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Part 3 Implementation
to process. Since using the navigation system may not enable the user to find the information
they want rapidly, alternatives have to be provided by the site designers. These alternatives
include search, advanced search, browse and site map facilities.
Page design
The page design involves creating an appropriate layout for each page. The main elements of
a particular page layout are the title, navigation and content. Standard content such as copy-
right may be added to every page as a footer. Issues in page design include:
●
Page elements. The proportion of page devoted to content compared to all other content
such as headers, footers and navigation elements. The location of these elements also needs
to be considered. It is conventional for the main menu to be at the top or on the left. The use
of a menu system at the top of the browser window enables more space for content below.
●
The use of frames. This is generally discouraged for the reasons given in Chapter 12.
●
Resizing. A good page layout design should allow for the user to change the size of text or
work with different monitor resolutions.
●
Consistency. Page layout should be similar for all areas of the site unless more space is
required, for example for a discussion forum or product demonstration.
●
Printing. Layout should allow for printing or provide an alternative printing format.
Content design
Copywriting for the web is an evolving art form, but many of the rules for good copywriting
are as for any medium. Common errors we see on websites are:
●
too much knowledge assumed of the visitor about the company, its products and services;
●
using internal jargon about products, services or departments – using undecipherable acronyms.
Web copywriters also need to take account of the user reading the content on-screen.
Approaches to deal with the limitations imposed by the customer using a monitor include:
●
writing more concisely than in brochures;
●
chunking or breaking text into units of 5– 6 lines at most; this allows users to scan rather
than read information on web pages;
●
using lists with headline text in larger font;
●
never including too much on a single page, except when presenting lengthy information
such as a report which may be easier to read on a single page;
●
using hyperlinks to decrease page sizes or help achieve flow within copy, either by linking
to sections further down a page or linking to another page.
Hofacker (2001) describes five stages of human information processing when a website is
being used. These can be applied to both page design and content design to improve usabil-
ity. Each of the five stages summarised in Table 11.6 acts as a hurdle, since if the site design or
content is too difficult to process, the customer cannot progress to the next stage.
Using these layers we can map content across different access levels to produce a site
which is integrated across the needs of its audiences. This also relates to the section on secu-
rity since different access levels may be given for different information.
Mobile design
In Chapter 3 we explained the increasing adoption of mobile sites. The challenge of the
many options for mobile site design has been nicely summarised by ex-eBay designer Luke
Wroblewski (Wroblewski, 2011), who when lead designer at start-up BagCheck said:
As use of mobile devices continues to skyrocket across the globe, we’re seeing more
ways to tackle the challenge of creating great web experiences across multiple devices.
But which approach is right for any given project?
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For us site performance and speed of development were crucial. So many of the deci-
sions we made were designed to make both of these as fast as possible. As part of our
focus on performance, we also had a philosophy of ‘just what’s necessary’. This meant
sending things to devices (and people) that didn’t actually need them made us squeamish.
We liked to optimize. With a dual template system we felt we had more optimization of:
source order, media, URL structure, and application design.
We will now review five common options for mobile site development identified by
Thurner (2013):
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