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Web Design vs. GUI Design CS 160, Spring 2002 Professor James Landay March 6, 2002 3/6/2002 1 Hall of Shame or Hall of Fame? College of Arts & Crafts 3/6/2002 http://www.ccac-art.edu/ 2 Hall of Shame College of Arts & Crafts What is this page about? tiny links at the very bottom scrolled off many screens! Second page… 3/6/2002 no first read no value proposition How do I navigate? http://www.ccac-art.edu/ how do I do anything? fonts so small you can’t read at all on a high-res monitor 3 Now improved…. College of Arts & Crafts What is this page about? tiny links at the very bottom scrolled off many screens! Second page… 3/6/2002 no first read no value proposition How do I navigate? http://www.ccac-art.edu/ how do I do anything? fonts so small you can’t read at all on a high-res monitor 4 Hall of Shame, but why?? content gets a small % 3/6/2002 5 Web Design vs. GUI Design CS 160, Spring 2002 Professor James Landay March 6, 2002 3/6/2002 6 Outline Review Example of value of good web design Diffs between web & desktop UIs Administrivia Top ten mistakes in web design 3/6/2002 7 Review Personalization. Why? if content isn’t fresh, visitors won’t return four ways to collect information? edit, interview, deduce, collaborative filter Key idea to inverse-pyramid writing style? start with the conclusions & add details below Non-intuitive empirical results “readable” pages were less effective. why? users scan! – the style of links matters navigation must be linked to content. why? so users can predict where links will take them don’t violate the “sales script.” why? user’s must trust you before giving personal info 3/6/2002 8 Good Web Site Design can Lead to Healthy Sales NY Times on IBM web site, 8/30/99 “Most popular feature was … search … because people couldn't figure out how to navigate the site“ “The second most popular feature was the help button, because the search technology was so ineffective.” After the redesign, use of the “help” button decreased 84 percent, while sales increased 400 percent Good Web Site Design can Lead to Healthy Sales http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/commerce/30commerce.html 3/6/2002 9 Jakob Nielsen Self-described Web Guru worked on Hypertext long before the web Great mailing list / archive site http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ 2 articles for today from this archive 3/6/2002 10 The Web Page Represents... 1) User's view of information on screen 2) Unit of navigation what you get when you click a link / bookmark 3) Address to get info. over net (URL) 4) Storage of the information on the server & the author's editing unit except embedded objects like images Page is an atomic unit unifying these concepts 3/6/2002 11 Desktop-based Wizard 3/6/2002 12 Web-based Wizard 3/6/2002 What is the difference? 13 Where is the Application & the State? Back (previous) in desktop wizards typically undoes any changes made on that step Back on web pages is it the “back” button of the browser? server isn’t necessarily aware of it - no change to state is it the “back” link on the page? server could do something to state with this can you keep the user from using browser’s back? with some work… but not a good idea Clearly defined exits are important obvious on the desktop example, but not the web... 3/6/2002 14 Desktop Dialog Box 3/6/2002 15 Desktop-based Wizard 3/6/2002 16 Web-based Wizard What are the differences? 3/6/2002 17 Where is the Application & the State? Back (previous) in desktop wizards typically undoes any changes made on that step Back on web pages is it the “back” button of the browser? server isn’t necessarily aware of it - no change to state is it the “back” link on the page? server could do something to its state can you keep the user from using browser’s back? with some work… but not a good idea Clearly defined exits are important obvious on the desktop example, but not the web... 3/6/2002 18 Desktop Dialog Box 3/6/2002 19 Web Dialog Box 3/6/2002 20 Web Dialog Box What are the differences? 3/6/2002 21 “What am I Buying?” Desktop apps bring up dialogs boxes usually smaller than main window leave you context (below) about your main task Web apps bring you to a new page need to move back & forth to get context browser “forward” may lose old values after a “back” often a LARGE delay between page loads need to remember context over time! 3/6/2002 22 Solutions to the Context Problem Repeat context add new information to the current page appears to the user as if page is expanding Optimize pages for loading speed reduce graphics improve server performance 3/6/2002 23 Other Differences Device diversity don’t know what they will be browsing on Web Server Internet 3/6/2002 24 Other Differences The user controls navigation users can take paths you never intended come in via search engines directly to pages bookmark favorite pages email from friends Can’t depend on people starting from homepage Part of a whole experience users move between sites where are the borders? not as clear 3/6/2002 25 Administrivia Homework questions? We will have last