Redesigning CASA, Fairfax ANMOL PRADHAN NILAY SANGHAVI ANISH GUPTE ELRON D’SILVA

Website-  Follows a top-down approach.  It is organized in a ‘shallow but wide’ format  Organized in a user driven fashion.  Eg: the home page ->organized in a ‘task driven’ organization form.  Include more dynamic features to the site.

Organization  Flash animation captures the essence of the web site.  The top and side bars contain the most important tabs.  Since CASA is a NGO, volunteering and donating are important activities.  The site is more attractive, bright and captures the visitors attention.

 Hierarchical Organization.  There is a continuous flow to the entire layout of the site.  It focuses on a user based approach(volunteers and contributors) to contribute to the cause of the organization.  The site has a positive feel, as opposed to the original which was too simple and plain, and may not motivate visitors to donate.

Highlights in the new layout………..  Inclusion of Donate tab in the top level menu.  Calendar includes events notifications about the training,information sessions and other important dates.  Spread the word tab gives direct access to various social networking sites.

Labeling  Card Sorting was performed to classify the various tabs and hierarchies within the site.  A thorough brainstorming about the organization’s goal and objective was performed and included in the website.  Different fonts and styles were adopted to differentiate the various labels and subsequent levels.  Use of drop down, accordion menus and mouse over feature for easy access to the different parts of the site.  The gallery is modified and organized in a better way.  Renamed the labels to make it easier for the user.

Navigation  Taxonomies ->the heart of a web site’s navigation and organization.  The home page ->Employs an open approach with several links to practically all sections of the web site in a subtle manner without less complications.  Breadcrumbs are used at subsequent levels to denote user’s position within the web site.  ‘Spread the word’ tab->has direct links to social networking web sites to help more people to connect with ‘CASA’.  Reduces the need to use ‘back’ button.

Business Objectives  The main feature of the site is to encourage people to Donate.  Let more and more people know about the organization.  Encourage people to volunteer for CASA in various events.  Easy way to access more and more content.

Takeaways………..  Highly user friendly design.  Simply structured, yet conveys all the important information.  The primary level of navigation provides metadata.  Our future goals for the website include activating the search feature events calendar and more……….