I found this to be a very informative article. Card sorting is a very big part of designing any web site. If you don't know what you are doing, it won't be very much help. This article explains why we use it, what it is, when to use it, the different types, advantages and disadvantages of a sort, and how to prepare and execute a card sort. I really liked the selecting content stage. I never really though about putting future content into a card sort, but I guess it makes perfect sense. I will definitely read this article again before I do my next card sort.
I found this to be a very helpful article. These are some very important things that we need to keep in mind when designing a web site. 1.) Don't forget who your users are. Who is going to be using this web site? It is a very important step that not all remember to do. At the moment I and finding it hard to find out about my users, but that doesn't mean that I should just skip it and move on. 2.) Make a flowchart. This is the framework for your whole site. It tells you what goes where, and who connects to who. You can't build anything stable without a decent framework; a house, a car, or a web site. 3.) Organize your content. I know that sometimes it is difficult, but hay that is what card sorting is for. 4.) Please use consistent navigation. We've all been there before, it's frustrating, don't mess change it up. 5.) Use clear link colors. I think we should all use the methods described in the article. They are clear, easy, and most use them anyway. 6.) Use the title tag. I have been to pages where there are no titles. It is very inconvenient if you need to know what page you are on so you can come back, or you need to know it so you can site it as a source. Please let people know what page they are on. It doesn't have to be long. 7.) Look ahead. Think about the future of your site. Make sure there is room for any new information you might have to add later. And we all know that there will be more stuff to put in there later, so just make sure you can add it easily and quickly. These are all very important steps to designing any web site. I am going to try my best to remember them all when it come to my sites. For my usability problem, however, I intend to focus heavy on sins 2, 3, and 4. I hope to create a good flowchart, organize my content well, and to keep a consistent navigation. I believe that they are all important parts to my whole "findability" problem.
While doing some research on web site organization this very interesting word kept popping up. So, of course, I had to find out what taxonomy is. Very simply put it is a way of organizing similar things into categories. Upon reading this article I found that taxonomy is something most web sites try to use. However, it is a very difficult thing to master because not everyone thinks in the same way you do. He gave some very interesting examples on how different people would categorizes different things. Taxonomy is not something you could just whip up. It takes time and an understanding of how people think. But, I believe it is worth the effort. A web page would be way to cluttered if you just put everything on it. And search engines aren't always as helpful as we would like them to be. Taxonomy is a very effective way of organizing lots of information. I plan to use its principles in my web site for this class and others.
Angela E.
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
