1. Avimanyu Datta, Ph.D. Candidate Washington State University
Corporate Website
The Bigger Picture
Avimanyu Datta, Ph.D. Candidate Washington State University
Designing Your Web Site
Chapter 8

2. Web Site Planning Process
Identify the site’s business objectives
Selling products or services
Educating consumers
Providing technical support
Collecting information from visitors
Offering a virtual community to customers
Directing consumers to other useful sites
Recruiting talented employees

3. Web Site Planning Process (continued)
Understand who will visit the site
Demographics is necessary. Do Market analysis. If possible collect demographics
Understand what visitors will do at the site
Primary audience consists of the targeted customers identified in business plan
Secondary audiences
Vendors
Strategic partners
Investors
General public

4. Web Site Planning Process (continued)
Design the site to accommodate the most common technological constraints
Experienced or novice users
Try customizing cite according to the expertise of the user level of expertise CREATE SHORTCUTS
Browser and version commonly used
Internet connection speeds
Too much dynamic content slows data retrieval speed
Screen resolutions used
Fixed-width pages
Pages that resize with the browser window

5. Web Site Organization Home page should answer basic visitor questions:
Who are you?
What do you do?
Where can I find what I want or need?
Why should I be interested in your products or services?

6. Web Site Organization (continued)
Secondary pages
Customer login page
Products or services pages
“Shopping cart” page
Shipping and return policy pages
Customer support pages
Contact information pages
“About Us” pages

7. Web Site Organization (continued)
Secondary pages (continued)
Privacy policy and acceptable use pages
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) pages
Employment opportunities pages
“What’s New?” pages
Customer stories or case studies pages
Affiliate program pages
Help pages

8. Web Site Organization (continued)
Linear structure
A series of pages linked in sequential order

9. Web Site Organization (continued)
Webbed structure
Pages are linked together without regard for how the content fits logically

10. Web Site Organization (continued)
Pure hierarchical structure
Similar to business organizational chart
Information is organized in levels
Home page at Level 1 (top-level)
Main topic pages at Level 2
Additional details about main topics at remaining levels

11. Web Site Organization (continued)

12. Web Site Organization (continued)
Mixed hierarchical structure
Combines structured organization with cross-linked pages

13. Web Site Organization (continued)
Should enable visitors to find actionable content quickly and easily
Be neither too flat nor too deep
Logical and intuitive
Avoid a structure that is either too flat or too deep
Try not to go beyond 4 levels of depth.
Structure that is too flat is uninteresting
Structure that is too deep is difficult to navigate

14. Web Site Organization (continued)
Web site storyboard
Used to test a Web site organizational plan
Manual mock-up of site’s organization
Index cards, sticky notes, sheets of paper represent individual Web pages
Use push pins or tape to fasten cards, notes, of sheets of paper to white board or corkboard
Create connecting lines indicating links
Look for illogical links, orphan pages, missing pages

15. Web Site Organization (continued)

16. Useful and Attractive Web Pages
Web accessibility – Designing Web pages so that Web resources are available to people with disabilities
W3C guidelines for accessibility
Visual or auditory content is supported by alternative content
Color alone should not indicate a link
10% of users are color blind
Adequate contrast for background/foreground colors

17. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)

18. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
W3C guidelines for accessibility (continued)
Simply worded text
Movement, scrolling, and blinks can be turned off without loss of information or navigation
Navigational links are clear and consistent
Page content is consistent across all pages

19. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Web usability
Designing Web pages to help all visitors accomplish their goals at a site quickly and easily
Consistency across all pages
All pages should have a common “look and feel”(Put company logo and have a consistent layout)
Elements in same position
Standard color scheme

20. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Navigational elements (internal links)
Embedded text links
Clickable table of contents and top-of-page links
Navigation bars
Navigation menus
Navigation tabs
Breadcrumb trail
Site map

21. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Embedded text links
Link positioned inside a paragraph
Text in link should clearly describe what page visitors will see
Use Fax Phones
Do not use Click here
Clickable table of contents and top-of-page links
Use to navigate topics on a long Web page
Allow visitors to read subtopics and return to the top of the page without scrolling

22. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Navigation bars, menus, and tabs
Navigation bar is a series of graphic or text-based internal links
Often found at the top or bottom of Web page
Navigation menu is a list of internal links
Navigation tabs are similar to file folder tabs
Both are used to conserve space on a page

23. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Breadcrumb trail
Hierarchical navigational outline
Provides visitor with feedback on path taken to current page
Use in conjunction with other navigational elements

24. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Site map
Web page that shows a summary of all the linked pages at the site
Rollover links
Hidden links that appear when mouse is “rolled over” an animated image
Avoid rollover links

25. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Page layout
Fixed-width pages fit in a maximized browser window for a specific screen resolution
Liquid design creates pages that size with the browser window
Use tables (arrangement of columns and rows)
Use CSS (cascading style sheets)

26. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Page length
Keep pages short to avoid vertical scrolling
Splash pages and frames
Avoid them
Search function and forms
Add access to search function on all relevant pages
Use forms to collect information

27. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Writing for the Web
Use simple, direct language
Avoid industry jargon
Use bulleted and numbered lists
Use dark text color on light background
Use a familiar font
Use at least a 12-point equivalent font
Check spelling and grammar, and proofread

28. Useful and Attractive Web Pages (continued)
Choose color scheme carefully
Use images, audio, and video sparingly and only when they support the Web site message
Avoid background images
Add alternative text to image links
Add related text links to support image links

29. Web Design Outsourcing
Carefully assess costs of in-house Web design and development compared to outsourcing costs
Outsourcing benefits
May save time and money
Provides greater access to experienced specialists familiar with current best practices and trends
May provide access to usability analysis

30. Activity: Go to http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
Check the earlier versions of
What drives the change? Although in some case they look drastic, but over a period of time the changes seem subtle.