Andrea Richeson

Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J. and Lassila, O. “The Semantic Web”. Scientific American, May 2001.

A machine-readable web, using agents to collect content, process it and exchange the results with other programs.  The challenge: provide a language that expresses both data and rules for reasoning about the data & allows export to the web.

Karp, T. Art and Zen of Web Sites.
–Use conventions. Use defaults. Use design to solve problems – not to create them.

“It should start with a requirements definition that evaluates the real needs of the company and how they can best be served through the web. This should be followed by a careful design and planning stage. The next phase is to build and test the site.”
– the user is missing here… company-focus. The user is discussed before and after, though.

“you should consider engaging the services of a systems architect”
–I would rather hire a team with a Web designer and a sys-admin.

“you can use browser-specific features because you know which browser your visitors will be using.”
–Well, forward compatibility is still going to be a big issue. Best to design to standards. He does a great job later talking about forward compatibility, cross-browser & device support.

“You have to decide whether the goal of your site is to impress the “in crowd” with your technical razzle-dazzle, or to make it a site for the enjoyment of everyone.”
–The irritation is palpable. Cutting-edge technology and design and usability are not necessarily at odds.

–The text section has al kinds of recommendations that suggest semantically incorrect code. Pre-CSS. Table layout. Frames!

–A good read. Felt like a trip in the way-back machine – but very relevant to current challenges.

Marcus, A., Armitage, J. and Volker, F. Globalization of User-Interface Design for the Web. Proceedings from Human Factors and the Web conference, 1999.

“User-interface design for the Web requires attention to globalization issues in the user interface development process. As technology increases the number and kinds of functions, data, platforms, and users of computer-based communication media, the challenge of enabling more people and more kinds of people to use this content and these tools effectively will depend increasingly upon global solutions.”

Nielsen, J. Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability

1. Include a One-Sentence Tagline
–Maybe. Depending on the site.

2. Write a Window Title with Good Visibility in Search Engines and Bookmark Lists
–Yes, for the homepage. For subpages, start withthe page title, then list authority/site name

3. Group all Corporate Information in One Distinct Area
–Often useful to have About Company Name, but it depends on the site.

4. Emphasize the Site’s Top High-Priority Tasks
Yes, absolutely. Don’t waste prime real estate.

5. Include a Search Input Box
Yes. I appreciate the comment about making the field wide enough to accommodate common searches.

6. Show Examples of Real Site Content

7. Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword

8. Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features
–A bit of a management nightmare.

9. Don’t Over-Format Critical Content, Such as Navigation Areas
–Appropriate use of color helps user find information.

10. Use Meaningful Graphics
–Meaningful graphics is a good idea, but the use of models may or may not be helpful. You don’t really need a picture of David the systems admin on your help page — or a picture of your executives on the homepage.  It depends.

See my Designing for the Mobile Web whitepaper (pdf)

See the

• Presentation (pdf)
• Presentation, with notes (pdf)
• Homepage comp, standard (pdf)
• Homepage comp, with alert bar added (pdf)

Rosenfeld. Information Architecture, Chapter 6: Labeling Systems

• Be consistent (predictable/easy to learn) in terms of: Style – Presentation – Syntax – Granularity – Comprehensiveness – Audience
• Labels should represent their content. Group related content together.
• Don’t use jargon. Be user-specific.

Maglio, P. P., & Matlock, T. (1998). Metaphors We Surf the Web By.

• We should exploit the connection between physical space and navigation tools
• Distance in the information space might reasonably be used to convey semantic relatedness.
• Useful interfaces will target people’s natural spacial understanding of information use and allow people the flexibility to create an appropriate metaphorical understanding of the domain.
• Dieberger’s 1997 city metaphor. Balances spatially real interface elements with magic features that break the spatial metaphor. Magic windows, for instance provide shortcuts between distal points in the information city..semantic relatedness need not be determined by spatial proximity. Both connections can be understood as trajectories providing a consistent basis for the mappings.

Bailey, S. “Web eArchitect: Love Your Labels”
Problems with labels:

• Vague/misleading: “Tour” links to “Site Map”
• Label and content title inconsistent: “The Classroom” points to “Course Information”
• Whimsical but ineffective labels:  “First Things First” points to a collection of newspaper links.
• Picking good labels:
  • Use the language of your audience. “Cancer” maybe not “Oncology”
  • Rely on conventions that work: look at sites that are easy to use, look at their labels & vocabularies

Nielsen, J. “Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines”. 1998.

• Remember that online headlines are often displayed out of context and that reading online is more difficult that reading on paper. Headlines need to stand on their own.
• Be concise, clear, and not “clever”
• First word should be content-rich and not repeated throughout other headlines

Morville, P. “Building a Synonymous Search Index”

• Varient terms (synonyms, abbreviations, acronyms, alternate spellings) mapped to single preferred term.
• Hierarchical and associative relationships are mapped (broader, narrower, related, variants). Increases learning/marketing (see also..)

Rosenfeld, L. “Organizing Your Site from A to Z”. 

• Supplemental Navigation System (SNS) — supplement the main organization system: site search, site map, table of contents
• Site indexes flatten the hierarchy. Good for returning customers. Support customers who know what they are looking for (like site search)
  • Steps to take in creating index: know your users; flatten hierarchy then mine the site for important content; Cull the list and group like terms under umbrella term; Rotate terms (Map, New Orleans, New Orleans Map)

Garrett, J. “A visual vocabulary for describing information architecture and interaction design”.

• Limit the detail
• Make it whiteboard compatible (easy to draw)
• Tool-independent (don’t need special software)
• Small and self-contained (simple vocabulary — easy to learn)

Warner, Amy. “A Taxonomy Primer”.

• Building controlled vocabularies for navigation labels and site search
• To build your vocabulary: Buy/borrow, revise, or build from scratch
• Levels of control, from simple to complex:
  1. Control synonyms/equivalent terms (to control natural language/keyword searches
  2. Create hierarchies/taxonomies
  3. Determine associative, related term relationships