[6] Cooperstown Collection, 2004. Axis360. <http://www.cooperstownstyle.com/main1.htm> (efferent)

Text Menu




Cooperstown (like Earthtrends [12] and Hummer [23]) was one of 47 winners in the 2002 Communications Arts Interactive Annual 8 Awards [81] . The judges describe the site:

Part of a larger online style guide system developed for Major League Baseball, this site distributes digital assets (event logos and team artwork) to sponsors and licensees. Its primary goal is to inspire the use of an extensive collection of retro-style artwork. The site not only provides a secure distribution method, it also lowers production and distribution costs and enables cost-effective updates through a built-in content-management system. The tab-based navigation is comfortingly familiar and the horizontal, scrolling, timeline interface shows potential uses for the artwork and places it in historical context. The Cooperstown Collection is visually striking and successfully delivers 150 years of baseball inside a compact space. [81]

This shows a creative use of a familiar standards (tab based menu navigation, and horizontal scrolling). The creators could have used half the page for the navigation, as did Hummer [23] did, or a side explanation of anchors as did Earthtrends [12], or a subheirarchical menu as did Nevada Department of Environmental Protection [50]. However, these methods may not have provided the same simple appeal to a variety of audiences. The creators explain the tab menu system:

“Once we had the assets and the metaphor for the navigation, it was time to start building. We built the style guide using a tab structure with each tab relating to a different search preference. The first tab provides chronological access, in the second, assets are accessible by photos and stylesheets and the third contains an alphabetical index. The sections are interlinked so users can jump between tabs without losing their place. [116c]

The site provides a rich visual array of artwork. Each menu accesses the same material, but presents it in a different context with a different navigational schema. Readers interact with the anchors to uncover historical information, browse by year, or quickly find a particular team logo by year or team. The content here, as in the Whitney's Idea Line [67]maps, is thus displayed and controlled by the anchors. Unlike Whitney, the scrollbar on the history archives anc Cooperstown Collection sections is a single anchor accessing a long horizontal content bar. The question here is, does a scrollbar count as an anchor? Technically, the reader is moving it to access new content, so it mayqualify as an anchor.

The pennant anchors also sound when moused over: this is a selective animation that calls attention to the act of potential navigation whereas Doonesbury's [64]subanchor clicks sound when triggered, calling attention to the actual act of navigation. Note that Cooperstown and Doonesbury both use sound only to signify that the anchor was activated, whereas I'm Simply Saying [35] uses sound to accompany new content.

Cooperstown scroll through timeScreenshot used by permission. Note that the images shown are property of Major League Baseball Properties and Axis360 and may not be reused without Axis360's expressed written consent.

 

scroll through alphabet
Screenshot used by permission. Note that the images shown are property of Major League Baseball Properties and Axis360 and may not be reused without Axis360's expressed written consent.

The archives use the same scroll bar to slide quickly through an alphabetical list of teams.

get all at once
Screenshot used by permission. Note that the images shown are property of Major League Baseball Properties and Axis360 and may not be reused without Axis360's expressed written consent.

The art download shows all the major categories at one time, and does not use the scroll bar but text buttons to find logos and photos.