Organizing Your Content

1. Organizing Your Content What is a good web site from a content and architecture standpoint?

2. Importance of the content and its organization • One of the greatest challenges of any web site development project is to organize the content in an intuitive, intelligent manner. • On the scale of importance, information design is right up there with visual design, and success of the site is riding on your decisions.

3. Organization of the Site • A well-structured site is easy to spot: • The purpose of the site is easily apparent from the very first page • Target audience is reached • Information is easy to find • You don’t get lost in the depths of the site => This is the type of site a user will bookmark and return to time and again.

4. Sites with bad architecture and content • Sites where the architecture and content seem to have been an afterthought or worse yet, given no thought. • Examples: • Sites with a jillion of links scattered across the page • Sites with one or two links with obscure titles => No effort to pre-digest the information into logical groupings and sections

5. First Step towards an well-structured Web site Understand the business strategy

6. Web Site and Business Strategy • Business Strategy • Mission • Vision • Future plan • Markets • Customers => Understanding the client’s business

7. Web Site and Business Strategy

8. How do I learn about my client’s business strategy? I interview the client.

9. Interviewing Your Client What are the key or fundamental questions you need to ask a client to understand his/her business strategy?

10. Interviewing Your Client • Interview = Fundamental tool • Gain insight on how the Web site should be constructed • Showcase strengths • Minimize weaknesses • Who is the target audience? • What are the functionalities I should include on the Web site?

11. Who is your target audience? • Define target audience • “Everyone is my target audience” • Breakdown of target audience: • Geographical guidelines • Technological guidelines • Demographical guidelines => Buying patterns

12. Who is your target audience? 80/20 Rule Focusing on the 20%: We need to understand the customers very well and get them what they want. What about the other 80%?

13. What functionalities should I include in the Web site? Photo Gallery Videos Blog Images Forms Social Media: Facebook, twitter, etc.

14. “Dancing Bear Philosophy”

15. What functionalities should I include in the Web site? Photographers CPAs

16. Additional Questions.. • What is my budget? • What is my timeline? • Who is on my project team? • How often should the site be updated? • Who will update the site? • What is for you a successful Web site?

17. Next Step towards a well-structured Web site Go ahead and establish the structure of your Web site

18. So how to find the right architecture and content for your site… • Putting it together: Create a storyboard • Identify all the sections and pages of the site and show how they relate to each other • Structure: A storyboard is similar to a flow chart. • https://www.tigertech.net/ssl/jabberwockygraphix.com/sitemap.html

19. So how to find the right architecture and content for your site… • Indicate relationships and linkages: Difference between a book and a web site • Start with broad categories • Build for the future • Limit the top-level links: About five to seven • Short link names: One word is the best. • Be specific on your site map

20. Practice Work in group of 3-4 students Your group has been hired by Hansel & Petals, a florist business, to develop its Web site.

21. Practice Listen to the client interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1bS_W3_kmY • What did you learn from the interview which is useful for the Web site development? Classify the information into the following categories: Mission, Vision, Future Plan, Markets, Customers. • What are the company’s strengths and weaknesses? • Who is the target audience? • What functionalities should we use? • Draw a possible storyboard of the Web site based on what you learn