Web site development must be user-centered, focused on meeting user needs and not those of the site's creators and parent organization. To accomplish this requires management commitment to provide a clear definition of the site's business objectives, and the intended context, experience and scenarios the site aims to deliver.  This is the first step, and sets priorities for the project. The second step is to set up criteria for evaluating the site, primarily by asking end users to test it, and secondarily by reviewing the site in light of style, navigation and management guidelines. At one level, basic common sense applies.

Yet why is it often difficult to locate content on so many Web sites?

Three pifalls often lapsed into by default are:

• Like desktop publishing before it, and reminiscent of the "fun with fonts" days, Web design appears to be easy, and many people within an organization are encouraged to participate without being subjected to the kind of quality control that other products must meet.
• Material is frequently "ported" from a print-based context to the new Web site, without careful modification to better suit the Web medium.
• It is often tempting for an organizationt to try and present itself in the form of a self-portrait. Each department within the firm wants to be represented in full. Forgotten in the process is the key function of the site; typically a marketing function broadly defined.

The Web is a great opportunity for a billion flowers to bloom, but from an e-business perspective the threat of legions of inexperienced designers and communicators creating opaque and frustrating Web sites is very real. This opacity is the enemy of e-business. A profitable Web presence hinges on the skills of key professionals in graphic design, marketing and information systems, as well as newer professional skills such as domain and usability expertise.

A User-Centered Process

Market discipline ensures that a Web site meeting the needs of its creators but not those of its users will not succeed. The vast majority of users need to experience your site as effective and satisfying. This can only be accomplished through a user-centered process:

• Define business objectives and usability criteria
• Describe the intention of the site; i.e. what experience is intended for the user?
• Drive the design process in an iterative manner, exposing mock-ups and prototypes to user feedback

The next portion of the e-Publishing Webinar will review steps toward user-centered design.