Next week I am attending a meeting with ADDER. ADDER is a charity set up to help those with dystonia. They have a website: http://www.dystonia.co.uk/ which in my opinion, is in drastic need of improvement. I know they're strapped for cash so what I want to do is give them a range of ideas that can then form the basis for a grant application. Therefore what I am asking is for a list of changes - please be specific - that could reasonably be done to the website for £500. I am not asking if YOU would do the change rather, based on your knowledge of likely prices, what could be achieved for £500. In that way, I hope, designers AND customers of designers will respond to this post. I'll then make a list and attend the meeting with the suggestions in hand. This, hopefully, will then lead ADDER to take steps to improve the site. I'll probably try and slot the suggestions into the 7Cs framework as outlined here: A quick look at a common way to evaluate and critique websites - the 7 C's approach. There are many ways to evaluate the design elements of websites. One such process is the Seven Design Elements of the Customer Interface, also known as the 7C's Framework. It is used pretty extensively at university level. As the name suggests, the 7C's Framework consists of seven different elements, each starting with the letter C - Context, Content, Commerce, Community, Connection, Communication and Customisation. We will not take a look at each specific element in some detail. Context Context refers to the sites layout and design. It can be split into two main subcategories - form (or aesthetics) and function. Function is concerned primarily with usability. While this includes platform independence and accessibility, it also looks at the speed, reliability and navigational performance of a website. Form on the other hand looks at the visual features and layout, including the colour scheme, visual theme, typography, photography and other graphics. Furthermore you can classify the site as either aesthetically dominant (graphic heavy), functionally dominant (may not look great but works well) or ideally, integrated. Content Content is concerned with all the websites contents, like text, imagery, video and sound. The websites Offering Mix refers to how much weight is given to products, services and information. The Appeal Mix describes how the website promotes these offerings (through a rational or emotional appeal). The Multimedia Mix is how graphical elements are combined while the Timeliness Mix describes how time sensitive (dynamic) the information needs to be. Finally you can classify the website as being either product, information or service dominant. Commerce Commerce is simply the websites capacity to sell a product or service, mostly through online means. Commerce features include user registration, the shopping cart, security, credit card approval, affiliate ordering, delivery, tracking and technology which allows products and services to be put together in different ways. Commerce classification is easy. It can be low, medium or high. Community How does the site enable interaction between its users? The most obvious example of this is a forum. How do members participate and what motivates them to join? What benefits do they get and how do they interact? Is it real time or is there a delay in communication? Community can be classified as non-existent, limited or strong. Connection Connection refers to how the site is linked to other websites. There are many ways to link to other sites, some of them being through the use of outside links (taking the user completely off the site and onto a new one), framed links (open in the same browser but are framed by the original site) or popups (open in a new window). Additionally content can be outsourced with either the source acknowledged or not. The site can be classified as being either a destination site (self generated content), a hub site (combination of self generated and outsourced content) or a portal, which is almost exclusively outsourced content. Communication Does the site communicate with its users? Communication can be classified as broadcast, which includes mass mailing, FAQ, newsletters and reminders. Interactive communication is where the user can reply and includes dialog, customer service and user input. Communication can be classified as being one-to-many (nonresponding user), one-to-many (responding user), one-to-one (nonresponding user) and one-to-many (responding user). Customisation Does the website allow for customisation based on user preferences? Personalisation is when the customisation is initiated by the user and can include content and layout changes, agents to notify the user of events etc. Tailoring is when the customisation is initiated by the website often through the use of cookies. Sites can recommend products based on users past purchases etc. Customisation can be classified as being generic (none), moderately customised or highly customised. Performing this analysis on your own work is a great way to specifically look at each area and find your own ways to improve on your work. Try to be as honest as you can and it will be of great help. References Introduction to E Commerce - Rayport, J & Jaworski, B Source:http://www.digitallydriven.com/news_info.php?n=110&sc=25&filter=7C& Thanks! Chris
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chris
www.oxford-conferences.com