Your review of Rowling's site is a timely revision tip for college students preparing for their final exams in multimedia design. Thanks for sharing the critical comments along with making suggested improvements.

Great review -- I hadn't bothered with the flashy interface because it was sluggish to get started. On the other hand, the text-based interface is simply horrible.

I'm sorry, but I don't think you do understand. The beefs that you raise, and your desire for a site map, are all valid in general, but don't apply here. Of course there's not a map. It's not an omission of negligence, but of choice. And of course the help is vague, and everything has the same visual weight.

That's the whole idea. The site is meant to be a puzzle, to be a challenge... not so much about letting you explore, but to make you dig, and reward those who are persistent and clever. What's the point of rewarding persistence and cleverness if it isn't a challenge?

The site is meant to evoke exactly the kind of frustration that it does for people like you (and me), and to evoke a sense of accomplishment, exclusivity, and, yes, superiority for the people who figure it out. It's adolescent and juvenile, and ta-da... that's exactly the target audience for the site. You might as well critique a tilt-a-whirl for making you dizzy. If it's not your cup of tea, don't ride.

So, basically, you've officially grown up. Neverland is now closed to you. Please give Tinkerbell your key on the way out.

The good news is that you have the rest of the Internet to play with.

"Me" makes some very valid points. Yes, it's meant to be a mystery, and yes, it's meant to be a game.

My entire review was predicated on one (valid, I think) assumption: that not everyone coming to the site would want to play a game. Just as many adults buy her books as children. And many of us (myself included) come to the writer's site not for an adventure, but for information. An adventure may be a nice detour for some, but my guess is most people typing in jkrowling.com want to know information - about the writer, about her books, etc.

By all means, hide treasures, make it fun, for those who wish to play. But forcing a game on your visitors is (IMO) a UX no-no.

Children's mysteries and puzzles often come with answers in the back of the book, for when you get stumped and just want the puzzle solved. A "fine, i give up" portkey would have been a huge improvement to the site, something that reveals the location of most of the pertinent information for the visitor.

In terms of game design, I also tend to think that *some* visual cues would not be considered cheating. Forcing the user to mouse over every single inch of multiple 800 x 600 spaces? I've played a few games like this back in the day, and most of the time things of importance are given slightly heavier visual weight, particularly if they're key to the gameplay.

I understand your concerns, but is it really THAT bad? I'm no Flash evangelist or anything, I just think that there's a certain amount of usability evangelism that ends up equating to the lowest common denominator, which serves nobody, including the user.

Be reasonable, but I think interface designers should be able to have a little more creative freedome sometimes. Unless explicity required, it should be come the normal for users to expect that in addition to the interface interfacing them with valuable information, that they themselves must interface with the interface.

:|

I think I might be successfully shooting myself in the foot, but maybe a light point came through in all that..

Seth, thanks for your comments! I'm all for creative freedom, but isn't the primary role of the graphic designer to communicate something - a brand, an idea, information, all three - to the people who view their designs? All I'm saying is it's not intuitive or in any way clear. If the people viewing your designs don't understand what you're trying to say, then haven't you missed something? In the end, isn't it more important to help the user find what they're looking for?

There is a purpose to the cell phone. put in 62442 and press the call button, see what you find!

Ak, I'm so flighty. I pressed the back button, and lost my entire message. Oops.
While I see your point, this is a children's author first and foremost. So her website if built for them. What kid do you know will go to a website, find the sitemap, and go directly to their destination? I don't know any that will; in fact, I don't know any who are that organized about anything!
Also, since her books are fun and interesting, and an adventure, she made her website that way too.
And about beef #1... I get a nice little pop-up sort of thing that displays what the object does.
Beef #2...again with the kiddie theme.
Beef #3...hey, a kid will say, "What's this one do?", and be delighted when they can turn off the light. Or maybe that one is just my delight in simple things... Although, all the flash works in the dark too.
Beef #4...yes, some of them are just of decoration...and speaking of the cell phone.. All you get is a cheezy certificate and an unreadable draft page of on one JKR's books. Woohoo.
Beef #5...again, exploration is the key, do they really want everything to be obvious?
Beef#6...ok, yes, that help is pretty bad, I'll agree with that one.
Hey, wasn't Microsoft Bob that cheezy kids computer desktop layout? Wait, that's something else... nevermind.

First of all the reason that all the "links" and everything have the same weight and everything is because there are "Secrets" on the website. Stuff that you wouldn't be able to see otherwise. She isn't going to just give that away... *rolls eyes*If you look at all the "decorations" on the desk and "extra stuff" you possibly predict things that might happen in the next books, or see new characters names and stuff... The cell phone is for if you type in the nummer 62442 and then "send" it with the phone pic on the phone then you will be able to see something "special". So all your little things that supposedly should not or do not need to be there have a purpose! besides it's more intertaining.

Well first of all the J.K.Rowling site is now offically updated. All the photos and stuff can be enlarged so you can can now read all the font and stuff..if you really were a Die hard fan for HP you would fully appreiciate the site for what it is. People find it entertaining to click different kinds of buttons for info. There is info about the author and the books. All you have to do is click on updates, books, about the author and other links. And Ta da there ya go! Congrats! You figured something out that a 2cd grader could;) I lurv you!

Well I guess you're not clever enough to understand that if there was a map to the whole site you'd loose the interest in trying to solve some puzzles she often leaves. As a matter of fact you must make potions. Decode the runes, make a sentence from the little bits of paper and catch things... too much for your head ... isn't it? Well ...sorry but you attacked my favourite author...

if you type peeves into the cell phone (just the numerical keys for it = 733837) this will give you another treat! I've got 7 different items in my scrap book now- are there any more?