It is a luxury when designers are called into a Web project before any work has begun. More often we are called at the end of the development process or when people begin complaining about the usability of the web site. Regardless of when we are called the first step that we must take is identifying the goals of the Web site.
It is important for us to work with our clients and customers and help them identify their goals. This is an important step because unclear goals are often the root cause of usability problems. It is much like building a road with no clear destination.
Working with our clients we often find that their Web site has multiple goals. In these cases, we help the clients prioritize their goals. Once the goals of the web site have been established, prioritized and clearly expressed, we then focus on the tasks of the users.
The goals of the users are linked directly to the goals of the Web site. If the goal of the Web site is to sell products, the goal of the user is to buy products. If the goal of the web site is to provide information, the goal of the user is to consume information. Once the user goals are understood, it is much easier to build navigation that helps a user achieve their goal.
Structure: Break a large Web site into mini-sites with similar identities
Today, Web sites do everything. We can buy a car; we can follow Mark McGuire s home run chase; we can transfer funds in our stock portfolio. The best Web sites are small and focused. A Web site that has one distinct purpose is easier to understand. But, if a site tries to do too much, our visitors will be lost in complexity.
CNET, a major computer news company, uses mini-sites to segment its content. CNET has created over half a dozen smaller sites each with its own brand and identity. The mini-sites are easy to use and easy to navigate.
Each CNET Web site has a purpose. The name of the site echoes the purpose of the site. But, to maintain the large umbrella over the CNET family of Web sites, CNET uses a distinct look and feel (see below). A yellow left-hand bar anchors the interface. A yellow bar blocks information on the right edge of the page. Together, the CNET Web sites would be unwieldy. Separately, each is manageable. Each site has a URL in the www.xxx.com configuration, so it s easy for a reader to type in the word "builder" in the URL line and hit enter [return] and the browser will look for www.builder.com. Recent versions of Netscape Navigator allow this shortcut.
Every CNET site is listed in the left-hand navigation bar, so the reader can jump from one site to another. CNET has a strong network of different brands. Since revenues depend on advertising, CNET s site unity strategy keeps its audience around longer, adding to CNET s bottom line.
Structure: Have few verticals levels in a Web site
Our research Web site has dozens of pages of content. We want visitors to know as much about us as they can. Our challenge is to keep our content organized. With a content-laden Web site, it is easy to build a site with too many vertical levels. With automation site management tools and HTML authoring software it is easy to add layers of information to our site without considering the consequences. For information-based sites it is better to have pages spread horizontally than to add vertical levels to our hierarchy. It is best to design the web site to have a very shallow hierarchy. If at all possible the vertical levels should be kept at two or three levels. But why is it more confusing for a user to navigate through vertical levels? A possible answer lies with evolution.
Skyscrapers are a recent invention. Our ancestors roamed coastal lowlands and valleys. We evolved on vast, African plains. Before the invention of agriculture, all humans lived in one-story huts or out in the open. We can visualize movement and direction well on a flat plain. We don t move well in vertical spaces. Try this exercise: give two people a set of verbal directions. Give the first a series of turns around the same floor of a building a few lefts, a few rights. Give the second a few lefts, a few rights, and throw in an up-one-floor, down-one-floor. The first person will likely find their way. The second will find it difficult to get to their destination.
As for the research Web site we worked hard to limit vertical levels. Though the site has over thirty HTML pages, the site is compressed into two levels. Here s how it works: the site starts on either one of two pages Activities or Research. On these two pages (level 1) there are introductions to five main areas and links to every page on the site. Level 2 holds the remaining pages.
Structure: Storyboards help us think clearly
Architects use blueprints to codify their work. The client, the design team, and the builder are working from the same blue sheet. Storyboards are to Web builders what blueprints are to architects. Storyboards capture our thinking, and can be hand drawn or computer simulations of the interface.
Using storyboards help sharpen our thinking and highlight interface problems before we begin building our site. It is much cheaper to remove mistakes at this stage than later in development.
The reason storyboards are effective, is that navigation is hard to picture. Storyboards put our thinking on paper and help us connect information in a logical way. So if we think clearly up front, honing our information, we can create twice: once on paper, and once in development. The building phase of a Web site is no time to be re-doing the blueprints on the fly.
If you have any questions or comments please call me on 0720390184 or e-mail me on webmaster@webcraft.ws.
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