# Session 07 - Images / User Experience and Design

Harvard Extension School
Fall 2020

Course Web Site: https://cscie12.dce.harvard.edu/

### Topics

1. Graphics and Images
2. JPEG
3. GIF
4. PNG
5. SVG
6. WebP
7. Comparison of Image Formats
8. Working with Images
9. Overview: User Experience
10. Strategy
11. Scope
12. Structure
13. Skeleton
14. Surface
15. Creating Links

Session 07 - Images / User Experience and Design, slide1
Graphics and Images, slide2
Graphics: Purpose, slide3
Graphics Formats for the Web, slide4
file or file or file -- Does it matter? , slide5
Graphics: Vector and Bitmap, slide6
Colors, slide7
Color Depth, slide8
Indexed Color Systems, slide9
Bitmap images: Size and Quality, slide10
Graphics Formats for the Web, slide11
JPEG, slide12
JPEG Compression, slide13
JPEG Compression Artifacts, slide14
GIF, slide15
Palettes, slide16
Palettes: Exact, Adaptive, Web 216, slide17
Adaptive Palette: Shift and Dither, slide18
GIF Images and Bit Depth: Color Shift, slide19
GIF Images and Bit Depth: Dither, slide20
Compression for Indexed GIF, slide21
Compression and Dithering, slide22
Transparency, slide23
GIF Animation, slide24
PNG, slide25
Compression for Indexed PNG, slide26
Compression and Dithering, slide27
Transparency, slide28
SVG, slide29
Basic SVG Shapes, slide30
United States Flag, slide31
Harvard Division of Continuing Education Shield, slide32
Massachusetts Map, slide33
Icons, slide34
SVG - Increasing Importance in the Future, slide35
SVG and D3 JS Library, slide36
WebP, slide37
Comparison of Image Formats, slide38
Cartoon Art, slide39
Working with Images, slide40
Start with Original PSD/AI/etc. or High Resolution 24-bit PNG, slide41
User Experience and Design, slide42
Overview: User Experience, slide43
Elements of User Experience, slide44
Elements of User Experience, slide45
Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams, slide46
Planning and Designing a Site: Resources, slide47
Strategy, slide48
Who are our Users?, slide49
What Audiences can be identified?, slide50
Audience(s), slide51
Audiences for an Academic Department, slide52
Audiences for a Fitness Club, slide53
Scope, slide54
Content, slide55
Think About the User, slide56
Structure, slide57
Structuring Content, slide58
Organize, slide59
Structural Models, slide60
Hierarchical, slide61
Biological, slide62
Open Directory Project, Yahoo! Categories, slide63
Too deep or too shallow?, slide64
Sequential, slide65
Organic, slide66
Site Architecture, slide67
Label, slide68
Labels - Are there conventions?, slide69
Skeleton, slide70
Page Components, slide71
Wireframes and Sketches - "Low" to "High" Fidelity, slide72
Navigation Systems, slide73
Harvard College, slide74
Breadcrumb Navigation, slide75
Clamshell navigation, slide76
Dropdown/Popout Menus, slide77
Multiple Navigation Modes, slide78
Surface, slide79
F-Pattern, slide80
Non-Designer's Design Book, slide81
Non-Designer's Design Book, slide82
Colors, slide83
Home Page -- Don't Make Me Think (Steven Krug), slide84
Don't make me think, slide85
Creating Links, slide86
The Scent of Links, slide87
Deep Linking, slide88
Old Example from Logan Airport (BOS) - Old Site, slide89
Old Example from Mass RMV, slide90
"Click Here", slide91
"Click Here", slide92
"Click Here" to prompt an action, slide93
"Learn More" Links: You Can Do Better, slide94

Presentation contains 94 slides

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## Graphics and Images

### Simply Chocolate

### Boston Museum of Fine Arts

### NASA

## Graphics: Purpose

- Content
- Design

### Images and Markup

Two ways of including images:

