A Closer Look: Critical Reviews of Corporate Websites - WebBusiness Magazine M... Page 1 sur 4 Mar. 2000 Issue of WebBusiness Magazine A Closer Look Index A Closer Look: Critical Reviews of Corporate Websites

BY LOU ROSENFELD

reating a user interface that is consistent across a website isn't easy. But managers of sites that serve multilingual, multinational users are going to have to rise to the task, however daunting it may be. Federal Express: Tight Reins over a Global Site One of the first major sites to embrace globalization was, not surprisingly, fedex.com. From Albania to Zimbabwe, Federal Express maintains a presence in over 200 countries. And regardless of which national site you visit, you'll experience a look and feel that is remarkably consistent. Here are three national main pages:

Louis Rosenfeld is president of Argus Associates, which specializes in providing information architecture consulting to Fortune 500s. He is coauthor of the best-seller, Information Architecture on the World Wide Web.

USA main page

Mexico main page

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Uganda main page

The fedex.com environment shows the clear markings of a highly centralized approach to site design and content maintenance. The visual branding is crisply consistent; a user who has seen one national site will have, in effect, seen them all. The sites' individual information architectures do vary, but you'll have to look closely to see the differences:

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Navigation Options

USA

Mexico

Uganda

Registration Shipping Tracking Drop-Off Locator Rate Finder Service Guide/Service Info. eBusiness Tools/Tools for Shipping About FedEx Index/Search Contact Us Careers Global Home FedEx Corp.

The U.S. site offers the greatest number of options, as you might expect from a U.S.-based corporation. Mexico, a medium-sized Federal Express operation, offers a subset of what you'll find in the United States; Uganda's options are in turn a subset of Mexico's. This telescoping of options, as well as a fairly consistent labeling system, indicates a high degree of centralization; you can almost envision a fedex.com web czar reviewing every national FedEx operation and assigning each a set of navigation options from a menu of standard choices. Federal Express' command and control approach to its web environment goes further, occasionally offering full translations of its sites:

Mexico main page in

Mexico main page in

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Spanish

My Spanish is a bit rusty, but these translations seem to be the same word-for-word here on the main page, and this content consistency continues down to each discrete page in the Spanish and English versions of the site. Centralization is a Good Thing for Fedex.com… The centralized approach certainly helps fedex.com users in some important ways: Strong branding means more confident navigation, since users can always tell they're in the fedex.com web environment. And consistent information architecture ensures that Federal Express provides at least a lowest common denominator of navigational options and content for each national site. Federal Express also benefits by reducing duplication of effort throughout the organization by relying on a single brand and a single information architecture. The company projects a truly global presence; and, by keeping the architecture simple and the content minimal, it won't have too hard a time generating translations of its national sites for an increasingly non-English-speaking audience. …but Your Mileage May Vary Of course, what works for Federal Express won't necessarily work for everyone. It's important to note that the strategists and information architects behind fedex.com were forced to make some tough choices about what would and wouldn't be included in each national site. In its case, this prioritization makes sense: fedex.com users have fairly specific and predictable needs from the site, regardless of location and language. But this strategy wouldn't work well with a corporation that, for example, sells financial services globally; government regulations mean that offerings to U.S.based customers would be quite different than for German customers. Also, the benefits gained from centralization and homogenization can often come at the expense of variety and innovation. Under a decentralized approach, each national operation could run its own website and contribute new ideas to the others. With a centralized architecture, the company as a whole might lose out on that innovation. Centralization is a keystone to a good web strategy, but as you embark upon your own multisite architecture, remember that each situation is different and requires a

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A Closer Look: Critical Reviews of Corporate Websites - WebBusiness Magazine M... Page 4 sur 4 different strategy. You can learn a lot from studying a site like fedex.com, but in the end, it is your users, your content, and your businesses goals and constraints that will determine which path you take to globalization. Read previous installments of "A Closer Look."

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