An example of good web design from the student stories:

http://web.mit.edu/21w765j/Spring98/p2/final2/stephane/pit-520.html

Upon seeing, the ... links before and after the blocks of text, I

immediately understood that the ones before the text would take me back in

time following the story of a particular character, while the ones

following the text would take me forward in time. This navigation scheme

was straight-forward and allowed me to follow each character without confusion.

A criticism:

http://web.mit.edu/21w765j/Spring98/p1/Rania_Bubbles/exit1.html

I liked this narrative, but the inconsistencies in navigation bothered me.

Why at the page noted above do we suddenly get to choose which character to

follow from a list, when previously we had to choose from textual links? I

would remove this page and try to make each textual link a character's

name, or an indication to move forward in time.

A compliment:

http://web.mit.edu/21w765j/Spring98/p1/Rania_Bubbles/neil12.html

Part of the Bubbles design that I liked was the diving gauges on the right

side of the screen. The flashing danger sign on this page actually made me

worry about the characters.

Nick Hausman

nhausman@mit.edu