Transcript Designing a site (1

Designing a site (1/4) – 1h
First Step
Lazar’s Development Lifecycle
Define the
mission &
target users
Collect
user
requirements
Perform
usability testing
Create and
Modify
Conceptual
design
Create and modify
physical design
Evaluate and
improve the website
Implement and
market 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
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Another document! (highly readable and concise)
How the subject will be approached
The scope of the project
The intended audience
Mission: Characterising Websites
Navarro 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
Goal
Market, sell or persuade
Examples
Businesses, political
organisations, non-profit
organisations, universities,
schools, personal resumes
Effective Web Design (1998)
Question: is this taxonomy still valid today?
What other categorisation can you think of?
Defining the Mission Statement
• What are the goals of the web site?
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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:
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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
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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.