The BBC has just launched a new “Food” section to its web site that is stuffed with video.
Not sure how to make Eggs Benedict? Just watch Paul Merrett show you how it is done. If there are any publishers reading this blog then have a ponder what this is going to do to the cookery book market!
This is a beautifully constructed web site, but there is a but.
The 'but' is I wonder how useable it will be for older people with eyesight and dexterity problems. Have a look at the way you scroll through the recipes and the low colour contrast.
We are just entering a new world of video usability and I think the rules are yet to be written. Even Jakob Nielsen has only a small amount of guidance about using web video, even so it is worth reading, containing a beautiful eye tracking map of the way people view video clips.
These are exciting times for companies wanting to radically improve the user web experience through the use of the richest of all media (video). I suspect web designers will give little thought about older users, or indeed any users, and we will see some horrendous examples of video-overkill.
This BBC web site is not a perfect model but it is pretty good. Dick Stroud
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