1. Markup: `img` element
   - `alt` attribute
   - `height` and `width` attributes

       <img src="images/shield.png"
        alt="Harvard Veritas" height="328" width="281"/>

2. CSS: `background-image` property

       #header {
         background-image: url(images/shield.png);
         background-repeat: no-repeat;
       }

## Graphics Formats for the Web

PNG
  Portable Network Graphic
  `.png`
JPEG
  Joint Photographic Experts Group
  `.jpeg` or `.jpg`
SVG
  Scalable Vector Graphic
  `.svg` and `.svgz`
WebP
  WebP is a modern image format that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. Using WebP, webmasters and web developers can create smaller, richer images that make the web faster.
  `.webp`
GIF
  Graphics Interchange Format
  `.gif`

### Other formats

Image formats you might encounter, but aren't super-relevant for the web:

- TIFF
- JPEG 2000 (JP2)
- HEIC (Apple Live Photos)
- RAW
- BMP

## file.jpg or file.JPG or file.jpeg -- Does it matter?

### JPG or jpg

- Yes. If your filename is "beach.JPG" then you need to reference it as "beach.JPG" -- having "beach.jpg" in the URL won't work!
- No. As long as the case of your filenames match the case in your URL references you'll be fine.

### jpeg or jpg

- No. Media types can be mapped to multiple file extensions, so generally either `picture.jpg` or `picture.jpeg` filenames are fine.
  And for JPEG images, the media type (also known as MIME type) is "image/jpeg"

## Graphics: Vector and Bitmap

Bitmap | Vector
--- | ---
Original image (PNG): | Original image (SVG):
Magnified (16x) | Magnified (16x)
Bitmap formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF | Vector formats: SVG

## Colors

### RGB Color Space

256 colors in each channel (Red, Green, Blue). Values can be

- decimal numbers (0 to 255)
- hexadecimal numbers (00 to ff)
- percentages (0 to 100%)

## Color Depth

- RGB color is a 24-bit system (16 million colors)
- 8 bits (256 colors) for each channel (red, green, blue).

  28x28x28 = 2(8 + 8 + 8) = 224x = 16,777,216

Bits | Colors
--- | ---
1 | 21 = 2
2 | 22 = 4
3 | 23 = 8
4 | 24 = 16
5 | 25 = 32
6 | 26 = 64
7 | 27 = 128
8 | 28 = 256
16 | 216 = 65,536
24 | 224 = 17 x 106 (millions)
32 | 232 = 4.3 x 109

### RGB

- Three channels specified with decimal values (each channel 0 to 255):
  rgb(50, 150, 0)
- Three channels specified with hexadecimal values (each channel 00 to ff):
  #993333
- Three channels specified with percentage values (each channel 0% to 100%):
  rgb(50%, 10%, 75%)

## Indexed Color Systems

An 8-bit indexed image has a palette of up to 256 colors that the image can contain. Color information is not stored for each pixel, but rather just a reference to which color in the palette.

Palettes

- Exact (if 256 or fewer colors)
- Adaptive (weighted based upon colors in document)
- Web Palette (216 Web Safe Colors)
- System
  - Windows
  - Macintosh

### But what happens to the other colors?

If you take a photo that is saved in an RGB system (millions of colors) and then convert it to an indexed system with 256 colors, what happens?

- dither
- color-shift

## Bitmap images: Size and Quality

Factors that can contribute to image size:

