Post 7. Information Architecture

While Steve Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think” is written for general Web sites, and was not specific to history or even academic sites, I found his book informative and well organized. Although much of what Krug writes seems obvious or as common sense, we have all seen Web sites that could be much improved by applying some of the common sense he presents.

I thought the way he presented his information was useful, especially the illustrations demonstrating how subtle changes to such features as links, buttons or menus can slow down your audience’s response time, and even cause you to lose visitors.

I also found it helpful that he grounded his arguments in the context of how humans take in information in daily life, when reading news papers, shopping, or following directions while driving. Many people treat the web as though it’s a particular media that has to be approached differently than print, but Krug shows that success can be achieved by presenting information on the Web using the same conventions people are already used to.

What I found most helpful in this book was the five steps he presents on page 31:

1. Create a clear visual hierarchy

2. Take advantage of conventions

3. Break pages up into clearly defined areas

4. Make obvious what’s clickable

5. Minimize noise

I believe that using these five steps will be helpful in creating a more user friendly site, and, as Krug points out, the easier your site is to use, the more people will want to visit.

The other readings/site visits for this week offered specific examples of how to put some of the concepts addressed by Krug into practice. Overall, I found this week’s readings very helpful in approaching design and layouts of Web sites. It was helpful to read this as we get closer to finishing our final projects.

Comments

[Toni Bowman]

Hi Beka!

I enjoyed the Krug book as well. When I was checking into a condo in Florida last week, the property manager spontaneously asked if I could look at his on-line newsletter/site (needed a customer point of view) and offer suggestions. The site lacked the visual hierarchy Krug talks about - and also failed to incorporate guidelines 2,3,4,and 5 that you mention above. Whew - this site just seemed to present an overwhelming amount of information-- but thinking about improvements in Krug's terms helped me more easily formulate a few helpful tips for the property manager. Sometimes I find it useful to see what not to do -- I'll have to look up the link and show it to you if you are interested. Hope you have had a great week. See you in class!