Techcrunch is getting more accessible

All active internet users know about Techcrunch. But for those of you who are not aware, Techcrunch is the best start-ups and hot IT news website. It has a growing addictive community. I don’t have specific data, but I could say that techcrunchers are the most loyal users around the web.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article on my other blog Gongea.com, about The Importance of User Experience. In that post I made an example regarding bad placement of important features, and my example was Techcrunch.com. I will reproduce the exact paragraph:

For example, when you have many articles (pay attention Techcrunch) – a key factor is the posibility to access every article with less effort. So – the first thing to do is to place a search feature on the interface. Keep in mind also the user behavior: what are the most used application with a search feature? Where is the search placed? These are simple questions, but with the right answers they will give you better understanding of your user interface and they will provide you a solid base for your user experience. Gongea.com

At that time Techrunch had the search box component placed in the middle of the page, on the sidebar. So in order to search for an article, first you had to search for the search box. I hope I’m not too confusing. Anyway, that issue was resolved with the introduction of a new toolbar. This toolbar is placed in the top side of the website having 2 components: search box and a dropdown that contains Techcrunch Network sites. It is good to see that this site that is focused on bringing fresh new information, is also taking care of the user interface issues.

It was a long road for this search box to be accessible, but now it is in the right place. Some users will say that this was a minor issue, but it was quite a big drawback due to the fact that Techcrunch is dealing with information and data that many users want to access quickly.
Good job Techcrunch.

Toolbar Design ★★★★☆
Toolbar Placement ★★★★☆
Accessibility ★★★★☆
——————–
Graphic ★★★★☆

Andy Gongea is a passionate UI/UX designer with a great appetite for technology and trends. Currently he owns, a future wife, a loan that comes with a monthly fee and some strange ideas about user interface and user interaction. Cheers! Follow Andy on Twitter: @andygongea

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