web site design committee vpast lecture april 12, 2000
TRANSCRIPT
Web Site Design Committee
VPAST Lecture
April 12, 2000
First Generation Web Site
• October 1995• Strict navigation• Real content is two
clicks down• 17 useful links• What is under each
button?• Missing information
Second Generation Web Site
• March 1998• Promoted 4 links of
each second-level page• Much content is one
click down• 51 links• Busy appearance• Second-level pages
bypassed
Third Generation Objectives
• Cleaner appearance
• More information intense
• Stronger external focus
• Reasonable load time
• Ready for review by May 1, 2000
Design Compromises
• Clean appearance vs. information intense
• External focus vs. internal focus
• Impressive graphics vs. load time
• Individual vision vs. committee design
Dynamic HTML Popups
• Dynamic popup windows give a clean appearance and more links
• Popups can overlay other content and have links
• Loaded as part of the original HTML page• “Mouseover” can activate -- no click needed• Not separate browser windows• Additional development time and testing• Redundant versions needed
Evolution of Link Organization
• Generation 1: Topic menus that lead to departments
• Generation 2: Additional subject-based menus that cross department boundaries
• Generation 3: Addition of audience-based menus
External Focus
• Don’t know or care about the organizational structure
• Look by service, topic, or audience
• Additional directory: majors
• Additional directory: services
Demonstration
New Features
• Clean appearance• Increased
information intensity• Audiences on home
page
• Popup menus• Additional external
focus• Reduced server
load
Features Carried Over
• Multiple access methods
• Directories on home page
• Search on home page
• Rotating graphics• Event graphics• Text link
• Consistent navigation with second-level pages
• Fits in small windows (640x480 pixels)
• Reasonable load time
• Changing date
Features Avoided
• No plugins• No Java (does use
JavaScript)• Browser version
requirements
• No cover page• No animation• No sound• No frames