- Dimension
- Compression
- Number of Colors

## Graphics Formats for the Web

Property | GIF Graphics Interchange Format | JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group | PNG Portable Network Graphic | SVG Scalable Vector Graphics | WebP
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Color System | 8 bit indexed (256 colors) | RGB (24 bit; millions of colors) | 8 bit indexed (256 colors) RGB (24 bit; millions of colors) | RGB | RGB
Compression | Lossless Compression (LZW; horizontal repeating units) | "Lossy" Compression (compression optimized for gradual color changes) | Lossless Compression | Lossless Compression | Lossless and Lossy
Other Features | `.gif` file extension Transparency Animation | `.jpg` and `.jpeg` file extensions No Transparency No Animation | `.png` file extension Transparency | `.svg` file extension Vector-based Transparency XML format | 25% smaller than equivalent PNGs and JPEGs. Supports transparency
Typical Uses | Illustrations (logos, icons) Animated banners and icons Images with small dimension | Photographs | Any | Illustrations Graphs, Charts, Maps - 'plain' and 'interactive' | Any
Property | GIF Graphics Interchange Format | JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group | PNG Portable Network Graphic | SVG Scalable Vector Graphics | WebP
Photograph 250 × 188 px | 29.3 kb | 16.8 kb | 25.8 kb (indexed, 8-bit) | 81.9 kb (RGB, 24-bit) | N/A | 9.6 kb
Illustration 148 × 179 px | 1.47 kb | 6.12 kb | 1.02 kb (indexed, 8-bit) | 1.89 kb (RGB, 24-bit) | 0.575 kb (compressed, 1.7 kb uncompressed; RGB, 24-bit) | 0.724 kb

Hot Air Balloon image is in the Public Domain and was obtained from PD Photo.

Illustration image from the original works of David Heitmeyer

## JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group

Property | JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group
--- | ---
Color System | RGB (24 bit; millions of colors)
Compression | "Lossy" Compression (compression optimized for gradual color changes)
Other Features | `.jpg` and `.jpeg` file extensions No Transparency No Animation
Typical Uses | Photographs
Property | JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group
Photograph 250 × 188 px | 16.8 kb
Illustration 148 × 179 px | 6.12 kb

## JPEG Compression

The amount of compression (quality of image) for a JPEG image can be chosen (from a scale of 0 to 100). The image quality is inversely related to the amount of compression since the compression algorithm is "lossy".

Properties | Image
--- | ---
Quality: 80 34.1 kb |
Quality: 70 26.0 kb |
Quality: 60 22.4 kb |
Quality: 50 17.0 kb |
Quality: 40 14.3 kb |
Quality: 30 6.97 kb |
Quality: 20 4.80 kb |
Quality: 10 3.75 kb |
Quality: 1 3.21 kb |

## JPEG Compression Artifacts

Typically first appears at boundaries in images. Portions of image can also become "blocky".

Schlieren at boundaries:

Blockyness

## GIF

Property | GIF Graphics Interchange Format
--- | ---
Color System | 8 bit indexed (256 colors)
Compression | Lossless Compression (LZW; horizontal repeating units)
Other Features | `.gif` file extension Transparency Animation
Typical Uses | Illustrations (logos, icons) Animated banners and icons Images with small dimension
Property | GIF Graphics Interchange Format
Photograph 250 × 188 px | 29.3 kb
Illustration 148 × 179 px | 1.47 kb

## Palettes

An 8-bit indexed image has a palette of up to 256 colors that the image can contain. Color information is not stored for each pixel, but rather just a reference to which color in the palette.

Palettes

- Exact (if 256 or fewer colors)
- Adaptive (weighted based upon colors in document)
- Web Palette (216 Web Safe Colors)
- System
  - Windows
  - Macintosh

## Palettes: Exact, Adaptive, Web 216

### Exact Palette
Image | Palette
--- | ---
### Adaptive Palette
Image | Palette
### Web 216 Palette
Image | Palette

## Adaptive Palette: Shift and Dither

### Color Shift

Image (16 colors; Color Shift) | Zoom
--- | ---

### Dither

Image (16 colors; Dither) | Zoom
--- | ---

## GIF Images and Bit Depth: Color Shift

Properties | Image | Palette (adaptive)
--- | --- | ---
8 bit 256 colors 46.3 kb |  |
7 bit 128 colors 36.2 kb |  |
6 bit 64 colors 28.9 kb |  |
5 bit 32 colors 21.9 kb |  |
4 bit 16 colors 16.5 kb |  |
3 bit 8 colors 10.9 kb |  |
2 bit 4 colors 7.31 kb |  |
1 bit 2 colors 2.84 kb |  |

