Web Manager University – Fall 2008
Class Title: Designing for the Scent of Information
| Class Format: | Seminar | |
| Instructor: | Jared Spool, User Interface Engineering | |
| Date: | Tuesday, October 21, 2008 | |
| Time: | 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET | |
| Place: | Department of Labor | |
| Fee: | $50 federal, state, or local U.S. government; $75 for non–government |
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Register for this seminar (registration form hosted by a third–party vendor)
Seminar Description
You work hard providing top-notch content on your site. Will your users find it? If they don't find it, all that effort is for nothing. What can you do to guarantee that users find the content they've come looking for? Turns out that the content itself has to pull the user to it. The stronger the pull, the more likely the user will find it.
In the first part of the seminar, you'll learn how to design your website for the "scent of information" and organize it to pull users to the right place. Jared will discuss recent research from User Interface Engineering (UIE) on how people find information on large websites. You'll see plenty of examples of sites that work well and those that don't.
In the second part of the seminar, you'll come away with the most up-to-the-minute research on how users actually navigate sites and the different types of pages they encounter. The designers of the best sites understand the unique functions of each type of page on a website. You'll learn best practices for designing each major page type, based on the specific purpose they serve on your website.
In addition, UIE's research has uncovered three ways to predict when users will fail finding the content they desire. You'll learn what these three predictors are and how to counter the effects in your design.
Throughout the seminar, Jared will use examples of best-in-class websites to illustrate the principles of good web design and usability. He'll share the secrets behind successful websites including Lands' End, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, CNN, and the BBC.
What You’ll Learn
In this fast-paced seminar, you'll learn:
- How users follow a "scent of information" and four ways your design could be blocking their smell
- How the quality of links affects whether users click on them and why trigger words are critical to users successfully finding their content
- How longer pages actually help users get where they're going faster
- Different types of webpages and how to use them effectively
- Three types of graphics: navigation, content, and decorative, and the importance of each
- Why the best sites prevent users from using Search
- How exposing a site's hierarchy can increase users' success
Who Should Attend
This course is intended for web content managers and contributors, and usability and accessibility specialists.
About the Instructor
If you've ever seen Jared Spool speak about usability, you know that he's probably the most effective, knowledgeable communicator on the subject today. What you probably don't know is that he has guided the research agenda and built User Interface Engineering into the largest research organization of its kind in the world. He's been working in the field of usability and design since 1978, before the term "usability" was ever associated with computers.
Jared spends his time working with the research teams at the company, helps clients understand how to solve their design problems, explains to reporters and industry analysts what the current state of design is all about, and is a top-rated speaker at more than 20 conferences every year. He is also the conference chair and keynote speaker at the annual User Interface Conference, is on the faculty of the Tufts University Gordon Institute, and manages to squeeze in a fair amount of writing time.
Return to the Fall 2008 Schedule of Classes
Page Updated or Reviewed: August 21, 2008
