Design and Usefulness of weather.com Heather Ice Interactive Systems Design Fall 2001 December 13, 2001

Background Information n Since 1982, The Weather Channel has brought timely weather information to the world. n Broadcasts information about the weather 24- hours a day, 7 days a week n It has expanded across several mediums to bring the weather to more viewers – Include the Internet, where The Weather Channel can be found at

Leading Source of Weather on the Internet n Media Metrix has ranked weather.com among the top single content sites on the Internet n Nielson/NetRatings has also ranked it as one of the leading news and information sites

Viewing n Site averages 14 million unique users per month n Around 350 million pages viewed n It provides forecasts for more than 77,000 locations worldwide on a daily basis. n Forecasts are updated regularly as to give the viewers the most accurate weather forecasts and conditions possible.

Viewing Continued n The site itself contains much of the same information that can be found if one is viewing The Weather Channel on a cable television station. n Biggest difference between the TV and web site is that one can look at any part of the web site at anytime where the TV they can not.

Improvements To The Web Site n Many go right with the class discussion for Interactive Systems Design. n Come mostly from the comments and suggestions that they have received. n The Weather Channel seems to take a human-centered product development strategy in how they design their web site.

Improvements Continued n Donald Norman’s article on The Invisible Computer states that “at its core, human-centered product development requires developers who understand people and the tasks they wish to achieve. n The Weather Channel does this by taking the feedback that they receive and applying it to the applications that they implement. n They actually try to “understand the users’ true needs, and what they care about.”

Wayfinding n Have improved the overall wayfinding of the site. n Done this by implementing a way so that the users have a reduced risk of becoming lost. n Provided a site tour to help users to understand some of the new implementations to the web site, thus providing the guidance to navigate the site.

Graphic Design n They have improved upon some of the Graphic Design Principles that can be found in Section 5 Modular 3

Example 1 - Visibility Reflects Usefulness Principle n Principle says to “make frequently used controls obvious, visible, and easy to access; conversely hide or shrink controls that are used less often n Amount of scrolling one has to do to navigate the page n Reduced this by moving the site’s navigation bar to the top of the page from its previous location of the left-hand side.

Example 2 - Clustering Principle n Introduced tabs as a way to navigate inside a particular section. n This is a form of control, which is part of the Clustering Principle. n The Clustering Principle is a way to “organize the screen into visually separate blocks of similar controls, preferable with a title for each block.” n “Controls include menus, dialog boxes, on-screen buttons, and any other graphic element that allows the user to interact with the computer.”

Clustering Principle and The Site Design n The Clustering Principle is used throughout the site design. n It uses graphical tables so that each section has its own information, but the style does not change between the sections or pages. n

Intelligent Consistency Principle n This principle says to “use similar screens for similar functions.” n Allows for the “design of just a few attractive workable screens, then to modify those slightly for use in other parts of the applications.” n This principle is carried out throughout The Weather Channel’s web site.

Media and The Weather Channel n The Weather Channel’s web site brings a lot of multimedia to the screen. n Just about all of the programs that can be watched on the cable television station for The Weather Channel is also streamed across the Internet. n This allows the user to have several different ways to have access to the same information.

Media Continued n The web site is not necessarily a learning situation like what Kozma’s article on Learning With Media talks about, however it still contains a lot of the same principles that are used when capturing an audience’s attention n Video on the web site does one of these – Audio and video streaming creates a visual attention, which when one is listening to the information the attention of an individual may be directed back to whoever is speaking by using audio cues, such as changes in the voice. – This can lead to more people picking up on parts of the weather that otherwise they would have missed.

Problems n Problem 1 – There is a lot of information that is handled off of The Weather Channel’s web site. – This abundance of information can cause the site to take a long time to load a full page on an Internet Browser, especially across a 56K or slower modem connection – Viewing of the videos or the Doppler Radar map in motion can be a problem on the slow connection.

Problems Continued n Problem 2 – The graphics on the page tend to take a long time to load and if on a slow connection this will take even longer. – At times the graphics do not appear at all.

Problems Continued n Problem 3 – Sometimes other software is needed and this can take time to download. – This can be an inconvenient to the viewer

Problems Continued n Problem 4 – Pop up ads have become more of a problem since The Weather Channel has updated their site. – One such pop up occurs if you don’t customize the local forecast. n n This can be seen as a form of a wayfinding device, thus making sure the viewer knows that they can choose a category and receive information about it.

Problems Continued n Problem 5 – The site does contain ads within it. – These ads are for other companies outside of The Weather Channel – For them it is a form of marketing. – The problem comes with the fact that many of these ads are animated gif’s which take more time to load. – They can also be a distraction from the normal layout of the web page, because of the flashy graphics that they contain. n These flashy graphics distract from the Graphic Design Principles that are followed throughout The Weather Channel’s web site.

Conclusion n Overall The Weather Channel’s web site is a great site, even with its few problems. n It was designed using the Graphic Design Principles that were covered in the class lessons. n It takes into account how to integrate multimedia across the web.

Anytime Anywhere Concept n The “anytime anywhere concept” is made a reality with The Weather Channel’s web site, and the ability to access this site from so many different applications. n This is possible with how “weather.com services users through its availability on multiple platforms and through strategic partnerships.” n “Weather.com is the leading provider of broadband and wireless weather products accessible through high-speed Internet services, phones, pagers, Palm Pilots, and other personal digital assistants.”

Bibliography n Kozma, Robert B.. (n.d.). Learning With Media. Section 7 Modular 2. Retrieved December 4, 2001, from material/s7m2-material.htm n Norman, Donald. (n.d.). The Invisible Computer. Section 3 Modular 1. Retrieved September, 21, 2001 from Module1-Material/Drop_Everything/productdevelopment.htm n Section 2 Modular 3 Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2001, from w2/w2-m3-Material/w2-m3-material.htm n Section 5 Modular 3 Creating the Initial Design. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2001, from MATERIAL/s5m3-material.htm

Bibliography Continued n The Weather Channel. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved November 11, 2001, from n ___________________. (n.d.). Cable Press Release. Retrieved November 13, 2001, from tml n ___________________. (n.d.). weather.com. Retrieved December 5, 2001, from n ___________________. (n.d.). weather.com Local Weather Hays, KS (67601). Retrieved December 5, 2001, from dFlu n __________________. (n.d.). What’s New. Retrieved November 13, 2001, from