## GIF Images and Bit Depth: Dither

Properties | Image | Palette (adaptive)
--- | --- | ---
8 bit 256 colors 64.9 kb |  |
7 bit 128 colors 52.3 kb |  |
6 bit 64 colors 43.4 kb |  |
5 bit 32 colors 34.7 kb |  |
4 bit 16 colors 26.7 kb |  |
3 bit 8 colors 18.6 kb |  |
2 bit 4 colors 14.2 kb |  |
1 bit 2 colors 5.86 kb |  |

## Compression for Indexed GIF

GIF LZW compression operates on horizontal blocks of the same color. Here are two images that are identical except for a 90 degree rotation. The vertical stripe GIF image is nearly twice as large as the horizontal stripe GIF image. The PNG images are the same size.

Format | Horizontal Stripes | Vertical Stripes
--- | --- | ---
GIF | 471 bytes | 911 bytes
PNG | 232 bytes | 221 bytes

## Compression and Dithering

A purple shade was created by alternating red and blue pixels.
32× magnification:

200×200px Image, Dithered and Solid
Image Format | Dithered Grid | Solid
PNG | 225 bytes | 209 bytes
GIF | 601 bytes | 303 bytes

## Transparency

With PNG images, a color in the palette can be designated as "transparent". This lets any background colors or background images show through the transparent portions.

Star Image

Background Image
(satin.png)

Format | Background Color (gray) | Background Image satin.png
--- | --- | ---
GIF No transparency |  |
GIF White is transparent |  |
GIF Blue is transparent |  |
PNG No transparency |  |
PNG White is transparent |  |
PNG Blue is transparent |  |

## GIF Animation

- GIF supports animation
- giphy.com

## PNG

Property | PNG Portable Network Graphic
--- | ---
Color System | 8 bit indexed (256 colors) RGB (24 bit; millions of colors)
Compression | Lossless Compression
Other Features | `.png` file extension Transparency Animation through non-standard extension
Typical Uses | Any
Property | PNG Portable Network Graphic
Photograph 250 × 188 px | 25.8 kb (indexed, 8-bit) | 81.9 kb (RGB, 24-bit)
Illustration 148 × 179 px | 1.02 kb (indexed, 8-bit) | 1.89 kb (RGB, 24-bit)

## Compression for Indexed PNG

PNG images use a different compression algorithm than GIF. Note that for PNG, the vertical and horizontal striped images are the same size.

Format | Horizontal Stripes | Vertical Stripes
--- | --- | ---
PNG | 232 bytes | 221 bytes
GIF | 471 bytes | 911 bytes

## Compression and Dithering

A purple shade was created by alternating red and blue pixels.
32× magnification:

200×200px Image, Dithered and Solid
Image Format | Dithered Grid | Solid
PNG | 225 bytes | 209 bytes
GIF | 601 bytes | 303 bytes

## Transparency

With PNG images, a color in the palette can be designated as "transparent". This lets any background colors or background images show through the transparent portions.

Star Image

Background Image
(satin.png)

Format | Background Color (gray) | Background Image satin.png
--- | --- | ---
GIF No transparency |  |
GIF White is transparent |  |
GIF Blue is transparent |  |
PNG No transparency |  |
PNG White is transparent |  |
PNG Blue is transparent |  |

## SVG

Property | SVG Scalable Vector Graphics
--- | ---
Type | Vector
Color System | RGB
Compression | Lossless Compression
Other Features | `.svg` file extension Transparency XML format Uses CSS properties!
Typical Uses | Illustrations (logos, icons) Vector Art
Illustration 300x300px | 575 bytes compressed; 1.7 kb uncompressed

