Users First Prototyping Web Designs

Gateway Business Center. Featured Links. Best Buys Shop Smart for scanners, digital cameras, monitors & more! FREE $5 Buy it New or Used at eBay's ...
60KB taille 4 téléchargements 340 vues
ZDNet: d e v e l o p e r: Users First: Prototyping Web Designs

Page 1 sur 3

Cameras | Reviews | Prices | Tech Update | News | Handhelds | Desktops | Notebooks | Downloads | Developer • Ban Outlook? • Find Tech Jobs • Enterprise Applications

ZDNet > Developer > Usability > Users First:Prototyping Web Designs

Search For:

Developer

GO

• Search Tips • Power Search

Developer Home

Introduction

Pick a Topic: Coding HTML CSS/Fonts JavaScript DHTML XML CGI/Perl/TCL ASP ActiveX Java

Design Usability Accessibility Graphics Multimedia Standards

Backend

Management Networking Security Databases Servers Community Web Hosting

Resources

ScriptLibrary Tag Library Free Downloads Dev Forums Look up a Domain Free Web Tools GIFBot SmartPlanet Get Our Newsletter

Users First: Prototyping Web Designs By Jakob Nielsen

Paper Prototypes High -End Prototypes Mid-Range Prototypes

Lazy is good. In fact, you have my official Usability Guru blessing to take it really easy in your next Web design project. Cutting corners will do your users much more good than if you bust your behind, work up a sweat, burn the midnight oil, or employ other stressful strategies that are bad for your health.



• Americans want more online rules • Time for more Net rules? To increase the usability of a website (or in fact any • Music industry heeds type of interactive design) requires one rule only: keep lessons of Napster confronting your design ideas with real users and • Webvan bags it for modify the design to remove the flaws and enhance good the fit with the users' needs, desires, and work life. • More Net News

The more frequently you get usability data and iterate your design, the better the usability of the end result. Relative to this rule, everything else is just noise. Sure, running a better usability test will result in more data than running a poor test, but the number of times you test different designs is the most important element in a Web project. Trying lots of different designs is not going to make you popular with the keepers of the budget or the project time schedule: obviously there is not time to create fully implemented versions of a wide variety of alternatives or to keep changing the design after you have created thousands of pages in a certain style.

• Jakob Nielsen's

Alertbox

• Validate your code with

our HTML Check • Fight linkrot with our

online link checker

• MySimon : Usability

Books

This is why early design ideas should not be implemented; they should be prototyped. A prototype can be created in a day - or even faster. Prototyping differs from implementation by cutting one or more corners:

http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,2190669,00.html

19/10/2001

ZDNet: d e v e l o p e r: Users First: Prototyping Web Designs ?

?

?

Page 2 sur 3

Forget about any depth to the interaction: the users can move around the interface, but they can't actually do anything. This is called a horizontal prototype and typically involves drawing the home page and the main navigation pages but not writing any deep content pages. Retain depth, but cut away any breadth to the interface: users can do a small number of things but they can't move around. This is called a vertical prototype and requires a complete set of pages for a certain transaction or user task, including the ability to connect to any legacy systems, databases, or search engines. But there is no need to have other transactions enabled than the one you want to test. Finally, you can eliminate both depth and breadth in the interface and create a point in the interaction space where the users don't have any flexibility to decide where to go; and when they go to the one place you have made available they can't even do anything. This is called a scenario and involves drawing a sequence of pages that users would see if they were to execute your scenario. If they try anything else, you simply say "sorry, this is not supported in this early prototype: please try something different." Next >>> Paper Prototypes

Sponsored Links DuoConnect Download Get Smart GoDaddy Books CorelDRAW ® 10

USB 2.0 and FireWire/1394 combo card for PCs and Macs. Free Macromedia JRun Download University of Maryland University College- study online It's True! Domain Names and Transfers $8.95/yr & lower. Free Shipping at Barnes & Noble.com! Download your FREE trial version of CorelDRAW 10 today!

Everything Intel

Find Out More

FREE! Ground shipping with select Dell! - Dell Small Business Center Shop Now! Gateway Home Computing Center - TOSHIBA Shop Now! Gateway Business Center

Featured Links Best Buys Shop Smart for scanners, digital cameras, monitors & more! FREE $5 Buy it New or Used at eBay's Half.com. FREE! Tech Advice and 100's of Downloads for IT Pros!

Magazine Offers CLICK HERE Try Computer Shopper FREE ($3.99 value) & Get 2 FREE CDs

Tech Jobs | Price Guarantee | Search Alerts | Newsletters | Auctions IT Solutions | Security | Classes | Downloads | Members | Web Services CNET Networks: CNET | GameSpot | mySimon | TechRepublic | ZDNet

http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,2190669,00.html

About ZDNet

19/10/2001

ZDNet: d e v e l o p e r: Users First: Prototyping Web Designs

Page 3 sur 3

Feedback | Your Privacy | Service Terms | Advertise | ZDNet Jobs Copyright © 2001 ZD Inc. ZDNet is a registered service mark of ZD Inc. ZDNet Logo is a service mark of ZD Inc.

http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,2190669,00.html

19/10/2001