FAO Web guide: 2.6c Designing for the user

Web Guide home 1. Introduction 2. Web publishing basics 3. Planning 4. Content collection 5. Design 6. Construction 7. Testing 8. Launch 9. Maintenance 10. Writing for the Web Resources 1.1 FAO and the Internet: What is an FAO Web site? 1.2 Quality criteria of Web sites 1.3 An introduction to Web accessibility at FAO 1.4 Electronic publishing at FAO 2.1 Content quality 2.2 Roles in Web publishing 2.3 Web site quality clearance and continuity 2.4 Policy and legal matters 2.5 Language coverage policy 2.6 Web site traffic monitoring 2.7 Static and dynamic content 2.8 Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 2.9 Social Media Guidelines 2.10 Current server structure at FAO 3.1 What and (who) is the site for and what is it about?3.2 Define the Web site subject scope 3.3 Define your audience 3.4 Identify resources 3.5 How to track and share planning decisions 4.1 Developing a content inventory 4.2 FAO content repositories 4.3 Metadata 5.1 Review user needs 5.2 Defining information architecture 5.3 Prepare interface design 5.4 Define technical implementation 5.5 Tracking design implementation 6.1 Management of files/naming 6.2 HTML and coding 6.3 Use of style sheets 6.4 Graphics 6.5 Conversion of electronic documents 6.6 Language encoding 6.7 Link management 6.8 Printable pages 6.9 Providing access to search 6.10 Domains, URLs and aliases 6.11 Tools 7.1 Testing approaches 7.2 How to use the test environment 8.1 Launch checklist 8.2 Promotion 9.1 Quality assurance and routine checking 9.2 Update procedures for Web sites 9.3 Web usage analysis 9.4 Evaluation of Web sites 10.1 Writing a page of text 10.2 Organizing your text on the page 10.3 How to optimize content for search engines 10.4 How to write feedback, error messages 10.5 Quotations 10.6 Non-discriminatory language Checklists Acronyms Newsletter Guidelines Policies Procedures Web resources Tag cloud Contacts 2.3a Data ownership 2.3b Regulation of access to servers 2.3c Clearance of Web sites by OCP 2.4a Country names, flags and maps 2.4b The fao.org domain, subdomains and root directories 2.4c Use of FAO emblem and logos 2.4d Politically sensitive material 2.6a FAO Web sites: the user perspective 2.6b How to gather user information: user research 2.6c Designing for the user 2.6d Page size and downloading 2.7a Static content 2.7b Dynamic content 2.7c Content Management Systems (CMS) 2.9a FAO and Facebook 2.9b FAO and Flickr 2.9c FAO and Google+2.9d FAO and LinkedIn 2.9e FAO and SlideShare 2.9f FAO and Twitter 2.9g FAO and Wikipedia 2.9h FAO and YouTube 4.3a What is metadata?4.3b Why embed metadata in Web pages?4.3c How to embed basic metadata in the HTML head section 4.3d How to create or improve current metadata 4.3e FAO standards for encoded metadata 4.3f Metadata, search engines and their robots 5.2a Identify Web pages and subject categories 5.2b Define navigation 5.2c Define metadata and search requirements 5.3a Corporate visual identity 5.3b Web site design usability principles 6.1a How to use the FTP server 6.2a HTML and XHTML 6.2b Browser compatibility 6.2c New windows and pop-ups 6.2d JavaScript 6.2e HTML title and metadata tags 6.3a CSS and Web accessibility 6.3b Cascading Style sheets (CSS) and browser compatibility 6.4a Graphic formats 6.4b Use of images on the Web 6.4c Photos 6.5a Converting Word documents into PDF 6.6a Guidelines for language encoding 6.6b Multilingual interfaces 6.7a Linking files across languages 6.7b Links to the FAO home page, FAO copyright and AskFAO 6.7c Absolute and relative links 6.7d Avoid spamming on e-mail addresses 6.8a How to prepare print-safe Web pages using CSS 6.8b Other ways of preparing print-safe Web pages 6.11a Recommended editing tools for Web site construction 6.11b Graphics, document and conversion tools 9.1a Maintaining quality 9.1b Content freshness
	Web Guide > webguide > 2. Web publishing basics > 2.6 Web site traffic monitoring > 2.6c Designing for the user
	2.6c Designing for the user Guideline When you plan and design a Web site, focus on what your intended users want to do with the information on your site, not only on what you want to say. For example, one way to serve your users is to avoid structuring your site like an organigram of your service or division. Identify what users want to obtain from your site and what problems they are likely to solve with the information you offer. Organize the information according to their objectives. Usability is particularly important for FAO Web sites because of the broad range of needs, skills and constraints of its audience. For example, we cannot assume that the target audience of the FAO Web site has the same level of experience in browsing the Web, searching a database or downloading a document. Neither can we assume their computers and connections fall in a