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bands around them, and in turn start grouping the piles, until we get the number of piles of piles down to 10 or less.
This is effectively creating the information architecture for the Website, or for a subsite within the overall site, such
as an academic program area.
Who is the “we” here? Sometimes it is just the Web Director (first author) and graduate assistants. Many
times in the past it has been student design teams we have formed in appropriate courses in Instructional Systems
Technology (IST). This is a good learning experience for our IST graduate students, and it is very inexpensive –
usually just the cost of supplies and materials, such as index cards and computer printing.
Paper Prototyping and Usability Testing
Next the design team creates a set of paper pages, called a rapid paper prototype, containing a sample of the
content and structure we are proposing for the site. The content structure is based on the information architecture
we derived from the needs assessment. The paper prototype is typically put into a 3-ring notebook. We write
numbers next to the hyperlinks (underlined text), and then we have tabbed pages with numbers on them, so that we
can simulate Web browsing. We then conduct usability tests of the paper prototype by selecting members of the
target audience. Usually we need to only select 4-6 members of each appropriate group. We then observe these
people who try to use the paper prototype to answer frequently asked questions that we identified in the needs
assessment. We ask them to think aloud, and we record the paths they take and whether they find the information or
not (or where they would look for it if it were in the prototype). We occasionally alter the prototype – sometimes on
the spot – and continue to test it until we have identified major problems with the design of the information
architecture. If the problems are severe, we attempt to redesign the paper prototype and conduct another round of
usability tests. Otherwise, we fix the problems and incorporate the design solutions in our computer prototype,
which is the next phase.
Computer Prototyping and Usability Testing
We do rapid computer prototyping next so that we can conduct further usability tests. Now we need to
attend to some of the Web elements such as how users will navigate the site, banner graphics (or approximations),
page layouts, occasional images, etc. At this point, we are not trying to make the design completely finished but to
get enough of it working on the Web so that we can try it with users. In the past five years, we have made this
process fairly easy by creating new design templates and by using our EdWeb tools (described below) to build or re-
build a Website with the page content stored in XML files. We then publish those pages on a temporary computer
account that we use for testing. The temporary site has no public hyperlinks to it, so the rest of the world does not
know it exists (nor can it be indexed by search engines, since nothing on the Web links to it). The rapid computer
prototype often has links in it that go to other existing Websites at our university or within the School of Education.
We then select a new group of 4-6 users who are representative of each relevant target audience, and we
conduct usability tests in a similar fashion as described above for paper prototype testing. Users are asked to think
aloud, and we record their paths for browsing (and also how they use the search engine). We use these data to
identify further problems with the design, including navigation issues. If the problems are still severe or numerous,
we will make changes and conduct a new round of usability tests with the modified computer prototype with
completely new users. When satisfied that we have fixed the big problems with the design – based on our usability
findings – then we move on to the final production of the site.
Building the Web Site
At this point we need to pay attention to numerous details for Web publishing which naïve developers think
of as Web design – i.e., getting final versions of graphics produced so that they look good and load quickly, creating
and debugging style sheets (CSS), making sure HTML or XHTML is valid, making each Web page “look good” in
terms of layout, use of white space, inclusion of graphics, etc. We also need to test to make sure our hyperlinks are
working correctly. Normally we do this in our temporary Web account, so the public is unaware of the new site.
As we are building and testing the site, we ask key stakeholders to take a look at it, such as our Dean,
department chairs, and others in the School of Education. Based on their feedback and comments we tweak the site
further.
Finally, when we are ready to go “live”, we copy the XML files to the actual production site. We update
our production versions of design templates (a combination of PHP and XHTML), and then we use our EdWeb
Tools, described below, to publish the Website. If it is a completely new Website, then we need to add hyperlinks
on other existing Web pages on the School’s site and also notify other sites of the new site. If it is a revision,
usually little external change is required since we make every attempt to keep file names the same so that we do not