Are We There Yet?

It's true: even simple projects get messy. Christina Wodtke comes clean on Swiss Army knives, the writing on the wall, and the untidy glory of the Boxes and Arrows redesign contest.

Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Case Studies

Best Practices: A Case Study at Kohler  

The plumbing division of Kohler Co. is no stranger to managing their content. They had been using BroadVision's document-management system, Relation Document Manager (RDM), for three years and authoring in Interleaf since 1989. But when BroadVision stopped supporting RDM, Mark Peterson, the technical publications manager at Kohler, was desperate to find a replacement. BroadVision offered BladeRunner, but that tool didn't sufficiently support the heavy and stringent print requirements of Mark's department. Plumbers don't always have adequate or readily available access to the Internet.

Hedlund, Tina. ComTech Services (2003). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Case Studies

Case Study - Building a Usable Site

A website can be both attractive and easy to use. Usability and good looks aren't mutually exclusive and one doesn't necessarily have to negate the other.

SitePoint (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Case Studies

Case Study: Artorg Makeover

Artorg.co.uk is an online community for artists and designers. At first view, this is a really nice-looking site. It has an appealing, soft colour scheme offset with well-chosen graphics, and the content appears solid and orderly.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Redesign>Case Studies

Case Study: Foruse.com Redesign

www.foruse.com is the web site of Constantine and Lockwood. Have a look at their home page to learn more about them. This case study incorporates a brief critical review of the home page, plus a redesign.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Redesign>Case Studies

Challenging the Status Quo: Audi Redesigned

In September 2000, Razorfish, Germany was tasked to redesign the main websites for Audi. In the process they explored workgroup software, utilized technology to support the brand ideals and challenged the status quo of current web navigation thinking by proposing a right handed navigation system.

Kalbach, James. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Case Studies

Designing Educational Booklets for the Web

We discuss here the results of usability tests on two booklets which were transferred from print to the Web. The booklets provide the public with basic information on various cancers, cancer treatment, and other cancer-related topics. The booklets were written by the National Cancer Institute's Office of Education and Special Initiatives (NCI OESI).

Usability.gov. Articles>Web Design>Usability>Case Studies

How We Developed an Intranet: Using the Web to Inform Employees, Manage Projects, and Save Money  

Data General’s R&D organization had developed disparate web sites. It was hard to find relevant information and difficult to know what others were doing. We volunteered to create a unified web presence to solve these problems. Taking initiative while building consensus, we crafted a highly used and highly useful intranet. This paper describes how we did it. Our success allowed us to broaden our department’s scope and change its name from “Documentation” to “Documentation and Web Services.” Our experience shows that documentation departments are well suited to create and maintain intranets, and that documentation professionals have the skills to become content developers or information architects.

Harvey, Michael. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Web Design>Intranets>Case Studies

If You Build It…: A Social Services Agency Website Gets A Facelift

A case study of the 2002 redesign of the website for Catholic Community Services in Newark.

Crovetto, Christina. MetroVoice (2003). Design>Web Design>Redesign>Case Studies

Moving to an XML-Based Web Site

In early 2007, I started the task of reworking the ageing HyperWrite Web site. The site was originally created in 1995. It underwent a major rework (to a frames-based design) in 1997, and was reworked in 1999, 2000 and 2002. In the decade since the Web site was launched, not only has Web technology moved on, but HyperWrite's activities, focus and business direction are now quite different. Time and budget were set aside to renovate the site to better serve HyperWrite's business needs, and to serve as a practical example of the company's capabilities.

Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2007). Articles>Web Design>Content Management>Case Studies

Re-architecting PeopleSoft.com from the Bottom Up

When PeopleSoft decided to unify its websites, the information architects involved used bottom-up techniques to make sense of the enormous number of different pieces of content.

Fox, Chiara. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Case Studies

Re-Architecting PeopleSoft.com from the Bottom-Up

When PeopleSoft decided to unify its websites, the information architects involved used bottom-up techniques to make sense of the enormous number of different pieces of content.

Fox, Chiara. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Case Studies

SchwabLearning.org: A Case Study

A case study of the website for Schwab Learning, a service of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, is dedicated to helping kids with learning differences be successful in learning and life.

Landers Steinberg, Jeanene. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Case Studies

So-Net Journal

So-Net are part of the Southbourne Internet group who provide online new media services. The So-Net Journal was created to highlight case studies of its clients, work and technical writings on the subject of the Internet.

Marcello, Vincent. Southbourne Internet Ltd. (2005). Journals>Web Design>Case Studies

Sun Glossary: A Multilingual, Web-Based Solution  

As technical communicators attempt to keep up with a burgeoning product set, the need grows for a glossary that can explain 'terms not in the common vocabulary' to a worldwide audience. Sun Microsystems, Inc., faces a challenge every time it introduces a product, such as the Java™ programming language, that has a unique terminology. To meet these challenges, a project team determined to provide efficient reuse of terminology in target languages.

