Organizing Your Content What is a good web site from a content and architecture standpoint?

Importance of the content and its organization One of the greatest challenges of any web site development project is to organize the content in an intuitive, intelligent manner. On the scale of importance, information design is right up there with visual design, and success of the site is riding on your decisions.

Organization of the Site A well-structured site is easy to spot: The purpose of the site is easily apparent from the very first page Target audience is reached Information is easy to find You dont get lost in the depths of the site => This is the type of site a user will bookmark and return to time and again.

Sites with bad architecture and content Sites where the architecture and content seem to have been an afterthought or worse yet, given no thought. Examples: Sites with a jillion of links scattered across the page Sites with one or two links with obscure titles => No effort to pre-digest the information into logical groupings and sections

First Step towards an well- structured Web site Understand the business strategy

Web Site and Business Strategy Business Strategy Mission Vision Future plan Markets Customers => Understanding the clients business

Web Site and Business Strategy

How do I learn about my clients business strategy? I interview the client.

Interviewing Your Client What are the key or fundamental questions you need to ask a client to understand his/her business strategy?

Interviewing Your Client Interview = Fundamental tool Gain insight on how the Web site should be constructed Showcase strengths Minimize weaknesses Who is the target audience? What are the functionalities I should include on the Web site?

Who is your target audience? Define target audience Everyone is my target audience Breakdown of target audience: Geographical guidelines Technological guidelines Demographical guidelines => Buying patterns

Who is your target audience? 80/20 Rule Focusing on the 20%: We need to understand the customers very well and get them what they want. What about the other 80%?

What functionalities should I include in the Web site? Photo Gallery Videos Blog Images Forms Social Media: Facebook, twitter, etc.

Dancing Bear Philosophy

What functionalities should I include in the Web site? Photographers CPAs

Additional Questions.. What is my budget? What is my timeline? Who is on my project team? How often should the site be updated? Who will update the site? What is for you a successful Web site?

Next Step towards a well- structured Web site Go ahead and establish the structure of your Web site

So how to find the right architecture and content for your site… Putting it together: Create a storyboard Identify all the sections and pages of the site and show how they relate to each other Structure: A storyboard is similar to a flow chart. hix.com/sitemap.html hix.com/sitemap.html

So how to find the right architecture and content for your site… Indicate relationships and linkages: Difference between a book and a web site Start with broad categories Build for the future Limit the top-level links: About five to seven Short link names: One word is the best. Be specific on your site map

Practice Work in group of 3-4 students Your group has been hired by Hansel & Petals, a florist business, to develop its Web site.

Practice Listen to the client interview: What did you learn from the interview which is useful for the Web site development? Classify the information into the following categories: Mission, Vision, Future Plan, Markets, Customers. 2. What are the companys strengths and weaknesses? 3. Who is the target audience? 4. What functionalities should we use? 5. Draw a possible storyboard of the Web site based on what you learn