Session 1: Content for the user

Tuesday, 15 April, 2-4pm

User-focused Content

approaching your information from the user's perspective

• This may seem obvious to you, but the hard part is making it obvious to the user
• WebContentQuestionaire
  1. WHO ARE YOUR USERS?
  2. WHAT DO THEY NEED FROM YOU?
  3. HOW CAN YOU SHOW THEM THAT YOU HAVE WHAT THEY NEED?
• Useful to create several typical characters that define the spectrum of your users, and continually test your site through these people

Content Categorization

taxonomy: diving your content into a handful of sections

• • See http://www.grographics.com/cardstacks/1.gif
  • See http://www.grographics.com/cardstacks/2.gif
  • See http://www.grographics.com/cardstacks/3.gif
  • See http://www.grographics.com/cardstacks/4.gif
  • or else one pdf
• Given a list of top-level categories, users should be able to guess which section their information would be in
• Use cards of categories to create 5 or 6 "buckets"; these buckets will become your navigation
  • See Card Stacks on line or download for Mac or PC

Assignment

Build a sitemap that includes all of your sections and test it on some strangers

Session 2: Designing the content

Thursday, 17 April, 2-4pm

Navigation Design

3 basic ways people access information within a website:

1. Search function: Snipers
2. Navigation/Categories: Punchers
3. In-text/contextual: Impulse buyers

The user should always know where they are

• breadcrumbs
• useful titles (the trouble with frames)
• useful links (i.e. not "click here")

Interface Design

KICS (Keep It Consistent and Simple)

• Whitespace, minimalism
• Escape routes
• Consistency: internal and external (standards)

Structure of a typical web page

• Title
  • Title
  • Search
  • Breadcrumbs
• Navigation (static)
  • Subnav (contextual)
• Content
  • ?SubContent

Designing the template

• Choose a few different templates for the different functions of your site
  • Article Page
  • Home Page
  • Etc
• Color block through some example pages to acheive consistency

Graphics and Multimedia

• Images: jpg vs. gif
• Bandwidth issues
• Multimedia: flash, quicktime, etc.
• Other formats: pdf, word, powerpoint and why they can be anti-web

Guerilla Web Journalism

if there is time

• Blogging
  • Set up your own blog
• Basic HTML
  • Cover the HTML necessary to run your own blog
• Publicizing your site
  • Ethical ways of getting your site known
  • Opt-in mailing lists
  • Meta tags
  • Discussion boards