The Design of Sites: Patterns for Creating Winning Web Sites

This book is intended for everyone in a Web site business, from graphic designers, interaction designers, and software developers to businesspeople. Job titles of the book's readers could include Web Designer, Interaction Designer, Customer-Experience Manager, Usability Researcher, Web Programmer, Software Engineer, Web Business Manager.

Foreword xxixPreface xxxiiiAcknowledgments xliPart I: Foundations of Web Site Design 1Chapter 1: Customer-Centered Web Design: More Than a Good Idea 3 1.1 The Evolution of Web Design 3 1.2 The Importance of Customer-Centered Design 6 1.3 Our First Steps toward Unifying Design, Usability, and Marketing 8 1.4 Why We Prefer Customer-Centered Design 9 1.5 Nine Myths of Customer-Centered Design 12 1.6 Applying Customer-Centered Design 15 1.7 Take-away Ideas 16 Chapter 2: Making the Most of Web Design Patterns 19 2.1 What Are Patterns? 19 2.2 A Sample Pattern 20 2.3 How to Read a Pattern 23 2.4 How Much Do Patterns Change Over Time? 25 2.5 How to Use the Patterns 30 2.6 An Example of Using Patterns 31 2.7 Take-away Ideas 37 Chapter 3: Knowing Your Customers: Principles and Techniques 39 3.1 Principles for Knowing Your Customers 40 3.2 Techniques for Knowing Your Customers 50 3.3 Take-away Ideas 67 Chapter 4: Involving Customers with Iterative Design 69 4.1 The Iterative Design Process 69 4.2 Reasons to Use Iterative Design 71 4.3 Designing with Goals and Principles in Mind 73 4.4 Rapid Prototyping 80 4.5 Evaluating Your Web Site 90 4.6 Take-away Ideas 95 Chapter 5: Processes for Developing Customer-Centered Sites 97 5.1 Development Process Overview 98 5.2 The Discovery Phase 100 5.3 The Exploration Phase 105 5.4 The Refinement Phase 106 5.5 The Production Phase 108 5.6 The Implementation Phase 110 5.7 The Launch Phase 113 5.8 The Maintenance Phase 113 5.9 Take-away Ideas 115 Part II: Patterns 117Pattern Group A: Site Genres 119 A1: Personal E-Commerce 120 A2: News Mosaics 128 A3: Community Conference 136 A4: Self-Service Government 148 A5: Nonprofits as Networks of Help 154 A6: Grassroots Information Sites 161 A7: Valuable Company Sites 167 A8: Educational Forums 174 A9: Stimulating Arts and Entertainment 182 A10: Web Apps That Work 187 A11: Enabling Intranets 195 A12: blogs 201 Pattern Group B: Creating a Navigation Framework 215 B1: Multiple Ways to Navigate 216 B2: Browsable Content 221 B3: Hierarchical Organization 226 B4: Task-Based Organization 231 B5: Alphabetical Organization 235 B6: Chronological Organization 238 B7: Popularity-Based Organization 241 B8: Category Pages 247 B9: Site Accessibility 251 Pattern Group C: Creating a Powerful Homepage 267 C1: Homepage Portal 268 C2: Up-Front Value Proposition 277 Pattern Group D: Writing and Managing Content 283 D1: Page Templates 284 D2: Content Modules 291 D3: Headlines and Blurbs 297 D4: Personalized Content 303 D5: Message Boards 314 D6: Writing for Search Engines 324 D7: Inverted-Pyramid Writing Style 332 D8: Printable Pages 339 D9: Distinctive HTML Titles 343 D10: Internationalized and Localized Content 349 D11: Style Sheets 356 Pattern Group E: Building Trust and Credibility 365 E1: Site Branding 366 E2: E-Mail Subscriptions 372 E3: Fair Information Practices 378 E4: Privacy Policy 384 E5: About Us 391 E6: Secure Connections 398 E7: E-Mail Notifications 402 E8: Privacy Preferences 410 E9: Preventing Phishing Scams 418 Pattern Group F: Basic E-Commerce 431 F1: Quick-Flow Checkout 432 F2: Clean Product Details 439 F3: Shopping Cart 449 F4: Quick Address Selection 458 F5: Quick Shipping Method Selection 464 F6: Payment Method 469 F7: Order Summary 475 F8: Order Confirmation and Thank-You 480 F9: Easy Returns 485 Pattern Group G: Advanced E-Commerce 491 G1: Featured Products 492 G2: Cross-Selling and Up-Selling 500 G3: Personalized Recommendations 510 G4: Recommendation Community 518 G5: Multiple Destinations 526 G6: Gift Giving 531 G7: Order Tracking and History 537 Pattern Group H: Helping Customers Complete Tasks 545 H1: Process Funnel 546 H2: Sign-in/New Account 552 H3: Guest Account 559 H4: Account Management 564 H5: Persistent Customer Sessions 570 H6: Floating Windows 576 H7: Frequently Asked Questions 581 H8: Context-Sensitive Help 587 H9: Direct Manipulation 591 H10: Clear Forms 600 H11: Predictive Input 609 H12: Drill-down Options 615 H13: Progress Bar 622 Pattern Group I: Designing Effective Page Layouts 631 I1: Grid Layout 632 I2: Above the Fold 637 I3: Clear First Reads 641 I4: Expanding Screen Width 646 I5: Fixed Screen Width 652 I6: Consistent Sidebars of Related Content 657 Pattern Group J: Making Site Search Fast and Relevant 661 J1: Search Action Module 662 J2: Straightforward Search Forms 666 J3: Organized Search Results 669 Pattern Group K: Making Navigation Easy 677 K1: Unified Browsing Hierarchy 678 K2: Navigation Bar 682 K3: Tab Rows 686 K4: Action Buttons 691 K5: High-Visibility Action Buttons 695 K6: Location Bread Crumbs 698 K7: Embedded Links 701 K8: External Links 705 K9: Descriptive, Longer Link Names 709 K10: Obvious Links 714 K11: Familiar Language 719 K12: Preventing Errors 723 K13: Meaningful Error Messages 727 K14: Page Not Found 731 K15: Permalinks 734 K16: Jump Menus 744 K17: Site Map 752 Pattern Group L: Speeding Up Your Site 759 L1: Low Number of Files 760 L2: Fast-Loading Images 764 L3: Separate Tables 772 L4: HTML Power 775 L5: Reusable Images 779 L6: Fast-Loading Content 782 Pattern Group M: The Mobile Web 793 M1: Mobile Screen Sizing 794 M2: Mobile Input Controls 805 M3: Location-Based Services 813 Part III: Appendixes 823Appendix A: Running Usability Evaluations 825Appendix B: Sample Web Site Evaluation Plan 841Appendix C: Sample Consent Form 845Appendix D: Sample Observer Form 847Appendix E: Online Research 849Glossary 867Resources 897Credits 935About the Authors 941Index 943