Notes

Outline

Site Organization And Design Paul Lee & Phil Ware http://www.heartlight.org

Blended Content Content is key Presentation of that content is secondary Organization & design must serve content But, a few guidelines can be very helpful

Our Goal:  Serve the content… Quickly & Clearly With understandable organization Our Goal is not… To be novel to be novel To have every new bell & whistle To be first with a new organizational style To put up something because you can or have worked hard on it

Neilsen Usability Studies Show That Users… Look for content first Ignore other materials & go to content area Don’t know where in the site they are Goal driven & don’t waste time for what they don’t want Often rely on search to hunt for material Consider logos, slogans, mission statements as fluff, decoration Will go on if they don’t understand design elements & look on their own

So should we focus that much on navigation? ABSOLUTELY!

Navigation Strategy Not a link to every page Use hierarchical structure Link to main sections Keep other links to minimum Search is important 100 pages or more need search Freebies are available atomz.com & htdig.org Link Internally Suggest onsite links

Other Navigation & Design Tips Don’t use the left column for any important stuff, users view as area for ads & navigation so they ignore it Horizontal lists work better than vertical Leave bread crumb trails Users spend most of their time on other sites, so design like other sites Be consistent Keep it simple Complement the content Give content & headlines ASAP

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