## Basic SVG Shapes

Basic Shapes in SVG 1.1

SVG:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN"
      "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd">
    <svg width="300" height="200" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1">
      <rect x="100" y="100" height="30" width="70" rx="10" ry="10"
        style="fill:green; stroke: black;"/>
      <circle cx="50" cy="20" r="15" style="fill:red; stroke: black;"/>
      <ellipse cx="60" cy="75" rx="15" ry="40" fill="yellow" stroke="black"/>
      <line x1="10" y1="3" x2="30" y2="70" stroke-width="5" stroke="magenta"/>
      <polyline fill="none" points="160,15,170,25,180,15,190,25,200,15,210,25,220,15"
        stroke="blue" stroke-width="3"/>
      <polygon points="100,80,150,40,200,60" fill="orange" stroke="black"/>
      <path d="M0 0 C 10 20, 30 20, 40 0" style="stroke: black; stroke-width: 3px; fill: transparent"  transform="translate(-20,-30)"/>
    </svg>

## United States Flag

## Harvard Division of Continuing Education Shield

## Massachusetts Map

Election results by town.

## Icons

## SVG - Increasing Importance in the Future

- Vector (size and resolution advantages)
- HTML5 `canvas` element
- CSS control
  - CSS stylesheets
  - SVG style attributes same/similar to CSS properties

## SVG and D3 JS Library

D3.js
D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS. D3’s emphasis on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework, combining powerful visualization components and a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation.

## WebP

- WebP

358 kb WebP vs 538 kb JPEG

1920 x 1280 px

## Comparison of Image Formats

### Graphics Formats for the Web

Property | GIF Graphics Interchange Format | JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group | PNG Portable Network Graphic | SVG Scalable Vector Graphics | WebP
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Color System | 8 bit indexed (256 colors) | RGB (24 bit; millions of colors) | 8 bit indexed (256 colors) RGB (24 bit; millions of colors) | RGB | RGB
Compression | Lossless Compression (LZW; horizontal repeating units) | "Lossy" Compression (compression optimized for gradual color changes) | Lossless Compression | Lossless Compression | Lossless and Lossy
Other Features | `.gif` file extension Transparency Animation | `.jpg` and `.jpeg` file extensions No Transparency No Animation | `.png` file extension Transparency | `.svg` file extension Vector-based Transparency XML format | 25% smaller than equivalent PNGs and JPEGs. Supports transparency
Typical Uses | Illustrations (logos, icons) Animated banners and icons Images with small dimension | Photographs | Any | Illustrations Graphs, Charts, Maps - 'plain' and 'interactive' | Any
Property | GIF Graphics Interchange Format | JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group | PNG Portable Network Graphic | SVG Scalable Vector Graphics | WebP
Photograph 250 × 188 px | 29.3 kb | 16.8 kb | 25.8 kb (indexed, 8-bit) | 81.9 kb (RGB, 24-bit) | N/A | 9.6 kb
Illustration 148 × 179 px | 1.47 kb | 6.12 kb | 1.02 kb (indexed, 8-bit) | 1.89 kb (RGB, 24-bit) | 0.575 kb (compressed, 1.7 kb uncompressed; RGB, 24-bit) | 0.724 kb

Hot Air Balloon image is in the Public Domain and was obtained from PD Photo.

Illustration image from the original works of David Heitmeyer

## Cartoon Art

GIF | PNG | JPEG | SVG | WebP
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
GIF 1,511 bytes | PNG; 8 bit 1,031 bytes | JPEG (Quality 100) 14,660 bytes | SVG 575 bytes (compresssed) | WebP 725 bytes
| PNG; 24 bit 1,944 bytes | JPEG (Quality 6) 1,530 bytes

Original image from the works of David P. Heitmeyer

## Working with Images

### Graphics Tools

- Pixlr (Web, Desktop, Mobile)
- Adobe
  - Installing Adobe Creative Cloud software, including Acrobat, Photoshop, etc.
  - Adobe Photoshop
  - Adobe Illustrator
- Gimp (Open Source)
- Corel
  - PaintShop
  - CorelDRAW
- Gravit
- Acorn
- Affinity Photo (Mac Only)
- Sketch

