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This is a presentation I gave to Engineers Ireland on aspects of web development and design
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RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
User Centered Approach To Website Design
Richard Bowden
RB Consulting
25th May 2009
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
What are we going to talk about…
Business case for web based solutions
Principles of web development
Tools for web design
A user centered approach to web development
Agile development as an approach
Technology – open or proprietary
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Are you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc ?
How do I know if I’m doing the right thing?
Balanced Business Scorecard
Financial,
Customer,
Internal Process
Staff objectives
Measurable kpi’s
Web Applications–The Business Case
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Design Principles
Usability
Usefulness
Accessibility
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
So…Usability….
Usability is all about ease of use
Krug’s principle of ‘don’t make me think’
Visual design – professional and inviting
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Key usability principles
Where am I
Finding information easily as a visitor browses
Visitor feedback in case of a wrong turn
Navigation – what’s clickable or not
How do I get to the content I want – site maps
Navigation links alter according to context – login screen
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Additional usability principles
Consistent use of navigation aids – use of icons / positioning of links
Forms – requesting information that makes the visitor uncomfortable
Forms – clear indication on what information is required
Forms appropriate use of checkboxes, radio buttons & drop-down lists
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Usability on Amazon
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Usability on confused.com
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Principles of usefulness
Relevance of information & content
Access to information – to register or not ?
Writing for the web requires a unique style
Content management process
Readability
Font size and type
Colour contrast for text
Balance of white space and content
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Accessibility design guidelines
Be consistent throughout
Enhance clarity with good design
Do not convey information with colour alone
Create contrast between foreground and background
Avoid any unnecessary animation
Use multimedia with care
Create flexible width design
Avoid frames & pop-up windows
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Accessibility developer guidelines
Use code validation tools
WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation tool)
Directory of validation tools -http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete
Avoid using images to display text / Use of alt text
Spacing and grouping in forms
Error prevention & recovery assistance
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
WCAG 2.0
2.0 release in December 2008
4 principles of POUR
61 checkpoints across 12 guidelines
3 categories
Popular pointers on content
Developers of authoring & evaluation tools
User related for browsers and assistive technology
Technology independent
Move away from focus on html
Objectively testable
Support for developers
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Tools for the design process
Storyboarding
Persona analysis
Wireframes
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Storyboarding – Key steps
Illustrations, images, mockups !
Visualise how the website will look and flow
Steps
Collate information – text and images
Sort into topics – starting with the broadest !
For each page – determine title, headings, & content
Plan the information structure & navigation approach
Layout your menu structure and page template
Then place yourself in the user’s shoes and review
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Sample storyboard
Source: d11.org
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Persona Analysis
Distinct set of behaviours personalised – bios, pictures & names
Data drawn from user testing, observations & web traffic analysis
Don’t confuse with job roles, user roles & actual people
Helps to focus on
Key requirements
Specific needs of your users
User behaviour& goals
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Wireframes
Source: totheweb.com
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
User Centred Design – Key Questions
What is the user attempting to accomplish?
Specific tasks and goals in their work
What information does the user require from the website to progress their work?
What’s the format that they would prefer to work with?
What set of features does the user require from this website?
What are the user’s expectations about how the website will work?
Given the user’s profile in terms of skills and experience, how can a website better assist the user?
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
User Centred Design – Key steps
Involve a sample set of users
Representative in terms of skills & experience
Identify the requirements via a set of representative tasks
Progress the design and development of the website
Follow-up work after the rollout
Content management
Visitor analysis
Website performance
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Benefits of an agile development approach
A challenge to identify all requirements upfront
Prioritise requirements into short iterations
Greater sense of progress and flexibility to adapt
Borrow aspects of Scrum and Extreme Programming
approaches
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Technology – Open or Proprietary ?
Best to focus on open standards
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
In Summary….
Overall rule….It depends (Steve Krug)
Build in usability and accessibility from the start
Retain flexibility to adapt
RB Consulting Engineers Ireland
Questions & Comments
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @rbconsulting
Website: www.rbconsulting.ie