Jesse Martinez Fall 2006 December 7, 2006 Information Architecture and Design Final Project iSchool Capstone Website Jesse Martinez Fall 2006 December 7, 2006 http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~mjesse/385/project/programs/capstone/index.html

Presentation Structure Organization - Some basic information Some Early Questions Design Evolution Results - Hindsight is always 20/20

Organization A website that should be familiar: iSchool Capstone project page. This project is a “ ‘capping’ experience” to all iSchool Master’s candidate students. To be completed in the final semester of study, but should be aware of this much, much sooner. This is a requirement for graduation.

Organization Site information - what kinds of projects are available - practicum, internships, thesis/reports - poster sessions - how to apply - large chunk on Professional Experience Project

Organization Strait-forward purpose - instructions and information Lots of content - needs good classification schemes! Heavy on user browsing - needs good navigation!

Where are we? How do I get back? 1 3 2 Where are we? How do I get back?

Where are we? How do I get back?

Some Early Questions iSchool Capstone site is part of the larger UT web system - constrained to particular color and design schemes - css files, content, and labels are all there . . . - work on Capstone or work on entire site? - alter the content, leave the style? - alter the style, leave the content? - alter both?

Timeline Early sitemap layout

Label exercise

Early wire frame sketch

First design

Second design

Third design

Images from poster sessions Capstone Information News Calendar Overview Resources Past presentations Images from poster sessions Templates for posters Poster Session Capstone Options Professional Experience Project (Introduction) School Library Practicum Preservation Practicum Conservator Internship Master’s Thesis Master’s Report Registration Checklist Guidelines Opportunities FAQ Most recent site map

Some statistics 1 Template 1 heavily edited CSS file 40 HTML pages (15 pages had real content)

More Results - Original HTML code was not very compliant - copy/paste compounded problems even more - Still some issues remaining with compliance - Almost pure CSS design Smaller page sizes = faster download Better labels = better navigation = better browsing

Hindsight What I would have done differently - spent more time in the design phase - allocated more time for the verification stage - used task flows and user scenarios more - used Dreamweaver templates from the beginning - incorporated a working print.css file

Resources Used Dreamweaver 8 (Mac) Meadhra, Michael.“How to do Everything with Dreamweaver 2004.” McGrawHill/Osborne, New York: 2004. Rosenfeld, Louis, and Peter Morville. “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.” O’Reilly: 2004. Various CSS tutorials online: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/style/csslibrary/item/wire-frame-menu/ http://icant.co.uk/csstablegallery/index.php?css=43#r43 http://www.spiffycorners.com/sc.php?sc=spiffy&bg=ff9933&fg=ffffff