Usability - Think Text Proof
Don't Make Me Think
- Page organization - navigation menus, index pages (view any of the links above and visit the page they take you to for examples of this).
- Clear titles - h1, h2, h3, and lists Assignments Page Organization
How we really use the Web
- Page scannability - throughout the entire site I use ordered and unordered lists to help with scannability - List examples
- Satisfice - I made the site simplistic enough that if someone was looking for information about alisha and I they could get to it very quickly by guessing rather than "making the optimal choice". Try it, find our photogallery!
- Muddling through the site - it's not an ecommerce site so a person can muddle for about 10 mins and probably have seen the whole site!
Billbooard Design 101
- Visual hierarchy (h1, h2, h3, etc.)
- Importance - hierarchy is present in all of the pages designed for assignments. Hierarchy of h1, h2, etc.
- Logically related, also visually related. There's not much to mistake as of no on this site so view the assignments page and you can see how there are titles and relevant articles underneath them. Logical = visual relations.
- Nesting, showing what's what - take a look at the nested list that exsists in the project section of the assignments page, it shows that the Krug application paper is related to: first the 'website assessment - HIC' page but also to the 'projects' section. Nested list.
- Conventions are your friends
- Break up pages into clearly defined area
- Each page has same format (header, navigation, content, and footer) - view above
- Make it obvious what's clickable
- Keep noise down to a dull roar
Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral
- Menus and links are labled in such a way that people don't have to guess where it'll take them and won't have to guess where to click when looking for what they want. (see Navigation bar or any link)
Omit Needless Words
Street Signs and Breadcrumbs
- Scene from a Mall: Find store, the department, right aisle, the product, and "found it."
- My site: Homepage, Assignments, site proofs, "Think Text Proof", and "found it." Try it start from the home page and follow the directions.
- Web navigation 101
- Site is simple and easy to navigate
- The unbearable lightness of browsing
- The home page serves as the central landmark; there's a link in the navigation menu and footer of every page. Home!
- Don't look now but I think it's following us
- Site is the same throughout the major pages - click on each menu link above in the navigation bar.
- Just click your heels three times and say, "There's no place like home."
- There's a link to the homepage on every page (navigation bar and footer).
- A way to search
- At this point in time there is not a search menu on the site. As the site grows a search bar will be put in.
- Page names
- Every page has a name and is in the left corner of all assignment pages. Site Proof #6
- The page title is clearly marked in the top left corner of all browser windows (view top of this browser window).
Designing the Home Page
- The first casualty of war
- The home page is simple, through the use of consistent and clear navigation. Home
- How to get the message across
- Welcome blurb - as stated above it's clear and to the point, was modified to be that way. Home
- Golden geese and too many cooks
- I'm the sole designer of the home page; I know what's important and also what I need displayed on the home page.