The Buckminster Fuller Institute: A Web Design Critique Zaakea Al-Barati, Keitha Hart, Anne-Marie Viola, Corina Waggoner LIS 654

The Buckminster Fuller Institute An organization inspired by the late design scientist, Buckminster Fuller, promoting eco- friendly design Online Entity: An archive of Fuller’s designs and theories, and a platform for discussion on these and related related topics Large proportion of user-generated content, fostering a sense of community

Target Audience: Adults interested in “green” design, sustainability, and/or the works and theories of Buckminster Fuller.

Four Design Considerations: (1) The Homepage (2) Persistent and Local Navigation (3) Content (4) Registration

The Homepage As appears on Firefox browser

Homepage (Cont’d) ProblemSolution Banner, menu & content don’t communicate who BFI is Tagline clarifies and reinforces site’s purpose Featured links fail to: differentiate internal/external, orient users to site’s org, (microsites lead away) Welcome blurb defines site and provides starting point for new users Who is BFI? What is BFI.org? Where do I begin?

Persistent and Local Navigation: Giving Users a Sense of Location Right-column navigation: not persistent throughout site Not inclusive of several main sections of site Despite large volume of content, lack of persistent search box

Persistent and Local Navigation (Cont’d) Breadcrumbs utilized, but are not descriptive at the end level Utilities should be limited to 4 or 5 links, and situated at the top, not in the footer

Content

Content: Disseminate Your Information! ProblemSolution Blog format isn’t conducive to browsing; lots of scrolling necessary to examine content Post articles as hyperlinks, with one- paragraph intros on main content sites; archiving of older articles Content tags occupy too much space and displace other sidebar elements Cut off the list of tags half-way through, and link users to a tags page to “see more” It’s unclear when articles are postedDate articles Many dead linksSite maintenance

Registration

Registration (Cont’d) Access points are too discreet Not much difference in site appearance when logged in or out Would benefit from creation of a prominent registration section

A Note on Browser Compatibility …but IE is missing elements!! Same HTML code…

Conclusion BFI.org fails in presenting to users the myriad of resources and information it possesses. Site identifiers including a tagline and welcome blurb would be instrumental in defining the site to new users. Persistent navigation and a revised layout would help to facilitate browsing and better present content.

Our Proposed Revision: