Bugs I needed a user to find

Using things more often makes them easier to use again. When I work on projects, I know what I want the project to be at the end. I know what it should look like and how I want to work. But then there are things that I do not think of. Recently, I have finished a list of changes that I would make to my portfolio and personal projects.

I finished everything task list, and to me, I thought everything looked good. I started to show my portfolio to people I knew. I asked them what they thought and what they suggested. One person was having a hard time using the navigation, something that I did not expect to be a snag. I did not blame her, and decided to redo the navigation to make it easier.

What I noticed first was that it was not obvious that any content existed further down the page. I thought of ways I could clue the user into scrolling down. I came up on the idea of a downwards pointing arrow that bobs and disappears after scrolling.

Canvas zigzag

Next, I noticed that a heading looked like a button. I removed the underline from the text to prevent it from looking interactive.

Admittedly, this did look like any underlined link

Finally, there was no indication of the current page, so I added an underline.

I did this by utilizing React State and inline styles

My portfolio is much easier to navigate now with these simple changes. You can find my site at https://tylertrout.com