narrow range of types and configurations. Diversity of languages, cultures, skills and infrastructure is the reason why FAO Web sites should be designed with users in mind right from the start. The Web Guide provides a number of guidelines and standards that have been developed with the goal of increasing usability of FAO information online. What is usability? Usability means making products and systems easier to use, and matching them more closely to user needs and requirements. Usability incorporates many factors: design, functionality, structure, information architecture and more. Usability can be quantitatively measured in terms of efficiency and effectiveness with which users can achieve tasks in a particular environment. Ten ways to make an FAO Web site more usable 1. Think about the user It sounds obvious, but designers should remember that people use Web sites in very diverse conditions, and that they are very focussed on their tasks. Obtain as much information about your target users from people who work with them or meet them. Convince management to do preliminary research so that clear user requirements are incorporated in the early planning and design stages. 2. Follow conventions Conventions (like the FAO emblem linking to the FAO home page or underlined links) save you much work and are solutions for recurrent design problems. See other design conventions in the FAO Web Quality Assurance Checklist. 3. Label things clearly The words you use for navigation and in links determines whether they are going to be used. Consider labels like promises: when people arrive at the link destination, are you holding the promise stated in the label? Be clear, consistent and honest. 4. Avoid using an organigram as site navigation If you need to reflect the variety of activities and competencies of a service/division or group on a Web site, think in topic terms. Do not use the names of internal groups as navigation labels, but try to identify the sectors/topic/subject with which they deal with. 5. Avoid lengthy instructions People do not read on the Web - that is a tenet. Aim for a layout that by grouping, hierarchy and size clarifies the relative importance of items on the interface. People will see the prominent ones. If they cannot use or understand the information in these hot spots, they will (reluctantly) resort to reading. 6. Pay attention to details Involve a proper interface designer at the main design stage, when key decisions about the layout (and its details like colours, fonts, button size and link style) need to be made. A powerful database can be misused because of a badly designed search form. 7. Make links look clickable and clicked If you want people to click somewhere, make sure they know it is clickable. One of the most well established Web conventions is that hyperlinks are underlined. If for any reason you are not sticking to this convention, make links look clickable and clicked, i.e. users should see where they have already been to. 8. Make text readable Most of the time, usable means readable. Make the font size large enough so that it is easily readable. Using the relative length unit "em" in the CSS allows the text to be resizable (users can adjust the size of the text by using browser commands). Place text in shorter paragraphs, surrounded by white space, to make it easily scannable. Readability is also affected by writing style (see the following - Point 9). 9. Write for the Web This is so important that it has a section (see 4.3 Writing for the Web) of its own in the Web Guide. 10. Test, test, test and test The only way to ensure your site is usable is to test it with real users and incorporate their findings into the site. For major systems, organize regular or periodical usability testing, but other testing can be done at a lower cost and on a systematic basis. For example, take advantage of field missions to conduct short observations and interviews with people interested in your site. Take advantage of visiting experts, delegates at HQ meetings and new staff and volunteers. Prepare a discussion guide for your colleagues to use on your behalf.	See also in the guide 1.2 Quality criteria of Web sites 2.6b How to gather user information: user research 4.3 Writing for the Web 5.3c Web site design usability principles References and resources FAO Web Quality Assurance Checklist IBM Ease of Use: What is User Experience Design? Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox - useit.com The ten ways above have been inspired by “The Unusually Useful Web Book” by June Cohen (see page 83 for the original ten ways) Web Design Practices – Examining current design practices on the Web Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, Second Edition by Patrick J. Lynch, Sarah Horton (see the “Navigation” section of the chapter “Interface Design”)