Transcript PWR 201 - Bringing Web Best Practices to SharePoint Intranetsx

bringing web best practices to sharepoint
intranets
Name
Virgil Carroll
president high monkey
about me
• From the great State of Alaska
• Certified Athletic Trainer
• Masters in Instructional Design (from UAB)
• User Experience Aficionado
• Been building websites since 1998
• Been building SharePoint since 2001
• Blog: http://monkeyblog.highmonkey.com
• Twitter: @vcmonkey
about high monkey
• Been around since 1998 (HMC name since 2004)
• Offices in Minnesota and Michigan
• Clients throughout the US and Canada
• Core Competencies
• Web and interface design
• SharePoint / CMS consulting
• User Experience
why intranets fail
Its not what you think
Reason
Percentage
Lack of Executive Support
22%
Other, bigger priorities
18%
Lack of interest
13%
Business specific issues
12%
Policies
10%
Cost
7%
Other
9%
Reference: Nielsen Norman Group
DO YOU NOTICE
WHAT IS MISSING?
ITS NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY
Collaborative experiences still sucks
• Even with improved systems, they are not keeping up
with the ever changing enterprise
• Projects that start well go wrong quickly due to
perceived ‘business needs’
• Business still doesn’t understand people’s time costs
money
The resources we need aren’t there
• Most SharePoint intranet teams still feel understaffed
• People experience implementation takes $$
• Technology changes rapidly, businesses don’t
• No matter how much we want it, TECHNOLOGY WILL
NOT FIX THE PROBLEM
web best practices for intranets
why use web best practices?
• People think intranets are websites, not SharePoint
• Most intranets focus on finding information not
collaboration
• Like a website, if you have to teach someone how to
use an intranet, you have failed
talk to people not on your team
• Good intranets will include feedback from other people
• Requirements interviews
• Discovery workshops
• Surveys
• You must balance opinions with the questions you ask
• ‘What would you like to see’ vs. ‘What challenges do you encounter with
our current intranet’
• A ‘wish list’ build will fail
REMEMBER
Just because someone has an opinion, doesn’t mean they are right
example
good info
wishful thinking
• “HR forms are important, but
getting to my team site is more”
• “People really want to know
about project updates”
• “Why do I have to go to 3
different systems to figure out all
my employee stuff”
• “The page should know who I am
and only show me what I want to
see”
• “I don’t understand different
department acronyms”
• “We should have a chat window
where I can ask questions”
your people should always be first
• We believe our people know us better than they do
• If ever in doubt, ask any person to recite your org chart
• Often treat employees like its their first day
• Unlike Facebook, intranets are not suppose to help
people waste time
• Focus on functional-based results
• Latest news is only important to the communications group
• Understanding their stories
• For large, multi-discipline organizations consider creating personas /
customer journeys
• Accessibility
example
getting around should be easy
• Organize information according to how your people
think
• Card sorting
• Tree tests
• Navigation should be simple and act like a multiple
choice question
• Mega-menus can be useful when used well
example
good design supports function
• We don’t call it ‘branding’ its design
• Design should never be used for the sake of pretty
colors
• Balance must be established between the design and
getting people to what they need to do
• Color contrast can help people be successful
• Making it mobile
• Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
• Popular frameworks: Bootstrap, skeleton, responsive grid system
• Use media queries vs. 2013 device channels
UX best practices
example: too little
example: too much
example: just right
make sure search … works
• People are really poor searchers
• You have to handle all the variabilities
• They don’t know what they are looking for
• They don’t know how to spell
• Refiners that are relevant
• Remove SharePoint objects from the results
• Great use of 2013
example
documents are NOT content
• Documents are for reading ‘stuff’ longer than people
will read on a screen
• Develop content standards, consistent tone and plans
to govern
• Find a good balance between too much and too little
• Just because content resides somewhere else doesn’t
mean people want to go there too
tips: what people want to read
• Content that’s scannable
• Bullet points
• High level information up front, can dig further if
desired
• Easy to read and understand
• Up to date information
25
example: how do people read on the web?
26
example: how people spend their time
Left vs. Right
Reading Above and Below the Fold
Below the
fold
20%
Right Half
30%
Above the
fold
80%
Left Half
70%
• People at most read 20% of the words on a webpage
• People are much more likely to scroll past the fold if the first content they see
matches their need
27
learn from your logs
• Search logs
• Great source for understanding
• Spelling challenges
• Search patterns
• Many searches for obvious things mean they are not
• Web analytics
• Great source for understanding
• What people really do on your intranet
• How non-search people look for information
• Creating ‘push paths’ or placing of content in multiple locations
• SharePoint web analytics is still crap, use Google analytics
example
separate storage from presentation
• Content may need to be re-used
• Allows authors to store and work on content ‘where
they want’
• Good use of 2013
• Roll up content summaries via CQWP or CSWP
• Use audience targeting to further refine
example: content from different sources
example: content on multiple pages
Home
My
Employment
Forms
Expense
Sheet
Documents
and Forms
Expense
Sheet
Company
News
Departments
HR
Expense
Sheet
example: sharepoint 2013
use the ‘modularness’ of sharepoint
• Centralize CSS and media assets
• Use proper page structure for flexibility and future
updates
• In 2013, display templates add another layer of flexibility
• Create structure that content contributors can expand
easily
master page
• Can be applied to entire site or
sub-sections
• Link global CSS & Script files
• Establish overall look-n-feel
page layout
• The insides of an overall
page
• Designers can create
multiple, content creators
can pick-n-choose
display template (2013)
• Represents the
‘container’ of a search
web part rendering
item template (2013)
• Controls the rendering of
each item in a Display
Template
pay attention after launch
summary: why use web best practices
• People already think your intranet is a website, so make
it like one
• Web usability teaches us we shouldn’t have to teach
• Good websites grow by learning what your people do
and helping them do it better
• One path to success usually breeds failure
questions??
Virgil Carroll, President
High Monkey Consulting
[email protected]
763-201-6040
Blog: http://monkeyblog.highmonkey.com
Twitter: @vcmonkey