Designing a site (1/4) – 1h

First Step

Lazar’s Development LifecycleDefine the mission &

target users

Collect user

requirements Create andModify

Conceptual design

Create and modify physical design

Perform usability testing

Implement and market the website

Evaluate and improve the website

First step

• Mission statement– what is the purpose of the site ?

• Target user population– who is going to use the site ?

• Project Brief– Another document! (highly readable and concise)– How the subject will be approached– The scope of the project– The intended audience

Mission: Characterising WebsitesNavarro and Khan’s Taxonomy of Web Site Missions (inform, entertain, sell)

Goal Examples

Inform or educate Universities, schools, charitable foundations, non-profit organisations, government, businesses, political organisations, personal homepages

Entertain Magazine, e-zines, galleries, museums, media clubs, organisation, personal home pages

Navarro and Khan’s Taxonomy of Web Site Missions

Effective Web Design (1998)

Question: is this taxonomy still valid today? What other categorisation can you think of?

Goal Examples

Market, sell or persuade Businesses, political organisations, non-profit organisations, universities, schools, personal resumes

Defining the Mission Statement

• What are the goals of the web site?– Inform or educate– Entertain – Market, sell or persuade– Different goals for different users ?

• What type of interaction with the users does the client want?– Buy a product, subscribe to a mailing list, read information,

download a patch, play a game etc

• How will success be measured ?– Pages visited, products sold, customer satisfaction etc

Defining the Target User

• To whom is the web site targeted?

• Are there different user groups within the target population?

• Can we develop separate user profiles?

• Can we contact all these different user groups?

…. need to define ….

• baseline specification (user)– platform, bandwidth, browser version, colour resolution, screen

resolution, plug-ins etc

• technical specifications (development)– platform, authoring tools, hardware, format etc

• Content– Who is responsible for it?

– text, images, dynamic media etc

• navigation– menus, icons, hypertext etc

• screen layout– design guidelines, screen display, colours, fonts etc

…. information required …..

• Demographic information– Age, gender, educational experience etc of users

• Domain knowledge– Previous knowledge and experience of users

• Computing experience– Support and training required in-house

• Computing environment– Hardware, software, connection etc (users and in-house)

• Content– Users needs

• Benchmarking– Exemplars, competition

• Other considerations– Redevelopment: previous data such as usability tests

…. decision time

• What categories of information need to be collected from the user ?

• Which data are most important to collect ?

• What other web sites would be good benchmarks ?

Requirements Capture

• PACT - – People

• who will use the system– Activities

• what it will be used for– Contexts

• the contexts of the interaction– Technologies

• what is technically/logically feasible

PACT - People

• Physical Differences– Colour blindness– Impairment

• Psychological Differences– Spatial ability– Experience

• Usage Differences– Secretaries– Managers

PACT - Activities

• Temporal Aspects– Speed of response– Frequency of Use

• Cooperation - alone or with others?

• Complexity– Step-by- Step or Browse Around?

• Safety-Critical - allow recovery from errors

• Nature and Content (input device, media)

PACT - Contexts

• Physical Environment– Use Outside?– Slow internet access?

• Social Context– Sound Permissible?– Privacy Necessary?

• Organisational Context– Change power Structure?– Deskilling?

PACT - Technologies

• Input– Bar-codes, Touch Screens, Speech?

• Output– Video, Speech, Icons?

• Communication– Bandwidth, Speed, Storage?

• Content– Accurate, Up to Date, Relevant, Well

Presented

Requirements Capture

• CUTE - Constraints, User profiles, Tasks, Environmental factors

CUTE

• Constraints:– Timescale– Budget– Standards or styles– Technical performance criteria– Development personnel– User training requirements– Legal requirements relating to usability or

accessibility

CUTE

• Users:– Physical and cognitive needs– Domain expertise– Education– Usage profile– Cultural background– Computer experience– Attitude– Work methods

CUTE

• Tasks:– Functional specification– User-centred analysis of tasks

• Their components• Sequences• typical scenarios

– Context of work:• Work pattern• Work group dynamics

CUTE

• Environment = physical aspects of the context of use:– Environmental conditions– Siting– Response needs– Criticality– Health and safety issues– Desk-bound or mobile– Stresses– Ergonomic issues

Tools & Techniques

• Surveys– Paper– Electronic

• Interview– F2F– Telephone– Computer Mediated

• Focus groups– F2F– Computer Mediated

Data Gathering Methods - Questionnaires

• Good for answering specific questions

• Data: Quantitative & qualitative

• Can reach many people with low resources

• Must be properly designed

• Low response rate

Data Gathering Methods - Interviews

• Good for exploring issues• Some quantitative but mostly qualitative data• Interviewer can guide interviewee if necessary. • Encourages contact between developer and

user / client• Time consuming.• Recording equipment?• Artificial environment may intimidate interviewee

Data Gathering Methods - Focus Groups

• Good for collecting multiple viewpoints• Some quantitative but mostly qualitative

data• Highlights areas of consensus and conflict.• Encourages contact between developer

and user / client• Mix of people: Possibility of dominant /

submissive characters.