Designing Web sites that work : usability for the Web

Every stage in the design of a new web site is an opportunity to meet or miss deadlines and budgetary goals. Every stage is an opportunity to boost or undercut the site's usability. This book tells you how to design usable web sites in a systematic process applicable to almost any business need. You get practical advice on managing the project and incorporating usability principles from the project's inception. This systematic usability process for web design has been developed by the authors and proven again and again in their own successful businesses. A beacon in a sea of web design titles, this book treats web site usability as a preeminent, practical, and realizable business goal, not a buzzword or abstraction. The book is written for web designers and web project managers seeking a balance between usability goals and business concerns. * Examines the entire spectrum of usability issues, including architecture, navigation, graphical presentation, and page structure. * Explains clearly the steps relevant to incorporating usability into every stage of the web development process, from requirements to tasks analysis, prototyping and mockups, to user testing, revision, and even postlaunch evaluations. * Includes forms, checklists, and practical techniques that you can easily incorporate into your own projects at http://www.mkp.com/uew/. Introduction......Page 16 What is usability?......Page 17 Why is usability important for web sites?......Page 18 Web usability problems......Page 19 1 Pervasive Usability: Usability throughout the design process......Page 27 Usability methods......Page 29 The design process......Page 30 Project management......Page 35 Resources: budget, staff and schedule......Page 36 How to succeed at project management......Page 44 Comparing usability methods......Page 45 Pervasive usability......Page 50 2 Requirements Anaylsis: Target audience and target platforms......Page 51 Understanding your audience......Page 53 Scenarios......Page 54 Design for diversity......Page 57 Individual differences......Page 60 Differences in user preference settings......Page 64 International differences......Page 66 Hardware and software differences......Page 70 Walking in someone else's boots......Page 76 3 Requirements Analysis: User needs analysis......Page 77 The objectives of user needs analysis......Page 79 Setting your objectives......Page 80 Surveys......Page 87 Competitive analysis......Page 98 Interviews and focus groups......Page 100 Informed project objectives......Page 108 4 Conceptual Design: Task analysis......Page 109 What is task analysis?......Page 111 Use cases......Page 114 Hierarchical task analysis......Page 116 A hybrid approach to task analysis......Page 123 Performance improvements......Page 125 Human-error-tolerant design......Page 130 5 Conceptual Design: Information architecture......Page 133 How people navigate......Page 135 The process of developing an architecture......Page 145 Maintenance and expansion......Page 157 Organization schemes......Page 161 Ways to present navigation to the user......Page 170 Labeling and orientation cues......Page 179 Search techniques and search engine design......Page 184 Embedding your site within the framework of the rest of the web......Page 190 Conceptual design......Page 192 6 Mockups and Prototypes: Page layout......Page 193 The goals of your layout......Page 195 Page components and basic page layout......Page 197 Some common page structures......Page 198 Page layout techniques......Page 199 Page layout constraints, common pitfalls and solutions......Page 212 How does page layout affect usability?......Page 225 7 Mockups and Prototypes: Envisioning design......Page 227 The goals of envisioning design......Page 229 Mockups......Page 231 The mockup creation process......Page 235 The mockup review process......Page 247 Prototypes......Page 253 8 Production: Writing for the web......Page 259 Writing to communication......Page 261 How people read......Page 271 What to write about......Page 279 Writing style......Page 291 How writing for the web differs from writing for print......Page 296 Text formatting......Page 309 Getting your message across......Page 316 9 Production: Design elements......Page 317 Goals of graphic design for the web......Page 319 Establishing the design parameters......Page 320 Color......Page 324 Typography as a design technique......Page 325 Icon design......Page 329 Designing online forms......Page 333 Navigation......Page 340 Interactivity and multimedia......Page 349 Effectively integrating visual design elements......Page 352 10 Production: Usability in software development......Page 353 Usability problems......Page 355 Web site engineering techniques......Page 358 Engineering web site components......Page 368 Usability of web technologies......Page 376 Principled software development......Page 379 11 Launch: Pre-launch and post-launch......Page 381 In the months before the launch......Page 383 THe challenge of quality assurance testing......Page 384 Quality assurance testing before the site is lunched......Page 388 The final hurdles before going live......Page 398 Taking the site up......Page 402 Immediately after the site is up......Page 403 Post-launch testing analysis......Page 408 Launch as a process......Page 417 12 Evaluation: Usability evaluation......Page 419 Types of evaluation......Page 421 Usability inspection......Page 423 Group walkthroughs......Page 434 User testing......Page 438 Evaluation through out the design process......Page 456 Appendix......Page 458 Usability inspection of www.whitehouse.gov......Page 459 References......Page 466 Index......Page 474 About the authors......Page 497 Every stage in the design of a new web site is an opportunity to meet or miss deadlines and budgetary goals. Every stage is an opportunity to boost or undercut the site's usability. This book tells you how to design usable web sites in a systematic process applicable to almost any business need. You get practical advice on managing the project and incorporating usability principles from the project's inception. This systematic usability process for web design has been developed by the authors and proven again and again in their own successful businesses. A beacon in a sea of web design titles, this book treats web site usability as a preeminent, practical, and realizable business goal, not a buzzword or abstraction. The book is written for web designers and web project managers seeking a balance between usability goals and business concerns. * Examines the entire spectrum of usability issues, including architecture, navigation, graphical presentation, and page structure. * Explains clearly the steps relevant to incorporating usability into every stage of the web development process, from requirements to tasks analysis, prototyping and mockups, to user testing, revision, and even postlaunch evaluations. * Includes forms, checklists, and practical techniques that you can easily incorporate into your own projects at http://www.mkp.com/uew Every stage in the design of a new web site is an opportunity to meet or miss deadlines and budgetary goals. Every stage is an opportunity to boost or undercut the site's usability.Usability for the Web tells you how to design usable web sites in a systematic process applicable to almost any business need. You get practical advice on managing the project and incorporating usability principles from the project's inception. This systematic usability process for web design has been developed by the authors and proven again and again in their own successful businesses. A beacon in a sea of web design titles, this book treats web site usability as a preeminent, practical, and realizable business goal, not a buzzword or abstraction. The book is written for web designers and web project managers seeking a balance between usability goals and business concerns. Examines the entire spectrum of usability issues, including architecture, navigation, graphical presentation, and page structure. Explains clearly the steps relevant to incorporating usability into every stage of the web development process, from requirements to tasks analysis, prototyping and mockups, to user testing, revision, and even postlaunch evaluations. Demonstrates Web design fundamentals that consider usability a major design goal, provides advice on incorporating usability considerations in each stage of the design process, and discusses the functionality of e-commerce sites.