What about the 'no data' view?
I believe it was the Getting Real PDF book from 37Signals that mentioned designing for 3 states; or, as they like to call it, the “Three State Solution.” It’s funny, because I fell right into the predictions they made. I totally ignored the blank view. I pumped this site up with data while designing, just to make sure everything would fit nicely, but I never really thought about the first impression the site gives when there is only one post, one category, two tags and no comments. It’s quite bland. I find myself wanting to shove some more stuff in the database in order to “bulk up” the site a little more.
This design was so sparatic, though. I never really gave it my complete attention. Had this been a project for work, or perhaps something more than my own site (where there were users and the users had accounts), I would have been more prone to think about all facets of the design (including the blank view).
All in all, I don’t know what I would have done differently had I remembered the blank view, but it’s an interesting thought.
Chris Sunday, 13 Aug, 2006 Posted at 08:55AM
The blank state is almost always overlooked, but it’s definitely important. It’s the first view most users have of your system. With slate (the CMS at work), I added tutorial help text to the blank states. If you haven’t created a page in the sytem before, it tells you how.
Ryan Sunday, 13 Aug, 2006 Posted at 09:17AM
Yeah, that’s a good idea. Especially when there are users of the system. For this site, it’s just me, so the downfall is the empty feel it gives visually; but that will go away in a week or two. I’m glad I’m starting to realize these types of things, though.