Thursday, July 12, 2007

Complex Public Websites Public websites 'too complex'. Many government websites are still too complicated and difficult to use, says a report by the National Audit Office. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition] Earlier today I almost bought a book called Untechnical Writing. The hope of possibly being able to express technical things in non-technical terms was appealing. It showed up on an online bookstore's recommendations, where I was researching writing and media style guides for websites. Now it seems obvious to me that a style guide for printed publications isn't going to work for websites. It's not that different people read them but the same people read websites differently than they read printed material. Related to presenting information, categories, structure and navigation need to be developed with the readers/viewers. I decided to experiment with Websort = Web-based card sorting. Online card sorting lets participants take as long as they like. None of the site's developers or information architects are visibly reacting to how participants group the subjects/cards. 5:55:08 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2007 barbara haven. Last update: 8/16/07; 9:39:20 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.