I've been creating a new clock every day and I'm approaching clock number 500. I recently added a tagging system and would love feedback on how to make the collection easier to navigate and more engaging for visitors.
The site currently has a homepage, a list view, individual clock pages, tags, navigation arrows, and links back home. I'm unsure whether some of these options overlap or create too many choices. I'm also considering thematic collections for groups such as astrological signs, planets, fruits, and the six simple machines, but I'm not sure whether tags already cover that purpose.
One issue I've noticed is that the homepage and individual clock pages use different left-to-right and right-to-left flows, which may feel disconnected. I'd appreciate ideas for organizing the collection, improving navigation between clocks, and making the overall experience more engaging.
4 Answers
At this size, a search bar would probably be the biggest improvement. Visitors may know the clock number or roughly what they’re looking for, and scrolling through hundreds of entries gets tedious. I’d also add two clearly separate actions: “Jump to latest” for seeing new work and “Random clock” for exploring the archive. Alphabetizing the tags could make browsing categories easier too.
The project and the consistency behind it are seriously impressive. One usability question is whether the clocks remain readable as clocks. I looked at several examples and often couldn’t tell what time they represented or where the hands were pointing. Abstract designs are fine, but it may help to make the time legible or provide a clear way to reveal the intended time so the work still connects to the basic function of a clock.
You may want to simplify the navigation model before adding more collection pages. Decide whether the homepage or the list is the main starting point, then make the path through the site consistent. On an individual clock page, the essential actions could be previous, next, back to the collection, and perhaps the current tag. Thematic groupings could still be useful, but they should feel like curated collections rather than another layer of navigation on every page.
A random clock button would be great. With hundreds of entries, people will enjoy discovering something unexpected instead of only moving chronologically.
That’s exactly what I’m struggling with. The homepage and list currently feel redundant, and the individual pages offer several possible paths through arrows, tags, breadcrumbs, and the home link. I’m considering thematic groups, but I’m not sure whether those would be meaningfully different from the existing tags.