Rankings are very popular on the Net : easy access to information, sorting of elements, synthesis, all these reasons explain their popularity. However, there is still one thing to be improved, the way they are displayed.
There are three main elements in a ranking (or Top list) :
1) The list of ranked elements and their position on the "ladder",
2 ) Comments on each item (why this item has such a position),
3 ) Added elements which make the Top list more attractive (pictures, videos, music, etc.).
It is difficult to balance these three elements, and according to the kind of Top list you have, you will use different patterns. We have identifies three kinds of rankings, none of them is really satisfactory.
1) The list of ranked elements and their position on the "ladder",
2 ) Comments on each item (why this item has such a position),
3 ) Added elements which make the Top list more attractive (pictures, videos, music, etc.).
It is difficult to balance these three elements, and according to the kind of Top list you have, you will use different patterns. We have identifies three kinds of rankings, none of them is really satisfactory.
- Top List Category 1 : the position of the items is the most important
In this kind of Top list, the aim is to give the user a fast access to the ranking itself. As simply as possible, the user has to be able to "look" at the full Top list and see what is on the top, what is on the bottom. Comments and added elements are then less visible. The "column" shape is usually the best one for this kind of Top.
Two examples :
TOP Best movies on IMDB :
TOP Best restaurants in the world by "San Pellegrino"
Pros : Easy reading
Cons : Difficulty to access added information for any item (a click on one item leads to a new page). No visual elements, the ranking is a bit dull.
- Top list Category 2 : the comments are the most important
The important thing of this kind of Tops is the opinion of the author. Comments will then be privileged. They will appear immediately after the item. Such an organization makes the Top to look like a classical article, in which the items would be headers. This kind of ranking, no surprise, is often present on media sites.
Two examples :
TOP best food in the world by "The Guardian".
TOP best hotels in the world by "Le Point"
Pros : possibility to read easily both the item and the comment.
Cons : No global view of the ranking. Difficulty to go from one item to another. Difficulty to insert added elements.
- Top list category 3 : added elements are the most important.
In these rankings, more than long explanations, pictures or video explain the different positions of the items. The best organization of the Top list is then something similar to a slideshow, you navigate from one "slide" to the other to discover the ranking.
TOP 2010 trends by "l'Express style"
Pros : Good visual impact
Cons : No visibility of the global ranking, no possibility for the user to act on the ranking (you can just click to go forward or backward), problem of circulation in the Top.
At Rankmill.com, we have tried to find a way to "design" a ranking which would be adaptable, whatever the categoryhttp://www.rankmill.com/top.php?tid=372&user=2215&account=1. We have now two designs :
- Top list used on our site Rankmill.com
This kind of Top is not active on this blog, of course (to see in action go to Rankmill!), but we think that it has the advantage of being quite balanced between items, comments and added elements (pictures, videos, weblinks, Google maps).
Top technologies that will rock the world in 2010
The other Top we have developped is especially devoted to bloggers. By creating a Top on our site and inserting an embedded code in a blog or web page, they will have the possibility to integrate a Top like this :
The user has a full view of the Top, he can easily go from one item to the other, and just by clicking on an item he can have more information, without refreshing the page (in the present case it is a video but we could have added a comment for instance). If you want to try it, it's here.
Thank you to give us your opinion, it helps. It's here !
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