Model for website review and assessment: a synopsis


Communications Director Anthony Haynes writes: The previous five posts have outlined, step by step, a model for reviewing and assessing organisations’ websites – especially those in our core market comprising membership organisations, awarding bodies, and learning providers. The model’s designed to be used with and by non-techies.

Here we bring together the various components of the model into a succinct overview, incorporating our criteria of (1) stakeholder management, (2) navigability, and (3) design.

Under each heading we itemise the considerations and provide examples of good practice.

 

I. Stakeholder management

Consider how well the site caters for each stakeholder groups. For the types of organisation in focus here, I suggest the following:

A.     Members: current and prospective members

B.     Employees: current and prospective

C.     Communities: local communities; and communities of practice in the field(s) in which an organisation is active; and the public more widely

D.    Media, including social media and influencers

E.     Government and policymakers

F.     Owners and investors (where applicable)

G.    Suppliers

H.    The environment

 
Example of good practice: Royal College of Anaesthetists: https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/.

For further discussion, see the specific post here: https://www.fjwilson.com/blog/reviewing-your-website-stakeholder-management/195/.

 

II. Navigation

Identify some (say, half a dozen) of the standard types of content that users are likely to access.

In the case of the website of a professional membership organisation, examples might include:

·       What does the profession that the membership body represents actually do?

·       How can I qualify to join that profession?

·       What policy positions does the body advocate?

·       What does the body believe to be its mission and its core values?

·       What can a layperson learn about the relevant specialism?

·       What does the annual report say?

For each type of information, consider:

a.     How much decision-making is required? Is my path through the website self-evident or do I have to stop and think? Do I find myself disappearing down rabbit holes?

b.     How much clicking or scrolling is required? How relaxing, or otherwise, is the navigation process?
 

Example of good practice: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Heath: https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/.

For further discussion, see the specific post here: https://www.fjwilson.com/blog/reviewing-your-website-navigability/196/.

  

III. Design

Consider the application of the following principles:

1.     Contrast

2.     Repetition

3.     Alignment

4.     Proximity
 

Consider a variety of types of contrast – for example, colour, shape, size, and texture.

Repetition involves creating a sense of consistency by doing the same thing several times over. (For example, if your standard text boxes have right-angled corners, stick to that decision: avoid slipping in rounded corners for no reason.)

The principle of alignment states that, whenever you add some element (such a photograph or block of text) to a page, you should always make it align with some other element. (Various kinds of alignment are available – horizontal (aligning the top and/or bottom edges of elements), vertical (the left and/or right edges), or even diagonal.)

The principle of proximity concerns the semantic use of space. In other words: where elements of a design are closely related in meaning, place them closely together on the page; where they are little or un- related, place them apart.

Examples of good practice:

·       Institute of Customer Service: https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/

·       First Intuition: https://www.firstintuition.co.uk/

For further discussion, see the specific post here: https://www.fjwilson.com/blog/reviewing-your-website-design/197/.

Book reference: Robin Williams, The non-designer’s design book (Peachpit Press; 4th edition, 2014).
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