## Start with Original PSD/AI/etc. or High Resolution 24-bit PNG

- If you contract out: get the original/source files!
  Keep track of them!
  Make sure others know!
- Always start with the original file format (e.g. PSD, AI, etc.) or high-resolution 24-bit PNG.
- Size images accordingly!
  - Don't shrink full-resolution images by using "height" and "width" CSS
  - Don't enlarge images from smaller ones -- you can only go one way (larger to smaller)

## User Experience and Design

Harvard Extension School
Fall 2020

Course Web Site: https://cscie12.dce.harvard.edu/

### Topics

1. Graphics and Images
2. JPEG
3. GIF
4. PNG
5. SVG
6. WebP
7. Comparison of Image Formats
8. Working with Images
9. Overview: User Experience
10. Strategy
11. Scope
12. Structure
13. Skeleton
14. Surface
15. Creating Links

Session 07 - Images / User Experience and Design, slide1
Graphics and Images, slide2
Graphics: Purpose, slide3
Graphics Formats for the Web, slide4
file or file or file -- Does it matter? , slide5
Graphics: Vector and Bitmap, slide6
Colors, slide7
Color Depth, slide8
Indexed Color Systems, slide9
Bitmap images: Size and Quality, slide10
Graphics Formats for the Web, slide11
JPEG, slide12
JPEG Compression, slide13
JPEG Compression Artifacts, slide14
GIF, slide15
Palettes, slide16
Palettes: Exact, Adaptive, Web 216, slide17
Adaptive Palette: Shift and Dither, slide18
GIF Images and Bit Depth: Color Shift, slide19
GIF Images and Bit Depth: Dither, slide20
Compression for Indexed GIF, slide21
Compression and Dithering, slide22
Transparency, slide23
GIF Animation, slide24
PNG, slide25
Compression for Indexed PNG, slide26
Compression and Dithering, slide27
Transparency, slide28
SVG, slide29
Basic SVG Shapes, slide30
United States Flag, slide31
Harvard Division of Continuing Education Shield, slide32
Massachusetts Map, slide33
Icons, slide34
SVG - Increasing Importance in the Future, slide35
SVG and D3 JS Library, slide36
WebP, slide37
Comparison of Image Formats, slide38
Cartoon Art, slide39
Working with Images, slide40
Start with Original PSD/AI/etc. or High Resolution 24-bit PNG, slide41
User Experience and Design, slide42
Overview: User Experience, slide43
Elements of User Experience, slide44
Elements of User Experience, slide45
Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams, slide46
Planning and Designing a Site: Resources, slide47
Strategy, slide48
Who are our Users?, slide49
What Audiences can be identified?, slide50
Audience(s), slide51
Audiences for an Academic Department, slide52
Audiences for a Fitness Club, slide53
Scope, slide54
Content, slide55
Think About the User, slide56
Structure, slide57
Structuring Content, slide58
Organize, slide59
Structural Models, slide60
Hierarchical, slide61
Biological, slide62
Open Directory Project, Yahoo! Categories, slide63
Too deep or too shallow?, slide64
Sequential, slide65
Organic, slide66
Site Architecture, slide67
Label, slide68
Labels - Are there conventions?, slide69
Skeleton, slide70
Page Components, slide71
Wireframes and Sketches - "Low" to "High" Fidelity, slide72
Navigation Systems, slide73
Harvard College, slide74
Breadcrumb Navigation, slide75
Clamshell navigation, slide76
Dropdown/Popout Menus, slide77
Multiple Navigation Modes, slide78
Surface, slide79
F-Pattern, slide80
Non-Designer's Design Book, slide81
Non-Designer's Design Book, slide82
Colors, slide83
Home Page -- Don't Make Me Think (Steven Krug), slide84
Don't make me think, slide85
Creating Links, slide86
The Scent of Links, slide87
Deep Linking, slide88
Old Example from Logan Airport (BOS) - Old Site, slide89
Old Example from Mass RMV, slide90
"Click Here", slide91
"Click Here", slide92
"Click Here" to prompt an action, slide93
"Learn More" Links: You Can Do Better, slide94

