Availability vs Information architecture (Information architecture)

Ucdchina Editor Note: This article is traditional, we simply translated into Simplified Chinese, or error, please refer to the original.

Summary：

The goal of a good usability web site is to help users find the information they want, and as mentioned earlier, user experience is the basis for usability, and "Information Architecture" (information-architecture) is an implementation tool. In the common People's cognition, the information belongs to the science and technology, the cultural domain, the construction belongs to the domain of the civil engineering, the design, when the two combine together, I believe many people will feel puzzled, what is "information architecture"?

British writer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) once said: "There are two kinds of knowledge, one is that we have absorbed for ourselves, the other is we know where to go to find." "(Knowledge is of nonblank kinds:we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.)

The goal of a good usability web site is to help users find the information they want, as previously mentioned, user experience is the basis of usability, and "Information architecture" (Information architecture) is a tool for implementation. In the common People's cognition, the information belongs to the science and technology, the cultural domain, the construction belongs to the domain of the civil engineering, the design, when the two combine together, I believe many people will feel puzzled, what is "information architecture"?

The information architecture is actually constructs, organizes the information "the project", in the network aspect, the information construction refers to the information system to classify, the suitable interface design lets the user obtain this information smoothly, the following only makes the rough discussion in several aspects.

Basic concepts: Achieving consistency in a straightforward way

Information architecture is an executive tool for usability, and its basic purpose is to maintain consistency and to understand two requirements easily.

Consistency (or integrity) is the Web site information architecture, is also the highest standard of usability, refers to the site, whether in terms of layout, content, navigation and other aspects are consistent, the overall design. Good consistency is like a well-designed elevator, when we pressed the button on the first floor, we knew that the door would be on the first floor when it was opened, not after we had pressed the first floor, and when the door opened, we found that we had been sent to a non-state wilderness, when the user could expect a variety of responses from the site, The more they feel safe and in control when they browse the site, the successful site is to give the user the control, rather than hold it tightly to the user's freedom to navigate.

In addition to consistency, the quality of information architecture depends on whether the site is easy to understand, the layout is too difficult, the content structure is not clear, the way the navigation is consistent with the user's thinking logic, will affect the user's view of the site response.

For Web sites that are interested in E-commerce, simple and easy to understand is important, the site of the location of the structure of goods, search function and show the way, must allow users to glance, online shopping behavior and real life is different, in real life we go to department stores to buy things, even if you can not find what you want, Most of us still choose to keep looking at the store, because it is more troublesome to leave and go to another department store, but it is not the same on the Internet, when users feel that the site is not good to use, can not find what they want, checkout procedures are miscellaneous, fingertips will be able to reputable different sites to continue to complete their Shopping behavior. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, more than 65% of the users after the goods into the shopping cart, did not complete the checkout formalities to leave, roughly estimated that the site lost about 15 billion U.S. dollars business!

Therefore the website should strengthen the product search function, classification and presentation, and simplifying the checkout steps, as long as you minimize the opportunity for users to think (think about how to use the interface of the site, or think about whether you really need to buy a product), the greater the chance of successful trading, such as Amazon.com One-click Checkout is to simplify the design of the product, it will check the steps to reduce the point to the mouse is completed, save each order to re-enter the address, telephone, credit card number and other cumbersome steps.

Organize website Information

The most important component of the site is the content, that is, information, when a large number of information gathered in a website, how to plan and analyze the information, so that users can easily obtain, is all the site operators must face the problem.

The first is the classification of information, there are now too many Web sites based on the company's internal structure to classify, rather than according to the user's behavior and the motivation to classify, there are many ways to classify the method can be followed, such as the General Task analysis (user visit must have a specific target exists, This approach is when a target is set, and the path through which the user will reach it is analyzed. or the site operators can put all the information on the site on a single card, to the possible users to ask them to classify, the site operators can set the category name, can also be given to the user to create, After the card is retracted, to see how most users categorize the site's data, it can be used as a basis to design a more user-aware information organization system.

User interface

After the information has the good organization structure, the website may begin to carry on the user interface the design to assist the user to obtain the information, the general person often usually will the user interface design (user Interface designs) and the drawing design (Graphic) confuse, In fact, the two are very different, drawing design is more emphasis on aesthetics, art, designers usually need to have the art background, design concepts, know how to operate such as Adobe Photoshop, Photo Impact, Corel draw, such as drawing software, The user interface design is heavy functional and ease-of-use (Ease of Use), and the designer needs to have a good HCI base. Good user interface requires the above two cooperation, but the order must be completed in the functional aspects of the need to do landscaping work.

A good user interface must be prepared with the following points:

determines the scope of the information content. To distinguish the focus of information, the main purpose. Choose the right medium to present. Attention to the coordination of the use of different media. Provide opportunities for interaction.

All in all, the user interface is to use the convenience of the main, beautification supplemented, and through the appropriate medium to communicate the needs of users with information.

Site Navigation Process

Three questions are most frequently asked when users browse the site:

, where am I? Where should I go? I've been there?

The navigation of the website determines the answers to the above three questions. The design of the navigation approach involves task analysis for the user, to give a simple example, a Web site can organize a group of potential users before it is designed, giving them a task target (such as buying a book) and some path items (such as logging in, searching for books, filling out orders, Send out etc.), observe how the user sorts items to achieve their goals.

