Web Design vs. GUI Design Professor James Landay Carnegie Mellon Updated by Melody Moore Jackson 11/15/06 3/6/20021

Hall of Shame or Hall of Fame? College of Arts & Crafts – 3/6/20022

Hall of Shame College of Arts & Crafts – What is this page about? – no first read – no value proposition How do I navigate? – tiny links at the very bottom – scrolled off many screens! Second page… – how do I do anything? – fonts so small you can’t read at all on a high-res monitor 3/6/20023

Now improved…. College of Arts & Crafts – What is this page about? – no first read – no value proposition How do I navigate? – Links are more clear 3/6/20024

Hall of Shame, but why?? 3/6/20025 content gets a small %

Web Design vs. GUI Design Review Example of value of good web design Diffs between web & desktop UIs Top ten mistakes in web design 3/6/20026

Good Web Site Design can Lead to Healthy Sales NY Times on IBM web site, 8/30/99 – “Most popular feature was … search … because people couldn't figure out how to navigate the site“ – “The second most popular feature was the help button, because the search technology was so ineffective.” After the redesign, use of the “help” button decreased 84 percent, while sales increased 400 percent Good Web Site Design can Lead to Healthy Sales 3/6/20027

The Web Page Represents... 1) User's view of information on screen 2) Unit of navigation – what you get when you click a link / bookmark 3) Address to get info. over net (URL) 4) Storage of the information – on the server & the author's editing unit except embedded objects like images Page is an atomic unit unifying these concepts 3/6/20028

Desktop-based Wizard 3/6/20029

Web-based Wizard 3/6/ What is the difference?

Where is the Application & the State? Back (previous) in desktop wizards – typically undoes any changes made on that step Back on web pages – is it the “back” button of the browser? server isn’t necessarily aware of it - no change to state – is it the “back” link on the page? server could do something to state with this – can you keep the user from using browser’s back? with some work… but not a good idea Clearly defined exits are important – obvious on the desktop example, but not the web... 3/6/200211

Desktop Dialog Box 3/6/200212

Web Dialog Box 3/6/200213

Web Dialog Box 3/6/ What are the differences?

“What am I Buying?” Desktop apps bring up dialogs boxes – usually smaller than main window – leave you context (below) about your main task Web apps bring you to a new page – need to move back & forth to get context browser “forward” may lose old values after a “back” – often a LARGE delay between page loads need to remember context over time! 3/6/200215

Solutions to the Context Problem Repeat context – add new information to the current page appears to the user as if page is expanding Optimize pages for loading speed – reduce graphics – improve server performance 3/6/200216

Other Differences Device diversity – don’t know what they will be browsing on 3/6/ Internet Web Server

Other Differences The user controls navigation – users can take paths you never intended – come in via search engines directly to pages – bookmark favorite pages – from friends Can’t depend on people starting from homepage Part of a whole experience – users move between sites – where are the borders? not as clear 3/6/200218

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design Should be controversial - feel free to disagree 3/6/ Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design 1996,

10. Overly Long Download Times 10 second rule – amount of wait time before users lose interest traditional human factors studies back this up 15 seconds may be acceptable on web – people are getting trained to endure – but only for a few key pages True even for business sites – busy during day & surf at home for work info 3/6/200220

9. Outdated Information Hire a web gardener for your team – “root out the weeds and replant the flowers” Most people rather create content than do maintenance Cheap way of enhancing content – still relevant  link to new pages – otherwise remove them Outdated content also leads to a lack of trust (important for e-commerce) 3/6/200221

8. Non-standard Link Colors Links to – pages that haven’t been seen are blue – previously seen pages are purple/red Don't mess with these colors – one of the few standard navigational aides – consistency is important for learning don’t underline other objects with blue/red! – OBVIOUS LINKS (K10) What is unfortunate about this convention? 3/6/200222

7. Lack of Navigation Support Users don’t know much about your site – they always have difficulty finding information – give a strong sense of structure and place Communicate site structure – provide a site map so users know where they are & where they can go – provide a good search feature the best navigation support will never be enough People now expect these – site logo in upper left linked to home page – LOCATION BREAD CRUMBS showing where you currently are 3/6/200223

Navigation Left-justified or top-justified navigation rail – Needs to be a contrasting color – Fitt’s law – place navigation close to scroll bar – Content should start on the left 3/6/200224

Navigation Location breadcrumb trail – Usually across top under navigation bar 3/6/200225

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/200226

Mystery Meat Navigation 3/6/

6. Long Scrolling Pages Many users do not scroll beyond visible section when page comes up All critical content & navigation should be ABOVE THE FOLD (I2) Leaf nodes can be longer – people who have that interest will be reading it – still good to be brief Becoming less of an issue – top items will STILL dominate – should be careful not to go past 3 screens max. 3/6/200228

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/200229

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/200230

5. Orphan Pages All pages should have a clear indication of what web site they belong to – users may not come in through your home page Every page should have – a link up to your home page – some indication of where they fit within the structure of your information space 3/6/200231

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/200232

4. Complex URLs Shouldn’t have exposed machine address Users try to decode URLs of pages – to infer the structure of web sites lack of support for navigation & sense of location URL should be human-readable – names should reflect nature of the info. space – sometimes need to type in URL->minimize typos use lower-case, short names with no special chars – many people don't know how to type a ~ Long URLs are hard to properly – wrapping, etc. *** biggest issue today *** 3/6/200233

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/

3. Constantly Running Animations Don’t have elements that move incessantly – moving images have an overpowering effect on the human peripheral vision  no animations, scrolling text, marquees Users tune them out – so do not put anything important there! Give your user some peace and quiet to actually read the text! 3/6/200235

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/

2. Gratuitous use of Bleeding Edge Technology Don’t try to attract people using it – you’ll get the nerd crowd, but mainstream users care about content and service If their system crashes – they will never come back E.g., use VRML if your info maps to 3d – architectural design or surgery planning Caveat: appropriate if selling those products 3/6/200237

What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/200238

1. Using Frames Confusing for users – breaks the user model of the web page sequence of actions rather than single act unit of navigation no longer equal to unit of view Lose predictability of user actions – what information appears where when you click? can’t bookmark the current page & return to it – fixed in Explorer 5 URLs stop working can’t share with others (lose social filtering) – ing links still doesn’t work... 3/6/200239

Frames (cont.) Search engines have problems w/ frames – what part of frames do you include in indexes? Early surveys found most users preferred frame-less sites – recent surveys back this up ~70-90% Caveat: experienced designers can sometimes use frames to good effect 3/6/200240

References Nielsen’s top 10 list (required reading) – Web pages that are interesting – Net tips for designers – User Interface Engineering – 3/6/200241

In-Class Exercise Look through the site: Choose a “worst website” and evaluate it against the ten top website design mistakes 3/6/200242