THE WEBSITE REDESIGN PROCESSMake sure that your redesign project starts on the right foot and solves the right problems

Gary Schroeder@gary_schroeder

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Define the Project

Goals should be concrete, not

vague. For example, a project goal

might be to decrease total calls to

the Help Desk by 30% or increase the

number of users who say they are

“fully satisfied” with the website from

25% to 45% in the next 6 months.

Your redesign goals may be based

on formal user feedback like an

online survey, or management

directives, or internal group goals for

continuous product improvement.

Is new functionality needed to

support your redesign goals?

Because that decision will affect how

the site looks, how it’s structured, and

how it’s programmed, desired

functionality has to be fully described

at the beginning.

Functionality requirements include

things like "user must be able to find

a record based on a part number" or

“if logged into the domain, user must

be automatically recognized" or "it

has to support record searches from

mobile phones."

.

Websites are redesigned because of

underperformance or a perceived flaw. How will

a redesign correct the problem? What will the

goals for the redesigned website be?

Define success. Decide beforehand

how you’ll know you've been

successful in meeting your redesign

goals. Set objective measures for

success like numerical targets and

satisfaction ratings.

What’s the schedule? Agree on

when the new site has to be live.

Who's on the Project Team and

what are their responsibilities?

Identify project manager, content

provider, programmer, visual

designer, information architect.

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Who’s Doing What?

WHY are they coming?No one is coming to your website for

fun or to “surf.” They’re coming for a

specific purpose. Your job is to

identify all of the possible reasons

that your audience members might

want to use your site.

WHO is using your website? There will likely be a spectrum of

groups who are using your website. A

typical selection might include

internal staff, external program

managers, scientific collaborators, or

prospective hires. Plan to

accommodate each one of them.

WHAT are they trying to do?Each user who comes to your website

is attempting to complete a task.

What is it? By making a chart or list

of each audience group, their

motivation for coming, and a

complete list of possible tasks, you

can design your site to satisfy their

needs.

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Audience Analysis

Each member of your website’s audience has a different reason for visiting the site.

Identify what motivates them to be a site user.

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Task Completion

By making a chart or list of

each audience group and a

complete list of possible

tasks, you can design your

site to satisfy their needs.

Potential New User Existing User Department Staff

Find a contact X X X

Unserstand types of research that

synchrotrons enableX

Schedule beam time X

Check facility status X X

Check proposal deadline dates X X X

Review User Statistics X

Review, locate Publications X X

Locate reference documents X X

Check lecture schedules X

Review employment opportunities X

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Phases of Development

StructureBased on the content to be offered,

and the audiences and site goals

identified, create a logical structure

for the site that makes navigation

and task completion as simple and

clear as possible. Think of this step as

creating the various "buckets" into

which all of the site's content will be

poured.

Content AuditA complete map of the site is

generated and each page is reviewed

to determine whether the content on

that page should be retained,

updated or discarded. At the end of

that review, look at where the gaps

are. What's missing that needs to be

added in order for your site's goal to

be met?

New ContentIf the content audit uncovered

sections of the site where outdated

content needs to be updated or if it

identified gaps where new content

needs to be written from scratch, this

is the point at which both of those

things will be done. It's important to

note that only the subject matter

experts for the site can complete the

creation of new content; work on the

site can't continue until they've made

their contributions. New content may

include edited text, new text, or new

photos, illustrations and video.

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Site Mapping

You have to know what you already have on hand before deciding on what you need next.

Site maps make the existing structure clear to everyone

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Phases of Development

Draft Design Based on feedback collected during

the client interview and the content

assembled in subsequent steps, a

draft site is constructed on a

development server. The draft site is

used to complete a "test drive" where

any necessary adjustments are

identified. Some sites will warrant

usability testing at this stage in which

people are observed using the draft

site and difficulties in use noted.

ProgrammingThe analysis of audience tasks will

inform decisions about dynamic

elements required for the site.

Custom programming involving

database construction and interactive

forms will begin at this point.

LaunchDepending on the impact that re-

launching your website may have,

some arrangements for

communicating the change in

advance might be necessary, or you

may simply wish to make a

notification that the launch has

occurred in order to promote the

new site. When your organization's

decision maker has officially

approved the site, you're ready to go

live.

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Wireframes

Wireframes allow rapid evaluation of

design variations. They avoid wasting

time physically building less successful

intermediates.

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Redesign Process

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Bear in mind…

Without an explicit plan, it’s very unlikely

that your website redesign project will be

successful.

Your plan must consider your audience, and what

you want to help them do online.

Know what’s wrong with your existing site and

how proposed changes are going to fix it.

Have clear project requirements. Your technical

staff must have an explicit list of what features the

site must contain and what information it must

communicate.

Know what constitutes “success” for your project.