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Milwaukee Macromedia Users Group
April 9th, 2003 at MATC South Campus

Molstad Consulting's president, Brian Molstad along with Conrad Ayala of Spin Group, presented on the topic of "Practical Usability Techniques" to a full room. An outline of Brian's main points follows below.

Definitions

"Information Architecture is the art and science of structuring and organizing information environments to help people effectively fulfill their information needs." - Steve Toub of Argus and Associates

"Information architecture, as the name implies, is basically about taking content, and a structure to present that content, to an audience. It is the information architect's job to ensure that information is well organized and presented in an easily accessible interface." - Mattie Lagenberg

Why is a focus on Information Architecture (IA) important?

• Findability - With a focus these days on creating an enjoyable user experience, one needs to remember that enjoyable, or not, if they can't find it, they won't experience it all.
  
  
• The Blueprints of Web Projects - Crucial for client sign-off and reduces both internal and external disputes dramatically.
  
  
• Integral Part of Usability and UCD - "It is virtually impossible to divorce the issues of site architecture, usability and design. They must all work together in close harmony if a site is to provide real value." - Eric L. Reiss
  
  
• E-commerce - "E-commerce is one area that has provided some quantitative data regarding this issue. Nielsen reckoned back in 1998 that approximately 50% of potential sales from e-commerce sites were lost because people simply couldn't find what they were looking for. Current estimates indicate pretty similar figures" - Quote from a usability consulting firm's website

• Search Engine Detectability - By organizing the Web site into appropriate sections (with corresponding titles), IA will identify up front some of the key elements that search engines use to help rank pages (elements include page name, key words, directory names, and file names).

• Limiting Scope Creep and Disputes - Increased assurance that client and developer are in agreement as to the scope of the project. This means fewer arguments over scope and budget.
  
  
• Project Management - Project Managers can use flowcharts to assign tasks to the rest of the development staff. The page numbering system makes for easy and exact reference. (Example, some pages can have the exact same name but one with dynamic information based on a login.)
  
  
• Context for Design and Programming Decisions - Gives the developer a chance to advise on page-level interaction at a stage when costs are minimal.
  
  
• Taxonomy / Controlled Vocabulary - Knowledge that you're working with a controlled vocabulary. No last minute arguments or changes to link and task titles after they've been embedded into the system. It's best when the terms are obtained from user research.
  
  
• Faster Development Time - A well-designed flowchart or task flow backed by solid user research will provide easy to follow instructions when developing a site.
  
  
• Scalable Site Structures - A scalable site makes for much easier handling of change requests. Save time and headaches by being able to simply create the new page rather than spend an hour on the phone trying to explain to the client why putting in a new section won't fit in the current budget.
  
  
• Efficient and Organized Content - Allows developers to create sites that utilize the Bite-Snack-Meal approach. Leads to cleaner designs that are not crammed with content or massively long scrolling pages near the top level of the hierarchy.
  
  
• IA Connects Visual Design with Business Goals - You may have noticed difficulties relating your visual design decisions to business goals. IA is the intermediate step that allows for making that link.

Method

• Incorporating Data from User Profiles and Task Analysis - Generate user profiles through questionnaires and interviews with user representatives. View target users in their own work environment. Tasks generate content areas/functionality
  
  
• Information Chunking = Nodes - Small as a product price or big as a library. Focus on taxonomy (controlled vocabularies)
  
  
• Card Sorting - Write each node on an index card. Organize nodes into categories. Label the categories and organize the heirarchy. Hands-on interactive experience for user or client. Inevitably changes previous ideas of site structure/content.
  
  
• Documentation - Flowcharts/site maps/user flows in Visio or Inspiration. Pros: 1. Provides "big picture" 2. Context for design decisions 3. Foundation for rest of project - Limitations: 1. Doesn't represent behind scenes func. 2. Specifying page level interaction 3. Not stand alone documentation.