Creating a Winning E-Business
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Transcript Creating a Winning E-Business
Creating a Winning E-Business
Second Edition
Designing Your Web Site
Chapter 8
Learning Objectives
Explain the Web site planning process
Analyze Web site organization
Plan useful and attractive Web pages
List advantages and disadvantages of
outsourcing Web design
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Web Site Planning Process
Identify the site’s business objectives
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Selling products or services
Educating consumers
Providing technical support
Collecting information from visitors
Offering a virtual community to customers
Directing consumers to other useful sites
Recruiting talented employees
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Web Site Planning Process
(continued)
Understand who will visit the site
Understand what visitors will do at the site
– Primary audience consists of the targeted
customers identified in business plan
– Secondary audiences
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Vendors
Strategic partners
Investors
General public
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Web Site Planning Process
(continued)
Design the site to accommodate the most
common technological constraints
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Experienced or novice users
Browser and version commonly used
Internet connection speeds
Screen resolutions used
• Fixed-width pages
• Pages that resize with the browser window
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Web Site Organization
Home page should answer basic visitor
questions:
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Who are you?
What do you do?
Where can I find what I want or need?
Why should I be interested in your products or
services?
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
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Web Site Organization
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Secondary pages
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Customer login page
Products or services pages
“Shopping cart” page
Shipping and return policy pages
Customer support pages
Contact information pages
“About Us” pages
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
Secondary pages (continued)
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Privacy policy and acceptable use pages
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) pages
Employment opportunities pages
“What’s New?” pages
Customer stories or case studies pages
Affiliate program pages
Help pages
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
Linear structure
– A series of pages linked in sequential order
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Web Site Organization
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Web Site Organization
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Webbed structure
– Pages are linked together without regard for how
the content fits logically
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Web Site Organization
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
Pure hierarchical structure
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Similar to business organizational chart
Information is organized in levels
Home page at Level 1 (top-level)
Main topic pages at Level 2
Additional details about main topics at remaining
levels
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
Mixed hierarchical structure
– Combines structured organization with crosslinked pages
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Web Site Organization
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
Site organization
– Should enable visitors to find actionable content
quickly and easily
– Be neither too flat nor too deep
– Logical and intuitive
Avoid a structure that is either too flat or too deep
– Structure that is too flat is uninteresting
– Structure that is too deep is difficult to navigate
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Web Site Organization
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Web Site Organization
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Extending this structure to add additional
levels may create a too deep structure.
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
Web site storyboard
– Used to test a Web site organizational plan
– Manual mock-up of site’s organization
• Index cards, sticky notes, sheets of paper
represent individual Web pages
• Use push pins or tape to fasten cards, notes, of
sheets of paper to white board or corkboard
• Create connecting lines indicating links
– Look for illogical links, orphan pages, missing
pages
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Web Site Organization
(continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages
Web accessibility – Designing Web pages so
that Web resources are available to people with
disabilities
W3C guidelines for accessibility
– Visual or auditory content is supported by
alternative content
– Color alone should not indicate a link
– Adequate contrast for background/foreground
colors
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
W3C guidelines for accessibility (continued)
– Simply worded text
– Movement, scrolling, and blinks can be turned off
without loss of information or navigation
– Navigational links are clear and consistent
– Page content is consistent across all pages
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Web usability
– Designing Web pages to help all visitors
accomplish their goals at a site quickly and easily
Consistency across all pages
– All pages should have a common “look and feel”
– Elements in same position
– Standard color scheme
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Navigational elements (internal links)
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Embedded text links
Clickable table of contents and top-of-page links
Navigation bars
Navigation menus
Navigation tabs
Breadcrumb trail
Site map
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Embedded text links
– Link positioned inside a paragraph
– Text in link should clearly describe what page
visitors will see
• Use Zax Phones
• Do not use Click here
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Clickable table of contents and top-of-page links
– Use to navigate between topics on a long Web
page
– Allow visitors to read subtopics and return to the
top of the page without scrolling
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Navigation bars, menus, and tabs
– Navigation bar is a series of graphic or text-based
internal links
– Often found at the top or bottom of Web page
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Navigation bars, menus, and tabs (continued)
– Navigation menu is a list of internal links
– Navigation tabs are similar to file folder tabs
– Both are used to conserve space on a page
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Breadcrumb trail
– Hierarchical navigational outline
– Provides visitor with feedback on path taken to
current page
– Use in conjunction with other navigational
elements
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Site map
– Web page that shows a summary of all the linked
pages at the site
Rollover links
– Hidden links that appear when mouse is “rolled
over” an animated image
– Avoid rollover links
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Page layout
– Fixed-width pages fit in a maximized browser
window for a specific screen resolution
– Liquid design creates pages that size with the
browser window
• Use tables (arrangement of columns and rows)
• Use CSS (cascading style sheets)
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Page length
– Keep pages short to avoid vertical scrolling
Splash pages and frames
– Avoid them
Search function and forms
– Add access to search function on all relevant
pages
– Use forms to collect information
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Writing for the Web
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Use simple, direct language
Avoid industry jargon
Use bulleted and numbered lists
Use dark text color on light background
Use a familiar font
Use at least a 12-point equivalent font
Check spelling and grammar, and proofread
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Useful and Attractive
Web Pages (continued)
Choose color scheme carefully
Use images, audio, and video sparingly and only
when they support the Web site message
Avoid background images
Add alternative text to image links
Add related text links to support image links
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Web Design Outsourcing
Carefully assess costs of in-house Web design
and development compared to outsourcing costs
Outsourcing benefits
– May save time and money
– Provides greater access to experienced
specialists familiar with current best practices and
trends
– May provide access to usability analysis
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Chapter Summary
Begin the Web site and page design process by
determining the site’s business objectives and its
targeted audiences’ wants and needs
Make sure that the home page answers basic
visitor questions
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Who?
What?
Where?
Why?
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Chapter Summary
(continued)
Determine the secondary pages needed in
addition to the home page
Organize the pages at the site in a logical and
intuitive order using the storyboarding process
Follow the W3C guidelines for Web accessibility
Pay attention to de facto standards or guidelines
for Web usability
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Chapter Summary
(continued)
Compare the costs, advantages, and
disadvantages of designing and developing the
Web site in-house versus outsourcing the design
and development process
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