Good site navigation should be "transparent", it means that users can freely come and go in the site, but do not need to go through a layer of fixed order, that is, browsing should not only be based on linear process to arrange, you can use a parallel or interactive way to assist, For example, similar to Windows feature table navigation, "The news option of the joint News Network is to use this kind of extension, so that users can easily see the entire site on each page of all the news, and do not need to follow the" home ">" local news ">" Bei ">" a News "order.

A good web browsing design should include the following:

in line with user experience: User-centric, the use of existing standards as a model, the user most of the time spent browsing other people's Web site, how we do, we do. Easy to understand: the link is not complex, the text is straightforward, the meaning of the diagram clearly, so that users can quickly start, do not need to refer to any auxiliary tools will be used. Save time and trouble: Use the most consistent web site type, structure, and user goals and web site structure of the link, so that users can be the fastest and easiest way to find the information they want. Consistency: The overall navigation of the site standardized, fixed, such as not to open a new window and other non-standard functions, because it will cause the user's obsession and distrust. Structure clear: in English called "Bread crumbs" (breadcrumbs) Link way, I personally like to call it " Footprint, because it refers to the way the user walks in a footprint, or to present the part of the Web page in the entire Web site in a step-by-step manner, with three main uses: to provide users with simple information about the entire Web site architecture. When the user arrives at a page in a step-by-step manner, it can be quickly returned to the same place by this link. Allows users to quickly return to the previous level, like on a shopping page, users go to a certain page and find that something is not exactly what they want, and he can go back to the previous level to look for a similar product, which is a bit like a browser-behind function, except that it's a more cross-platform link.

The lack of an architectural approach makes a Web page an orphan, because sometimes users go directly to a part of the site via search engines or bookmarks, and they will not be able to know that the page is part of the entire architecture, causing them to be stuck on that page.

Multiple and moderate Links: Never provide only one way to navigate, although there is no crash on a one-way street, remember that it is hard to turn back when we go the wrong way on a one-way street, for example, when the user comes to a site in a search, usually not directly on the data they are actually looking for, However, it is not far away, so designers should provide the relevant information to each other, so that users can find the information is not exactly what they want to, quickly find other consistent information. For example, when a user chooses a product and finds that the product is overpriced, the user can easily connect to the past by listing other similar but lower-priced products next to the product.

But not too much, many web site operators feel that every piece of information on their site is valuable, so fear that the user did not see, so that every page in the site are densely listed all the items, but to tell the truth, a small fluorescent screen can put how much information? In addition to the links, there are a lot of decorative pictures, animation and so on, the deduction of these, users really care about how much is left? Imagine how spectacular it would be if Amazon.com or Yahoo put all their categories on the same page? ）

There is no reason to put all the links of a website on every page, and when a user buys a music CD on a website, he does not need to know how many specials the website's computer products have or how many of its books are classified. The task analysis of the user, together with the systematic classification of information, helps the designer to decide that the links are necessary to appear on every page, and those are just the ones that appear on some pages.

provides opportunities for feedback and help: The most frustrating thing for users is that they have no access when they are in trouble and must provide assistive tools, such as online answers, FAQs, or 24-hour customer service lines. Website production process


Stage problem description What is the main goal of the site? What are the short and long-range goals? Where is the attraction of the website? First, determine the properties and objectives of the site, and set priorities for each goal. What is the target of market analysis? Who is the competitor? What are the possible behavioral patterns of the user? Analyze the target and competitor to simulate the competitor's website to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the user. What services are required to determine content and functionality? is the depth and breadth of the content sufficient? The convenience of the function? How will users classify? What are the priorities of the functional services? According to the needs of users, determine the scope of the site to provide services and content, and research data classification, and establish the structure of the site. At the same time, sometimes in the time-to-market (time to harsh) under the pressure, need to set the priorities of each service, with the expansion of the site in batches. Navigation mode and user interface design network standards where? Are the properties of the Web site appropriate? Is it not complicated? Is it easy to get started? Is the interface friendly? According to user experience to find the appropriate site navigation and user interface. Can the writer be compatible with different versions of the browser? The writing program must be aware of the compatibility and performance of the version. Are usability tests functional? Are there any serious problems? Is it possible to cross platform (Cross-platform)? Usability testing is one of the most important parts of the entire design loop, because the site survives with good usability, rigorous testing helps identify problems early and improves, and data shows that Web sites can improve availability by at least 50% after usability testing. is the layout screen attractive? Do you adopt non-standard technology? Can the page be read quickly? is the design easy to understand? At this time is the beginning of the use of web designers, some people will feel too late, but in fact, if the screen is too early to beautify, but a mistake, the cost of modification and time must be very large. Is the usability test user interface affected? Is it a bonus or minus points? Once the layout is complete, you must also perform a usability test to determine if there are any new problems arising from the increase in the screen elements. Is there a buffer period for official online? Are there any crisis-handling mechanisms? The website is not the end, but the beginning of the real test. Is there any unexpected situation in the observation period? After the website officially on-line, must observe the website usage situation closely one months to two months, because many problems will appear in this period of time. Is there any abnormality in the maintenance period site record? Is the server stable? Is safety management comprehensive? Analyze Web site records (log) for any abnormal conditions (such as 404, 511 error messages), or whether there are loopholes in security management, in order to be able to timely resolve when the situation occurs.





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