Finding Information: Factors that improve online experiences.
The Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) recently completed a survey about how people find information online. They've posted their findings online. In their own words, "...this report outlines key findings from surveys that explored factors that drive online experience as expressed by the three different subject groups – nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public." The survey’s major findings are summarized as:- Designers underestimate the thresholds for an effective site
- Easy access to complete information is key to visitor enjoyment
- Good visual design and up-to-date information are critical
- Visitors want information fast
- Visitors want a broad range of topics
- Designers are overly optimistic about visitors’ ability to maintain orientation
- Visitors still need handholding
- Visitors point to the lack of breadth and depth of site content as causing an “Information Gap.”
Labels: design, development, ecommerce, research, strategy, ux, website
posted by James Young at
12:34 PM
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cooper.com: "In a perfect world, interaction design would begin when a product was still just a twinkle in a venture capitalist’s eye. In reality, many software products make it all the way through the development cycle with little thought to the users’ experience, and when executives, sales people, or QA testers finally get their hands on the functioning product and start sounding the alarm bells, interaction designers are brought in to clean up the mess. With increasing demand for design “swat teams” to rescue fully developed but flawed software that is scheduled to ship within months or even weeks, the critical question becomes: how can you avoid getting caught up in the chaos that frequently permeates “crisis-mode” engagements?..."