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Subject:Re: Web media From:SusanH -at- cardsetc -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Wed, 16 Feb 2000 11:23:02 +1100
I'm not sure whether the fault lies with writers or software developers or
graphic designers but many of the sites that I visit leave me totally
confused. Information retrieval sites seem to be much better than sites
aiming to sell services.
The design of the site has to take into account the reasons people come to
the site or the design fails. I cannot advise who should have design
responsibility: business analysts/customer analysts/ writers/developers...
probably everyone has insights to offer. BUT I am sure about one thing:
user OBJECTIVES-FOR-COMING-TO-THE-SITE analysis is critical.
When I site design works for me, I don't notice it... which confirms the
Yale WWW Style Guide statement "The best information designs are the ones
most users never notice". ( I think someone quoted that in a mail
recently... I noted it down).
One of the best examples of poor design is the shopping cart. Research on
online shopping revealed that more than 60% of shopping card purchases are
abandoned before the user gets to the checkout. That doesn't mean that a
shopping cart metaphor isn't great. What it does mean is that shopping cart
implementations are not all good.