Presentation contains 94 slides

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- img
- img
- img

## Overview: User Experience

## Elements of User Experience

- The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
- Planes Poster - Detailed
- The Elements of User Experience -- Harvard Library Online Resource

## Elements of User Experience

- The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
- Simple Planes Poster

## Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams

Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams by Jesse James Garrett

## Planning and Designing a Site: Resources

- Williams, Robin. The Non-designer's Design Book : Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice. Fourth ed. 2015.
  - Harvard Library: The non-designer's design book by Robin Williams
- Krug, Steve. Don't Make Me Think, Revisited : A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Third ed. 2014.
  - Harvard Library - Online Resource

### And some others

- Garrett, Jesse James. The Elements of User Experience : User-centered Design for the Web and beyond. 2nd ed. Voices That Matter. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2011.
  - Harvard Library - Online Resource
- Lynch, Patrick J, and Horton, Sarah. Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites. 3rd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
- Rosenfeld, Louis, Morville, Peter, and Arango, Jorge. Information Architecture: For the Web and beyond. Fourth ed. 2015.
  - Harvard Library - Online Resource

## Strategy

Clear and explicit understanding of

- What does the company/organization want from the site? What is "success"?
- What do the users want from the site?

## Who are our Users?

- Most sites get a variety of users
- Some audiences will be "primary", others "secondary"
- What are the target audience(s) and what are their information needs?

Most sites will have multiple audiences.

## What Audiences can be identified?

### University of Colorado

### Dell

### FDIC

## Audience(s)

- Who are they?
- What are their goals?
  - their information needs
  - tasks/actions they are performing

### Know Your Audience

- Be clear on who you are building for. Understand their needs.
- User testing, market research, focus groups.
- Feedback from users. Pay attention to what your users do, not just what they say.
- Keep in mind that as number of target audiences increase, difficulty of web design increases.

## Audiences for an Academic Department

- Undergraduate Students
  - Concentrators (Majors)
  - Potential concentrators
  - Non-concentrators
- Graduate Students
- Potential Graduate Students
- Faculty
  - Current
  - Potential
- Researchers
- Public

## Audiences for a Fitness Club

- Members
  - Variety of members - personal training, injury recovery, recreational, etc.
  - Swim Lessons and Swim Team
- Potential Members
  - For a variety of reasons

Additional Goal:

- Promote Training Program and Philosophy

## Scope

Define content or functionality requirements.

What's "in" and what's "out" -- or at least what's "later".

Start broad, then narrow and refine.

## Content

Questions to ask about content:

- Does it fit purpose of site?
- Does it suit the audience?
- Would your users find this useful?

### Approaching a Project

- What content already exists in web or other media types (brochures, pamphlets, statements, etc.).
  - Adapt (or re-adapt) it for the web
- What content would be good to develop for the site?
  - Create it for the web
- Define incremental goals to avoid "scope creep"
  - Initial Phase
  - Additional Phases

## Think About the User

## Structure

## Structuring Content

From Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (available through Harvard Libraries):

information architecture defined:

1. The structural design of shared information environments.
2. The combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems within web sites and intranets.
3. The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and findability.
4. An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

### Organize, Label, (Navigate)

- Organize and Categorize
- Label
- Navigate

## Organize

- Strategy-driven: Top-down
- Content-driven: Bottom-up

### Plan for Growth

### How to?

- Sticky-notes or index cards
- whiteboard or wall

## Structural Models

- Hierarchical
- Sequential
- Organic

## Hierarchical

### Library of Congress Classification

"Q" - Science
"QC" - Physics

## Biological

- Kingdom
  - Phylum
    - Class
      - Order
        - Family
          - Genus
            - Species

Catalog of Life

## Open Directory Project, Yahoo! Categories

## Too deep or too shallow?

Deep | Shallow

## Sequential

- Useful when "workflow" is important in web applications.

- When order is important or part of presentation.