assignment available for pickup by end of week (will send email) Anything else on your mind? Team appointments for next week TBA 3/6/2002 26 Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design Should be controversial - feel free to disagree Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design 1996, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html 3/6/2002 27 10. Overly Long Download Times 10 second rule amount of wait time before users lose interest traditional human factors studies back this up 15 seconds may be acceptable on web people are getting trained to endure but only for a few key pages True even for business sites busy during day & surf at home for work info 3/6/2002 28 9. Outdated Information Hire a web gardener for your team “root out the weeds and replant the flowers” Most people rather create content than do maintenance Cheap way of enhancing content still relevant link to new pages otherwise remove them Outdated content also leads to a lack of trust (important for e-commerce) 3/6/2002 29 8. Non-standard Link Colors Links to pages that haven’t been seen are blue previously seen pages are purple/red Don't mess with these colors one of the few standard navigational aides consistency is important for learning don’t underline other objects with blue/red! OBVIOUS LINKS (K10) What is unfortunate about this convention? 3/6/2002 30 7. Lack of Navigation Support Users don’t know much about your site they always have difficulty finding information give a strong sense of structure and place Communicate site structure provide a site map so users know where they are & where they can go provide a good search feature the best navigation support will never be enough People now expect these site logo in upper left linked to home page LOCATION BREAD CRUMBS (K6) showing where you currently are 3/6/2002 31 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 32 6. Long Scrolling Pages Many users do not scroll beyond visible section when page comes up All critical content & navigation should be ABOVE THE FOLD (I2) Leaf nodes can be longer people who have that interest will be reading it still good to be brief Becoming less of an issue top items will STILL dominate should be careful not to go past 3 screens max. 3/6/2002 33 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 34 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 35 5. Orphan Pages All pages should have a clear indication of what web site they belong to users may not come in through your home page Every page should have a link up to your home page some indication of where they fit within the structure of your information space 3/6/2002 36 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 37 4. Complex URLs Shouldn’t have exposed machine address Users try to decode URLs of pages to infer the structure of web sites lack of support for navigation & sense of location URL should be human-readable names should reflect nature of the info. space sometimes need to type in URL->minimize typos use lower-case, short names with no special chars • many people don't know how to type a ~ Long URLs are hard to email properly wrapping, etc. *** biggest issue today *** 3/6/2002 38 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 39 3. Constantly Running Animations Don’t have elements that move incessantly moving images have an overpowering effect on the human peripheral vision no animations, scrolling text, marquees Users tune them out so do not put anything important there! Give your user some peace and quiet to actually read the text! 3/6/2002 40 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 41 2. Gratuitous use of Bleeding Edge Technology Don’t try to attract people using it you’ll get the nerd crowd, but mainstream users care about content and service If their system crashes they will never come back E.g., use VRML if your info maps to 3d architectural design or surgery planning Caveat: appropriate if selling those products 3/6/2002 42 What Might be Wrong Here? 3/6/2002 43 1. Using Frames Confusing for users breaks the user model of the web page sequence of actions rather than single act unit of navigation no longer equal to unit of view Lose predictability of user actions what information appears where when you click? can’t bookmark the current page & return to it • fixed in Explorer 5 URLs stop working can’t share with others (lose social filtering) • emailing links still doesn’t work... 3/6/2002 44 Frames (cont.) Search engines have problems w/ frames what part of frames do you include in indexes? Early surveys found most users preferred frame-less sites recent surveys back this up ~70-90% Caveat: experienced designers can sometimes use frames to good effect 3/6/2002 45 References Nielsen’s top 10 list (required reading) http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html Web pages that suck http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ Net tips for designers http://www.dsiegel.com/tips/ User Interface Engineering http://www.uie.com 3/6/2002 46 Next Time Rapid prototyping "The Perils of Prototyping" by Alan Cooper Lewis & Rieman Ch. 6 3/6/2002 47