Blogs may not be very usable

As much as I like to use blogs to write, I'm actually not sure I like to read them. There are very few well-written, usable blogs. For those who have read my previous postings, you will already know that by usable I mean that a blog is easy to navigate and intuitive. The main problem with blogs is also their main advantage: They are sorted chronologically. This means that unless I follow the blog regularly, I will only see the tip of the iceberg of content. I know, you can use a search engine, but a usable site rarely needs a search engine. So, please use a blog for what it's meant to be: An online journal. If you need a method to publish a series of pages organized in a navigation structure, do your visitors a favor and use a Web tool.

blogs, wikis and podcasting: A revolution or just new tools?

Let me be a contrarian for a moment. Even if I'm using a blog to say this, I'm arguing that blogs, wikis and podcasts are simply new Web publishing methods . They are tools, no different than content management system, streaming video, discussion boards, etc. that have been around for many years. The difference is that they do bring the Web to the masses. It's easy to set-up a blog, to register for a podcast and to participate in a wiki. However, it's not worth getting too excited over. As Web publisher, we now have more tools in our arsenal, but the rules remain the same. Content is what drives traffic, not how this content gets published.

Why controlling organic sites?

In my early years as a Web manager I was getting a lot of resistence when I proposed we adopt standard look and feel. It seemed logical to me to spend our precious few resources on improving our Web content, not hiring Web designers every time a department wanted to have a Web site. Obviously, people that had aspirations as Web designers where the most vocal and would argue to their department heads that they needed to have the freedom to come up with a design the fits the department's image. The problem with that argument is that it doesn;t take into consideration the corporate culture. In any case, I decided that I would let things grow a little bit organically at first. When we reached critical mass and the attention of senior managment, I went ahead and wrote the first paper arguing for a consistent Web look and feel and proposed that we adopt a Web Content Management System (see my other postings or my Web site on this topic). Conclusion: Let things grow for a while to get the interest up, after a while you come up with standards to maintainthe site's integrity. If done well, you should encounter few challengers to your arguments to improve Web team productivity as well as reducing Web production costs. You now have the attention of senior managers!

Does everything need to be on the home page?

A company's home is where most Web visitors end-up. It's normal to want to load the page with as much information as possible, to make sure we don't miss anything important. However, this could backfire at you. Information overload is unfortunately a problem that plagues too many home pages. The trick is to achieve the right balance of information and white space. Often, Web managers are pressured to add links to too many resources, but they must resist doing that. And the best way to do that is to create a solid information architecture together with areas for news, "what's new on the site", highlights or announcements or any combination of these. So, no, not everything goes on the home page. Only content designed to provide visitors with the information they came for.

Departmental autonomy

How much freedom should departments or units of a corporation have in developing their site? The answer is... It depends. Usually, a corporation with a strong brand will not have to worry about this problem. All sub-sites will actually want to be the same look and feel because it is to their advantage. The same cannot be said about organizations that have a culture of decentralization, where the various units are run almost independently from each other. However, it is possible to have a site that is very much homogeneous in look and feel, but the content is not so harmonious. This happens regardless of the strength of the brand. In a nutshell, my preference is to give departments room to explore how they can use the Web to communicate to their constituents, but keep them in line with a strong publishing methodology and guidelines.

Strategy before anything

It seems that every Web developer or Web designer will talk about ad nauseum about the importance of Web usability. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer that a site that does not adhere to basic usability principles will not be offering its full potential ROI; however, the conversation should be focused on Web strategy. I have a few posting son this blog about the importance of a solid Web strategy. And, I'm not referring to a Web work program, which is actually derived after a strategy is put together. The plan can only be sketched once a set of common goals (which form the strategy) is agreed upon. This is true no matter how big or small is the site, whether informational or e-commerce.