Articles
Planning & Sustaining Wiki-based Collaboration Projects
Many organizations are experimenting with wiki-based collaboration projects. But only a small percentage of these projects make it past the initial excitement or pilot phase. One of the reasons for the drop-off is that there’s not enough thought given to them other than deciding which wiki product to install. This article presents a framework that can help groups wanting to use wikis for internal projects better plan and sustain their collaboration efforts.
Intranet Governance Guide
Getting an intranet is just a start, keeping it going is what matters most. Long term benefits and efficiencies can only be realised when the intranet is responsive to the needs and requirements of business and staff. This guide gives pointers to creating a governance structure that can help sustain and manage the intranet for the long term.
Improving the User Experience with In-page Navigation
In-page navigation techniques are used to layout web content on a page. When used properly they improve the user experience. But when misused they just add to the anxiety. This article chalks out the different in-page navigation options available to us and offers some tips on using them effectively.
Mapping Your Website Redesign Strategy
So you’ve got a redesign project. Congrats. Where are you going to start? The goals mentioned in the request-for-proposal or tender aren’t going to get you far. You might plan for kick-off sessions with key stakeholders, but again, you just get a clearer picture of the forest. Then you go and do a content inventory and that gives you a good look at the trees. You also get to see raging forest fires, unauthorised logging, and a few aliens. You feel shattered. Actually professionally empowered. So, again, where do you start? A plan? But you first need a strategy to contain the plan. This article is about one such strategy.
The Changing Face of University Websites
Many university websites are in redesign mode. And that’s good news for the web standards and user experience communities. It signifies not only that the community initiatives are bearing fruit, but also that we can now expect to see a much faster and wider adoption of these initiatives, especially in the public sector. This article lists some important areas of focus of these redesigns.
Using ‘Guides’ as a Supplemental Navigation Technique
Supplemental navigation techniques provide an alternative, complementary or adjunct view to seeking out information on large websites and intranets. This article describes when and how to use one such technique – the ‘guide’.
Taming Your ‘Target’ Content
When it comes to the design of intranets and large websites, the limelight is firmly on issues of taxonomy and navigation (info-seeking) and not so much on the final use (info-using) of the content, known as the target content. The focus is still on the library card catalogue and not on the book. In a book world, this is a non-issue; the book is a well-defined, structured entity. But in a web world, we have to deal with open-ended, heterogeneous content, which if not designed for use can be as detrimental to the user experience as weak info-seeking structures. This article describes a simple approach that can help improve the use of target content.
Using Wikis on the Intranet: The British Council Case Study
Wikis are increasingly being used on the intranet to help in collaboration around shared work. However, many case studies only briefly cover the actual work practices that successfully accommodate wikis; the focus is still on the overall reactions of the managers and staff on their use. In this article, I will describe how wikis are used in the Singapore branch of the British Council and highlight the characteristics of the work practices that accommodate them.
Creating & Maintaining a Web Style Guide
This article describes how to create and maintain a web style guide to better manage your organization’s web presence.
Website Competitive Analysis - A Visual Approach
This article describes a simple visual approach to competive analysis that can be used to quickly gain insights into what’s being used and what’s interesting at your competitor websites.
