Minesweeping

Problem

Users need to be stimulated to interact with navigational elements

Solution

Show graphical elements that upon mouse-over reveal their meaning

From www.orange.co.uk

Use when

The site you are designing is one where Fun is more important that a purely Information Seeking. The site is not information rich but more visual or theme related. Such site can often benefit from elements that invite users to interact more with the site and explore its possibilities.

How

The graphical elements that have this "minesweeping" behavior must be easily recognizable. In some cases it may help to mark the objects very strong, e.g. by a blinking border or other animation. When the users move their mouse over the object, a label is shown that tells the users more about the item's meaning. Alternatively, the item merely changes shape in order to achieve the same meaning. Clicking on the item is identical to following a normal navigational link.

Why

Although minesweeping actually hides information from the users, it can be an effective means to attract and stimulate interaction. For some users, especially young users, such stimulation is part of the perceiving something as "being fun". All in all, use this pattern with extreme care!!!

More Examples

Comments

3 comments have been added to this pattern

Nancy Gift, 1st August 2007

The link to www.orange.co.uk goes to a 404 Page not found error.

Dave Bowers, 9th October 2007

Also known as 'Mystery Meat Navigation' (as coined by usability specialist Vincent Flanders). Only ever to be used on sites where time-wasting is the whole point.

EPK, 20th August 2008

Actually, if the "mystery" being navigated over has some meaning, rather than just eye-candy, this pattern can be used very effectively to provide a comprehensive and concise view of information across a broad topic. For instance: http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm and http://windirstat.info/images/windirstat.jpg use this method to give the user a landscape view of the environment, with detailed information only a hover or click away.