Top 10 concerns of mine when asked to build something that will exist online
There are certainly others, but these typically are paramount. Their order was also considered.
- Content strategy
- Information architecture
- Web technologies
- Accessibility
- Web standards
- Usability and heuristics
- Responsive web design
- Interaction design
- Browser support
- Performance
For each concern, it’s important to ask the right question(s)
Content strategy
Is what we put here valuable?
What are potential customers expecting to find here?
Information architecture
Is it organized appropriately?
How can I organize this content so it becomes easy for potential customers to navigate?
Web technologies
Is it modeled appropriately?
How can I model the content such that a computer can interpret it and accurately represent it to potential customers
Accessibility
Is it perceivable, operable, understandable and robust?
How can I ensure each piece of content can be successfully accessed by as close to everyone who might have a need for it as possible?
Web standards
Would a computer consider it valid?
How do I ensure that the computers interpreting my content are 100% clear about my design intent?
Usability and heuristics
Could it feel more intuitive?
How can I ensure as close a match as possible between a potential customer’s mental model of my product and the conceptual model of my product?
Responsive web design
Could it be more flexible?
How can I ensure the content responds appropriately to the nearly limitless ways potential customers may choose to access it?
Interaction design
Does it behave as expected?
How do I ensure potential customers remain near-instantly aware of what elements are interactive, and confident in each subsequent action, while interacting with the content?
Browser support
Could anyone still enjoy it? [How about now?]
How do I account for the various ways in which my content will be represented by each potential customer’s computer?
Performance
Could that happen faster?
How do I ensure my content is delivered as soon as possible from the time it was requested, given the potentially large number of artifacts that may be transmitted in the process?
