As in the case
with many innovations, the Web has gone through a period of extremes. At its
inception, the Web was all about information. Visual design was accidental at
best. Web pages were clumsily assembled, and "sites" were accumulations of
hyperlinked documents lacking structure or coherence. Designers then took over
and crafted attractive, idiosyncratic, and often baffling containers
for information. The World Wide Web became a better looking place, but many
users ran up against barriers of large graphics, complex layouts, and
nonstandard coding. Each site was different, and each required users to relearn
how to use the Web, because "real" designers could not be bound by standards or
conventions. Instead, designers pushed the boundaries of HTML using workarounds,
kludges, and slight of hand to circumvent proper design on the cutting edge.
Today, the field of Web design is seen much more as a craft than an art, where
function takes precedence over form and content. Innovative designs using fancy
navigational doodads are generally seen as an annoyance standing between the
user and what he or she seeks. Large graphic eye-catching graphics, no matter
how pleasing, are simply wasted bandwidth. Like 1960s architecture, much of
yesterday's Web design now makes users wince and wonder how the World Wide Web
ever succeeded. Today's Web designers are information architects, usability
engineers, and a user-centered design approach is used, This is the key to a
successful Web site. Instead of constantly requiring users to relearn the
Web, sites are beginning to look more uniform and employ the same metaphors and
conventions. The Web has now become more customer centric and easier to
navigate.
Have you heard of the World Wide Web? If so, your understanding of this exciting
new communications medium has probably evolved somewhat over the past few years.
Here is a common evolutionary trajectory:
What is this Web thing?
The Web is just a flash in the pan.
The Web is actually pretty cool.
Hmmm, maybe we can make money on the Web.
The Web is the cornerstone of the New Economy.
There is no New Economy.
What was that Web thing?
When things change this fast, humans have a hard time adapting, keeping up, and
just plain understanding what's going on. But people's reactions to the Web
changed so fast precisely because so few of us really understood what it is. In
fact, most of us didn't have the time to think hard about how Web sites could
truly be useful and good things and how important sound design principles are to
making them so.
Frenzied anxiety forced us to rush to legions of "experts" who played upon our
fears that "we didn't get it." Through hype and jargon (not to mention wildly
creative business modeling), they bullied us back to where we are today: square
one.
As we return to the drawing board to figure out what we should do with the Web
and our Web sites, what we needed all along becomes clear: fundamentals and
fundamentally sound advice to help us think for ourselves and design for our
users.
The Site Development Process
Every significant Web project poses unique challenges, but the overall process
of developing a complex Web site generally follows six major stages:
Site definition and planning
Information architecture
Site design
Site construction
Site marketing
Tracking, evaluation, and maintenance
Developing a large Web site is a process that may have far-reaching budgetary,
personnel, and public relations consequences for an organization, both during
the development of the site and long after its successful deployment. Too many
Web sites begin life as ad hoc efforts, created by small interest groups working
in isolation from their peers elsewhere in the organization and without fully
considering the site's goals within the context of the organization's overall
mission. The result of poorly planned hasty development efforts often is an
"orphan site," starved of resources and attention.
As you consider the development process outlined below, note that the
construction of the pages that make up the Web site is one of the last things
that takes place in a well-designed project. Consider each step in the process,
and its impact on your developing site specification plan. Think before you act,
and make sure you have the organizational backing, budget, and personnel
resources you'll need to make the project a success.
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All of the sites that we
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