## Organic

Wikipedia.com

## Site Architecture

- Topics
- Audience
- Task-Oriented
- Search
- Internal Organization

## Label

- Know your audience
- Test your labels (ask your audience)
  - Card Sort - physical or online, e.g. Optimal Sort
  - Ask questions
    - Where can I get a driver for my HP8500N?
    - What would expect to find in the category of Synergetic Integrated Scalable Enterprise Solutions?
    - What IT degree programs are available?

## Labels - Are there conventions?

### Categories and Labels from News Sites

CNN

Fox News

ABC News

CBS

New York Times

NPR

BBC

NBC

## Skeleton

## Page Components

- Header
- Navigation
- Content
- Footer

## Wireframes and Sketches - "Low" to "High" Fidelity

### Sketches

### Wireframes

### Prototypes

## Navigation Systems

- Where am I?
- Where can I go?
  - What is close by?
  - What is further away?
- Where have I been?

### Don't Make Me Think: Navigation

- it tells us what's here
- it tells us how to use the site
- it gives us confidence in the people who built it

## Harvard College

## Breadcrumb Navigation

> "Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises, and then we shall see the crumbs of bread which I have strewn about, they will show us our way home again.", Hansel in Hansel and Gretel

- Breadcrumb Navigation Increasingly Useful, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, April 10, 2007.

DMOZ

Harvard Summer School

Construction Projects at FAS, Harvard University

## Clamshell navigation

Harvard Extension School | Safari

## Dropdown/Popout Menus

Harvard University

O'Reilly Books

Amazon.com

### "Mega" Dropdown Menus

The White House

Food Network

## Multiple Navigation Modes

## Surface

## F-Pattern

F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content

## Non-Designer's Design Book

The non-designer's design book by Robin Williams

## Non-Designer's Design Book

The non-designer's design book by Robin Williams

## Colors

- Non-Designer's Design Book: Chapter 7, Design with Color

Creating Color Palettes:

- paletton.com
- Adobe Color CC

## Home Page -- Don't Make Me Think (Steven Krug)

- What is this?
- What do they have here?
- What can I do here?
- Why should I be here and not somewhere else?

## Don't make me think

Don't make me think, revisited : a common sense approach to Web usability by Steve Krug

### Three Princples of Usability

- Don't make me think.
- It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.
- Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what is left.

## Creating Links

- Predictable
- Differentiable

Build confidence by making your links predictable and differentiable.

## The Scent of Links

Links within navigation and content must be:

- Predictable
  Am I getting 'closer' to my goal?
- Differentiable
  What is the difference between clicking here or clicking there?

When creating links:

- Be descriptive
  - Link several words or a phrase, not just one or two words
  - Use "title" attribute to elaborate
- Don't lie

## Deep Linking

- Link directly to content within a site.
- Support deep linking to your site.
  - URLs that do not change

Deep linking:

Register for Harvard Extension School so you can take AAAS E-112, "Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food" .

    <p>
      <p>
        <a href="https://www.extension.harvard.edu/registration-admissions">
        Register for Harvard Extension School</a> so you can take
        <a href="https://www.extension.harvard.edu/course-catalog/courses/chocolate-culture-and-the-politics-of-food/25963">
        AAAS E-112, "Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food"
        </a>.
      </p>

Not deep linking:

    <p>
    <a href="http://www.extension.harvard.edu/">
    Register for Harvard Extension School
    </a> so you can take
    <a href="http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses">
    AAAS E-112, "Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food"
    </a>.
    </p>

## Old Example from Logan Airport (BOS) - Old Site

Example from Boston's Logan Airport site:

### Better!

## Old Example from Mass RMV

To renew your registration, visit `http://www.mass.gov/rmv`

### New Mass RMV

## "Click Here"

Don't Use "click here"

Example from Boston's Logan Airport site:

## "Click Here"

Better!

## "Click Here" to prompt an action

Sometimes you can "Click Here" to Elicit an Action

## "Learn More" Links: You Can Do Better

"Learn More" Links: You Can Do Better by Katie Sherwin, Nielsen Norman Group.