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 Create and modify physical design Perform usability testing Implement and market the website Evaluate and improve 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) Navigation –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 –Download –Plug-ins –Animation –Feature creep Design Considerations –Information overload –Backgrounds –Colour palettes –Text Styles

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

Design Challenges Designing for Accessibility –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. vs, 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

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

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