Corrections or additions?
This article by Kathleen McGinn Spring was prepared for the February 26, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Book Review
Ilese Benun’s just-published book, Designing Websites
for Every Audience (F & W Publications), is a visual treat. Chock
full of colorful, engaging illustrations, this Internet design how-to
could not be more user friendly.
There are detailed case studies, looking at just how specific websites
work, and portraits of Internet users, divided into categories according
to how they use the ‘Net. Woven in are factoids that are so interesting
that they book is worth reading even for those who are not planning
a website.
For example, in a section on The Digital Divide: Who’s Online, we
learn the following about degrees of connectedness:
By geography. In the United States, Internet access ismore affordable than in other parts of the world. Americans generallypay a flat-rate fee per local telephone call, a much cheaper alternativeto the per-minute fees incurred by telephone users in the United Kingdomand other countries. About half the country’s population uses theInternet. This is in stark contrast to most of the rest of the world.The United States has more Internet users than all of Asia, whichhas over one-half the world’s population. There are about as manyInternet users in New York City as in all of Africa.By race. There is a noticeable divide along racial andethnic lines in the United States. According to a 2001 study by theU.S. Department of Commerce, Asian Americans, who make up about 4percent of the population, have the highest rate of Internet penetration— about 60 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, only about40 percent of blacks and 31 percent of Hispanics have Internet access.By gender. Two reports in 2000 concluded that the percentageof men online in the United States differs from that of women by lessthan one point, a clear reversal of the male-dominated Internet.By age. In 2000, Internet market research firms MediaMatrix and Jupiter Communications found that the biggest increasein Internet users came in girls age 12 to 17, who were attracted bychat rooms and websites for popular teen magazines, fashion, and rockbands.While knowing location, ethnicity, and age is valuable, websitedesigners need to look past these labels and through to the essenceof their users. Benun divides these individuals into six categories— learners, shoppers, connection seekers, transactors, businessbrowsers, and fun seekers.Each of her chapters provides a detailed description of eachtype of Internet user and then dissects three to five websites cateringto each. The emphasis is on redesigning websites so that they willserve the needs of the surfers drawn to them. Along the way —in concise sidebars — she provides information on basics, includingthe use of photos, passwords, Flash animation, and much more.Here are excerpts from Benun’s characterizations of each type of surfer:Learners. Information-seekers are proactive Internet users,task-driven like many on the Web, but willing to linger longer ona site or page where they find something of interest. Users in researchmode use the Internet like an encyclopedia, employing search enginesto scour online databases, news and information sites, and anythingelse related to their research subject. They are extremely dependenton good front-end and back-end design; if they encounter long databasequery times and poorly designed user interfaces, they leave and lookelsewhere.Shoppers. In the same way that finding information onlinecan be broken down into a variety of activities, so too can shopping.At the very least, shopping involves browsing, selecting, and purchasing.Each shopper may do any of these activities either online or offline.Some people want to touch before they buy, but want to get as muchinformation as possible from the Web to prepare for the magical moment.Others would rather do it all in their pajamas at midnight when it’squiet.Users in buying mode have a particular product in mind when they logonto an E-commerce site. They are aware and active. They have spenttime researching the product and collecting opinions from those whoalready own it. They will often follow links that facilitate theirpurchase or promise big discounts.Online buyers depend on good user interfaces and are easily frustratedwith poor shopping experiences. The computer interface is often theonly contact the customer has with an E-commerce site, so good Webdesign is undoubtedly key to a site’s success. Because shopping onlineis almost exclusively a visual experience, an E-commerce site needto compensate for the missing sensory experience of tangibility throughcareful visual design and other multimedia features that create theillusion of dimensionality.Connection seekers. It is quite amazing that no matterwho or what or how you are, you can find people with whom to exchangeideas and from whom you can learn — people you would normallywalk by on the street without a second glance. When it comes to communicatingwith others on the Web, connection seekers are not in surf mode. Theyare curious and interested in seeing who and what is out there. Theyhave a goal in mind, but they are open, searching, and willing totake their time.Connection seekers are people who to to a designforcommunity.com toread and respond to ongoing discussion topics; they are potentialvolunteers searching VolunteerMatch.org for a place to lend a hand;they are Red Sox fans looking to connect with others via the weblog,Bambinoscurse.com They might be parents of children with learningproblems looking for support at Schwablearning.com, or they may belonely people making an effort to meet others for fun and frolic onNerve.com’s personals site.Transactors. If ever there were task-driven users, it’sthose who have embraced the Web as a way to take care of business.These users have taken activities such as paying bills, trading stocks,buying gifts, and checking cell phone usage online, because it ismore convenient and efficient.Transactors appreciate a clean, uncluttered design that guides themexactly where they need to go in order to accomplish their goals.Keeping clicks to a minimum, eliminating unnecessary options, andusing clear language all help to make the user’s experience pleasantand frustration-free.Busines browsers. When it comes to business-to-businessdesign, some might say, “What design?” Often it’s true thatthe focus is more on the functional rather than the aesthetic. Mostbusiness-to-business sites are developed as tools for improving processes,productivity, and profitability, often at the expense of design. Thisis partially due to a fundamental difference between business usersand consumers: to business users, utility is more important than appearance.Business Web users are savvier than ever and tend to ignore gratuitouseye candy or superfluous bells and whistles. The sites that work bestfor them support handoffs among the multiple people involved in researching,recommending, deciding, approving, paying, and receiving the product.Websites that work for business browsers are clean, well-organized,and focused primarily on delivering information to a customer withthe fewest number of keystrokes or clicks. Whether it’s a personalneed or a business need they’re seeking to satisfy, business usersare usually on a mission to get something done, and business-to-businesswebsites must enable users to perform their jobs more efficiently.B>Fun seekers. Those looking for fun online browsein the same relatively passive way they watch television: they’rechannel surfing, looking for something new and interesting. Sometimesthey have a subject in mind, a particular singer they want to hearor a game they want to play, so it’s important to keep links contextualin order to keep these users around for hours.Ironically, someone seeking entertainment rather than specific informationis likely to be more critical of content quality. Users may toleratesloppy editorial material and low-quality images when their primarypurpose is to transact business; but when a pleasant, fun experienceis what they are after, the site had better deliver. On the otherhand, because fun seekers expect entertainment destinations such asonline games, movie sites, and e-zines to have more graphics and interactivefeatures, users tend to be more forgiving about lengthy download timeswhen they’re in fun-seeking mode than when they’re working.Benun gives in-depth, richly illustrated examples of the resultsof website makeovers in categories which appeal to each type of Internetuser. Among the learner websites she dissects is the Wall Street JournalOnline, and another local company, Berlitz, shows up in the BusinessBrowers section.Most of the websites given as examples are quite high-profile; theyinclude Consumer Reports, H & R Block, Volunteermatch, and Smith &Hawken. Nevertheless, the lessons apply to websites of all sizes.Any business owner with a website would do well to spend some timewith this book. Fun seekers will like it too. It is easily as enjoyableas a coffee break spin around the ‘Net. This a book which laces itsno-nonsense advice with lots of eye candy.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
