The Design of Sites: Patterns for Creating Winning Web Sites, 2/e

Table of Contents

Foreword xxix
Preface xxxiii
Acknowledgments xli
Part I: Foundations of Web Site Design 1
Chapter 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 117
Pattern 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 823
Appendix A: Running Usability Evaluations 825
Appendix B: Sample Web Site Evaluation Plan 841
Appendix C: Sample Consent Form 845
Appendix D: Sample Observer Form 847
Appendix E: Online Research 849
Glossary 867
Resources 897
Credits 935
About the Authors 941
Index 943