may have more and better suggestions on this subject too.

Good luck, and let us know how your project works out.

 

[SQLScholar]

You have also got to look at the main advantage of frames - and the reason i use them (but hidden from view). Is that it stops parts that are on every page being un-necessarily re-loaded each time!

HTH

Dan ----------------------------------------
There are 2 types of computer, the prototype and the obsolete!!

 

[xutopia]

frames are bad 99% of the time. You cannot bookmark, printing isn't as easy for the end user and there are most of the time better ways to organise your site.

I recommend sub-categories in your specific case. Gary

http://www.xutopia.com

Haran