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1. Making a Web Site Work - Consumer Sensitivity Boot Camp • Categories and Issues 1. Technical, e.g., interactivity, bandwith 2. Look and Feel, e.g., aesthetics, ease of use, consistency 3. Other, e.g., site navigation issues (Information Architecture) • What do you hate about the Web? • Can't find it - no index, table of contents, search, site map • Poor graphics and layout - huge eye stinging images, long and crowded pages • Bells and Whistles - unnecessary wow factors like improper use of Java applets, animated images, and blinking anythings • Inappropriate Tone - organizational jargon that alienates the user • Designer Centeredness - focus on the purpose of web site and not webmaster self expression • Under Construction - always to be avoided, usually synonymous with abandoned • Lack of Attention to Detail - typos, broken links, out-of-date or non-factual content • What do you like about the Web? • Aesthetics - cohesive and consistent look that creates a pleasing unique identity for the site • Big Ideas - effective communication with intelligent thought provoking writing and transparent page layout • Utility - the site's services matches the site's goal • Findability - good organization and ease of navigation • Personalization - tailoring the site to accommodate multiple audience types, e.g., browsers vs. searchers 2. Intro to Information Architecture • Role of the Information Architect • clarifies the mission, big picture understanding, and vision for the site • determines the content and functionality of the site • specifies how information will be found on the site by defining organization, navigation, labeling and searching systems • maps out a maintenance plan for the site for change and growth • thinks like an outsider but is organizationally savvy • thinks like an insider, knows the trenches and is aware of the politics • identifies the goals and content by getting bosses or clients to articulate their vision of the site • Disciplinary Background of the Information Architect • Graphic Design - creates integrated relationships between visual elements • Information and Library Science - organization of site working with searching, browsing and indexing technologies • Journalism - transfer of news wire skills to dynamic web information, e.g., push technology • Usability Engineering - testing and evaluating how the system works and system performance • Marketing - understands the audiences and communicates the message • Computer Science - sysadmin, programming skills that make the web "go", e.g., perl, javascript 3. Organizing Information • Organizational Challenges • support both casual browsing and directed searching • eliminate ambiguity, avoid one-size-fits-all approaches, rethink limited mental models of content labeling, be sensitive to political concerns • Organizing Web Sites and Intranets • Organizational Schemes - defines shared characteristics and groupings of content items 1. Exact - alphabetical (e.g., white pages), chronological (e.g., TV guide), geographical (e.g., US map) 2. Ambigious - topical (e.g., yellow pages), task oriented (e.g., menus), audience specific (e.g., members), metaphor driven (e.g, navigation elevator), hybrid (e.g., mixed ambigious sharing a page must still be somehow separated) • Organizational Structures - defines types of relationship between content items and groups 1. Hierarchical - mutually exclusive top-down tree approach with balanced breadth and depth 2. Database - bottom-up approach using controlled vocabulary, best used in subsites to repurpose the same content in different form 3. Hypertext - less structured flexible nonlinear links, best used for secondary organization to compliment hierarchical and database models • Creating Cohesive Organizational Systems • break site into components, information retrieval systems work best when applied to narrow domains of homogeneous content • provide multiple ways to access the same information • use a combination of hierarchical, database and hypertext on large web sites