How the BBC do it...

Scotty #

Thought some here might find this interesting...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gel

It's the basic formatting and layout rules for the BBC's site overhaul coming later in 2010.

Seth Brundle

When will FG borrow it?

cormee

Nice one OP, cheers.

Although when I saw the title I thought the posting was about how they get the volume on their media player to go to 11

Yahoo! Design Patterns is a good resource too - http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/

Liam Byrne

Wonder why page 24 references "Gill Sans Regular" if they're "moving from Verdana to Helvetica / Arial as the BBC’s default web font" ?

Is it the default font for their "logo" ?

Scotty #

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Wonder why page 24 references "Gill Sans Regular" if they're "moving from Verdana to Helvetica

The 'mastheads' will be Gills Sans. Info on page 20.

jmcc

It is a fascinating insight into the process of planning the design of a large website. Every webdev should have a read of the documents. Definitely a very nice find. That grid layout idea is a very useful one.

Regards...jmcc

tomED

That's amazing... sure they've done all the work before the designer even gets to do anything! :P

Pixelcraft

Are they not the designers?!

tomED

Pixelcraft wrote: »

Are they not the designers?!

Well one of the paragraphs in the document states:

The GVL 3.0 guidelines are a reference point for all designers creating BBC websites (future iterations will also incorporate
mobile and IPTV recommendations).

So I assume they have a team of designers that have to abide by these guidelines that weren't involved in putting this style guide together!

p

tomED wrote: »

So I assume they have a team of designers that have to abide by these guidelines that weren't involved in putting this style guide together!

This document would have been put together by a team of designers, including key people like the Creative Director of the BBC site.

However, they have so many sites and sub-sites on the BBC though, that most likely a very large number of designers work on that content in varying locations worldwide, so you're not going to consult every one of them on a redesign. There's no doubt that key BBC designers were involved in putting together this document.

Scotty #

More info added... http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/

Unfortunately some of it is password protected but still a good insight into the development process.

sheesh

Its amazing how 'techy' professional design really is...

p

if you think this is good, you should read about the BBC redesign they did a few years back:
http://www.liamdelahunty.com/tips/usability_bbc_redesign_the_glass_wall.php

sheesh wrote: »

Its amazing how 'techy' professional design really is...

What do you mean?

tomED

p wrote: »

However, they have so many sites and sub-sites on the BBC though, that most likely a very large number of designers work on that content in varying locations worldwide, so you're not going to consult every one of them on a redesign. There's no doubt that key BBC designers were involved in putting together this document.

Hence my comments...

Scotty #

Don't know if anyone has been keeping an eye on this but lots more info/guides have been added. Particular interest to anyone (ie. everyone) developing for mobile/tablet...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gel

You can now also download their icon sets and layout guides now.