Let’s say that you and your team created a great Web site, but now you need to make some upgrade changes. Do you have the foresight to document all the information that went into the entire design process? Many Web sites, unfortunately, do not have the documents that detail all aspects of the design because of lack of time, lack of interest, or lack of knowledge on how to do it properly. For the many Web professionals who want to learn how to document the process that goes into the creation and development of a Web site, this book is for you. It describes in great detail how to record all the events, objects, contexts, testing results, and processes, including meeting procedures, developed during the creation of a great, user-friendly Web site. This book is a superb reference. However, it has its limits. It covers Web design documentation from the point of view of the information architect and user experience specialist, tacitly assuming that issues of branding and screen engine optimization have already been documented elsewhere. The book is geared toward teams developing large sites, but Brown’s practical coverage will benefit even a one-person design team.
The book’s highly illustrated text follows a tightly organized content scheme based on deliverables, building chapter by chapter from personas to final wireframes. Because the content is so well organized, the reader can refer to information as needed, as well as profit from a complete read through. The content is organized in three sections: “User Needs Documentation,” “Strategy Documentation,” and “Wireframes” (part of the “Design Documents” section).
Section 1 is dedicated to gathering and documenting information about potential users, including their goals and motivations. Chapter 1, “Introduction,” describes general methodologies that documenters should pursue, with an excellent segment on how to plan and present deliverables at a meeting.
Chapter 2 is “Personas.” Personas are a useful way to define and express the goals, site interactions, and motivations of prospective users. Brown recommends that as a bare minimum, the persona be given a real name along with the motivation that drives the persona forward. Recommendations for using scenarios are included, to show how a specific persona interacts within a typical set of circumstances. The chapter offers a variety of detailed visual formats that can be used to characterize a specific persona for both documentation and presentation purposes. Personas may not always be familiar to stakeholders, who might question why this should be done at the start of the design process. The chapter concludes with how to best present personas to the stakeholders at a buy-in meeting.
Chapter 3, “Usability Test Plan,” covers the questions you need to ask regarding what you need to test for (for example, “Is the site easy to use?”), while chapter 4, “Usability Reports,” presents a report based on a given usability test.
Section 2 provides additional context for the design. Chapter 5, “Competitive Analysis,” describes how to analyze aspects of the competition and prepare the documents to display the information (factors include comparing audiences, Web page displays, and site goals and purposes).
Chapter 6, “Concept Model,” is used to generate and facilitate thinking about Web site concepts, and is recommended for use at brainstorming sessions. A basic concept model consists of variously sized nodes representing people, data, processes, and events, connected by lines indicating relationships; many example visuals are included.
Chapter 7 is titled “Content Inventory.” A content inventory (or content audit) document captures and describes all of the information contained in a Web site. Brown describes the process as invaluable, however boring it may be to the person creating it. Descriptions of how they are best created are included here, with many using spreadsheets as the documentation medium.
Section 3 describes four design document types, each displaying a different aspect of the design: site maps for overall structure, flow charts for interaction pathways, wireframes for page structure, and screen design for site look and feel. Chapter 8, “Site Maps,” offers information on creating the structure of a Web site visually. A site map can be viewed as a hierarchy, similar to an organizational chart, using boxes to represent site pages. Arrow lines indicate link connections within the hierarchy. Other styles for Web site representations are described, and are based on nodes and the links between them. Unfortunately, this chapter does not cover taxonomies--a classification system and its related vocabularies, developed prior to a site map. Taxonomies are an organizing scheme that can be used in several ways, one of which is to map to the site’s navigation scheme. A taxonomy does not include links from one entity to another, but serves as the basic information framework for creating a site map.
Chapter 9, “Flow Charts,” describes flow charts: visuals that show the click and link steps to get from a start point to a given goal. Flow charts illustrate movement through time, while site maps are used to represent a stationary hierarchy structure. Tips for creating effective flow charts are given, including how they can be used in usability testing and documenting a strategy.
Chapter 10 is “Wireframes.” Wireframes, as paper-based charts or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files, present detailed descriptions of what will appear on the basic screens of the final site. The wireframe is created to designate content and structure, rendered in a plain layout. Wireframes are not meant to contain explicit layouts or page designs. Brown describes wireframes as falling somewhere between flow charts or site maps and screen designs. He states that wireframes are meant to be used by team members to document design and structure decisions; they should not be used in presentations to stakeholders who may not understand their purpose. Recommendations and illustrations are included for both HTML and paper-based documents.
Chapter 11, “Screen Designs,” covers the wide range of formats that visually depict what pages in a Web site will look like. They are most often created in electronic format, but are not necessarily interactive. Screen designs are presented to stakeholders for final approval before development starts. The section on presenting screen designs offers helpful information on critiques, agreements, and sign-offs.
Overall, the information in this book is excellent. However, readers interested in documentation should also look at books and papers on branding and search optimization factors for preliminary information on Web site design. Also, there is very little coverage of content strategies, elements that deal with Web site classification schemes, and consistently defined vocabularies.