Schemenaur, P.J. and Stephanie Brucker. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Web Design>Glossary>Case Studies

A User-Centered Approach to Designing a New Top-Level Structure for a Large and Diverse Corporate Web Site

In January 1998, Kodak introduced a new top-level structure and visual design for its Web site. This paper describes the user-centered approach utilized in the design process. We discovered that combining the knowledge gained from a variety of data collection methods was critical to understanding and defining Web site user requirements. We also found an on-line preview and survey to be a useful tool for assessing user acceptance of new designs. A sampling of results is provided to illustrate the process we used and to discuss its effectiveness.

Yu, Jack J., Prasad V. Prabhu and Wayne C. Neale. HFweb (1998). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Case Studies

Using Participative Inquiry in Usability Analysis to Align a Development Team’s Mental Model with its Users' Needs  

In this web site usability case study, two methods of participative inquiry are used to align a development team’s objectives with their users’ needs and to promote the team’s awareness of the benefit of qualitative usability analysis. Findings reveal a web site that lacks integration between its components and differences between the team and its users’ definitions of a “customer-focused” web site. The study produced an implementation blueprint based on a cognitive-oriented instead of an information-oriented taxonomy. This blueprint guide conveys intangible concepts that the team intuited or observed during contextual interviews and redefines its new web site usability strategies.

Kneifel, Alix A. and Carol Guerrero. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Usability>Case Studies

The WebWord Content Management System

The WebWord content management system is not technical, it is human. In fact, the technology is minimal and the web site works because a human understands and maintains the content using very simple tools. While this approach consumes a lot of time, it is simple and cost effective. Small and medium web sites can get along without using content management systems.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Content Management>Case Studies>Web Design

Fifteen Great Examples of Web Typography. Part 2

What better way to start the year than with a little typographic inspiration. Last year I published 15 Excellent Examples of Web Typography, and owing to its popularity and people’s sateless appetite for lists, here are another 15.

I Love Typography (2008). Design>Web Design>Typography>Case Studies

The Joint Czech and Slovak Digital Parliamentary Library    

After the split of the Czechoslovak Republic into two republics in 1993 the idea of creating a common digital parliamentary library originated. The Czech Parliamentary Library started this project in 1995 and Slovakia joined in 2002. According to the agreement between of the two parliaments the joint digital library should in its complete shape contain the complete full texts of parliamentary prints (proposals, interpolations, explanations, decisions, invitations) and stenographical documents (shorthand writings) from 1848 until the present, in electronic form. The aim is to create and operate an automatic system of current and historical parliamentary documents. In 2000, the project was awarded the prestigious `Czech @' prize by the International Conference on Internet Use in Public Administration and Self-Government. The Joint Czech and Slovak Digital Parliamentary Library is now widely used in both countries.

Malackova, Eva and Karel Sosna. IFLA Journal (2007). Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Case Studies

Employing Log Metrics to Evaluate Search Behaviour and Success: Case Study BBC Search Engine    

This paper argues that metrics can be generated from search transactional web logs that can help evaluate search engine effectiveness. Search logs from the BBC website were analysed and metrics extracted. Two search metrics — the time lapse between searches and the number of searches in a session — were developed to see whether they could measure search success or satisfaction. In all, 4 million search statements by 900,000 users were evaluated. The BBC search engine possessed a number of functional attributes which sought to improve retrieval and these were subjected to the two metrics to help determine how successful they were in practice. There was some evidence to support the proposition that the search outcome metrics did indeed indicate the effectiveness of engine functionality. The authors argue that this result is significant in that the identification of search outcome metrics will pave the way for assessing the effectiveness of site specific search engines and a greater understanding of the effectiveness of search engine functionality.

Huntington, Paul, David Nicholas and Hamid R. Jamali. Journal of Information Science (2007). Articles>Web Design>Case Studies>Log Analysis

Failed vs. Unfailed Redesigns of Newspaper Websites

A comparison of the redesigned websites of two Swedish newspapers, GP.se and HD.se, that were both launched in late 2006.

Johansson, Roger. 456 Berea Street (2007). Articles>Web Design>Case Studies

Building Usable Websites, Part 3

Website and software application usability is a classic intangible, hard to measure and even harder to sell to clients or management. Ironic, as I think it safe to say that at this stage in the game there are few sites that would not benefit from a usability survey and a bit of tweaking. Nevertheless, some companies have taken the cue and great usability case studies are beginning to emerge.

Shreves, Ric. Water and Stone (2008). Articles>Usability>Web Design>Case Studies

Ten Accessibility Blunders of the Big Players

More and more countries have passed laws stating that Websites must be accessible to blind and disabled people. With this kind of legal pressure, and the many benefits of accessibility, the big players on the Web must surely have accessible Websites, right?

Moss, Trenton. Sitepoint (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Case Studies