FW: Interface Design - Single Window of Opportunity]

[Ernest Perez]

FYI.  Interesting and instructive item from the GOVPUB listserv...
_______________________________________________________________________________
To: Multiple recipients of list GOVPUB
From: Local and State Government Info on the Internet on Fri, Mar 15,
1996 4:13 PM
Subject: Interface Design - Single Window of Opportunity

Over the last few weeks I have been reading up on "interface design" and usability 
testing.  From the perspective of a "coordinated government WWW index" it looks like 
we have our work cut out for us.

A general conclusion is that we have a "single window of opportunity" or one screen 
to layout the options available to a general user.  One screen to say here is our 
government and your information options.  In television terms we have "two million 
channels and everything is on." When we don't do a good job, we lose users to other 
sites (think of your own on-line behavior).

A document by Sun Microsystems titled "Interface Design for Sun's WWW Site" 
(http://www.sun.com/sun-on-net/uidesign/) had three major findings:

>    * People have very little patience for poorly designed WWW sites.
>      As one user put it: "the more well-organized a page is, the more
>      faith I will have in the info." Many other users told us that
>      they would be out of a server, never to return, if they got too
>      many server errors or "under construction" signs (a user: "either
>      the information is there or it is not; don't waste my time with
>      stuff you are not going to give me").

>    * Users don't want to scroll: information that is not on the top
>      screen when a page comes up is only read by very interested
>      users. In our tests, users stated that a design that made
>      everything fit on a single page was an indication that the
>      designers had taken care to do a good job, whereas other pages
>      that contained several screen's worth of lists or unstructured
>      material were an indication of sloppy work that made them
>      question the quality of the information contained on those sites.

>    * Users don't want to read: reading speeds are more than 25% slower
>      from computer screens than from paper, but that does not mean
>      that you should write 25% less than you would in a paper
>      document. You should write 50% less! Users recklessly skip over
>      any text that they deem to be fluff (e.g., welcome messages or
>      introductory paragraphs) and scan for highlighted terms (e.g.,
>      hypertext links).

We had 270 percent more traffic on our server in February compared to
November.  As more and more people use our site to navigate Minnesota
government it is essential that we develop and an intuitive navigation
system and structure (and that each government unit do the same within
their own service).  If we can help someone find where they want to go
in 3 screens versus 6 screens we will save processing time and help the
person get to where they want to go more quickly.

Here some great resources:

A new Style Guide, also by Sun, is excellent.  Toward the bottom of the
screen they offer a printing version that you can load all at once.
The style guide is located at:  http://www.sun.com/styleguide/

The old standard, the Web Style Guide from Yale continues to be a great
resource.  It really helps one map out the structure of a Web site.  It
is located at:  http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/StyleManual_Top.HTML

WebReference.Com also offers a great index of other guides at:
http://webreference.com/guides.html


So here are my million dollar questions.  Which government sites in your
opinion have done the best job presenting information options from one
screen or main menu? (Our's is fairly confusing - the words on our
buttons are too similar, etc..) Which governments have done a good job
promoting inter-governmental navigation with a user focus?

Also, I was fairly impressed by the "Government Enterprise Model" presented by 
Treasury Board of Canada at the Int'l Summit Conference 
(http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/tb/home-eng.html).  Are there examples of
government redesign efforts that have on-line components?  (i.e. efforts
that have translated the notion of "one-stop" to the Internet, developed good 
subject indices or services by audience/function.

[Opinion alert] I work from the assumption that if government presents its 
information and services solely based on its hierarchical structure, that we
will have built the coffin that will bury us.  The interactive nature of this medium 
allows the user or "citizen" more power to shape the services they receive.  Over 
time a poor service will result in a general loss of
political/funding support for certain public efforts.  We have noticed that those 
legislators in Minnesota who use the Web now add their on-line impression of an 
agency to their general impression of its activities. So it is incredibly important 
that government use this medium and its associated tools to improve service and 
interactions with the public.
[End opinion alert].


Steven Clift
Project Coordinator, North Star Project
State of Minnesota