Designing a site (2/4) Conceptual Design – 1h

Lazar’s Development Lifecycle Define the mission & target users Collect user requirements Create and Modify Conceptual design Perform usability testing Create and modify physical design Evaluate and improve the website Implement and market the website

Conceptual Design Navigation, Information Architecture Page Design Designing for Multiple Browsers (?)

Navigation, Information Architecture (1/2) Organizational Structure of the Home Page Topic grouping Audience splitting Metaphors Amazon.com Information Architecture Tree structure: broad and shallow vs narrow and deep Three clicks and you’re in Chunking information: 7±2

Navigation, Information Architecture (2/2) Where, Oh Where, Oh Where Topical sections Path Analysis Multiple routes Technology Screen layout

Lost in Hyperspace? Where am I? How did I get here? What can I do here? Where can I get to? How do I go there? What have I seen so far? Where else is there for me to see?

Page Design (1/2) Technical Considerations Design Considerations Download Plug-ins Animation Feature creep Design Considerations Information overload Backgrounds Colour palettes Text Styles

Page Design (2/2) Content Considerations Layout considerations Quality Positioning Resizing/Scaling

Design Challenges Designing for Accessibility The Browser Challenge Legislation Web Accessibility Initiative The Browser Challenge Explorer v Netscape v Opera etc. Define a baseline specification or create alternatives ? Currently much less of an issue with the dominance of Internet Explorer But what does Firefox introduce? Older incompatibility problems e.g. <object> vs <embed>, scripting languages, layers. Standardization Markup languages get stricter (html  xhtml  xml) de facto standards vs W3C Need for Testing Early & Often

Requirements Specification Mission Statement Aims of Application Target User Analysis Contents Screen Layout Guidelines Navigation Guidelines Technical Requirements

Navigation Maps Linear Hierarchical Non-linear Composite

Linear

Hierarchical

Non-linear

Composite

In-Out Structure History 2 Equipment 3 Home Page 1 Team 4 Simulation 5 Museum Exhibits 6

Storyboarding A storyboard starts as a diagram. It is a design, not a screen-shot Shows where blocks of content go Shows where local and global links are grouped Labelled to show the result of clicking on links and multimedia Label OFF the diagram! (Draw lines linking label to feature). Labels tell what the multimedia does. First draft drawn in schematic form by hand or drawing package (e.g. MS Word, PowerPoint, Dreamweaver). Later may become a detailed design using collage and better drawing tools Show a few possible solutions to client – who will invariably want to make changes! Coded only after design and approval

Vertical Navigation System

Horizontal Navigation Bar

Vertical and Horizontal

Example: A storyboard for a web home page

Storyboards

Detailed Storyboard