Site structure / information architecture
- Content is king! Positive correlation between interesting, relevant content and satisfaction. Dissatisfaction is usually associated with poor usability.
- Visitors do not usually make the effort to form mental maps of the structure of a site to help them understand and navigate it. They muddle through, sticking with something that works (thereby avoiding more cognitive effort).
- Structure the site to support users tasks, not the company organization.
... Example of business unit linking not effective.
- Hierarchical listing of contents of a site can be effective for site-wide global navigation.
... LA Times is a good example.
- Launching new pages is problematic, but can retain context when linking to off-site content. Pop-up window of different size and position useful for transitory content.
... Why is the "Back" button disabled?
References:
Spool et al., Web site usability: A designer's guide, 1999.
Nielsen, Designing web usability, 2000.
Krug, Don't make me think: A common sense approach to web usability, 2000.
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