the deltaTraffic weblog

Better UX, Better UX
==========

Cant help thinking that a layout like what you find at:

http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/

is a bit too much regardless of how neatly you display it.

ok so some will like loads of things but giving EVERYTHING the same
level of priority (ie all available on the same page) is going to
confuse some and they have the moment of panic where they think “where
do I find x? and where do I find it NOW?????”

my heuristic would be:

1) ask the client what are the 5 main uses of the site and hope there
isnt a long tail (no pun intended) with this business / organisation

2) present the 5 and have a site map for anything else the user may want.

3) for sub pages, do the same, so theres a 5, 5 ,5, 5, 5 structure.
user ought to be able to get what he wants within 3 clicks

conclusion) job done, no more brain overload on front pages.

why 5? to do with digit span – people can usually remember 5
numbers; probably be transferable to website UX

BEFORE
===

.... and here would be another example (for me closer to home)

http://www.ausa.org.uk/

where the 5 rule is exceeded greatly…..

I would say theres around 15 elements here, 11 in the central bit

AFTER
=

http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~cs06ab/redesigns/ausa-redesign.PNG

ok there are still about 12 elements, but three less makes it harder to get lost; 7 in the central portion, focussing on the main uses of a student association.

more white space. always important

IDEA
++++

look at a years stats of usage – which is wanted the most on average?
is it accommodation? design accordingly.

1) Purpose of Business – the business object. what is this money making machine look like? why invest money / resources (time & goodwill) into this object?
2) Market Assessment – the outside world / paragraph + evidence ( supporting up to date facts and figures )
3) Financial

• 
  A) Primary Yield (Turnover)
  B) Primary Startup + Running Cost(s)
  C) Primary Current Cashflow / “in the bank”
  D) Derived Excess (“profit”) = A minus B
  E) Derived Total Investment neccesary = C minus B
  

4) SWOT
5) PERT / Biz Evolution / growth
6) Partners / Affliates
7) Marketting Strategy – demographics,
8) Pricing