Directions for Deliverables

1. Read Interface Design (Chapter 2 in Web Style Guide – online Site).

2. Using the information you gather from your reading to guide you, respond to the questions below to develop the Interface Design Plan that will guide you as you determine your interface design.

3. Work with a Design Buddy or individually to develop the Interface Design Plan.

4. Save the document as a pdf file or you may put in an html file.

5. Link to online Activities Guide under Lynch - interface.

Questions to guide your design

1. How will you make your pages freestanding?

I will need to include informative and elaborate information on every page of my site (like the copyright information, author, and date in a book).

2. What 5 elements [actual text] will be on every page within your web site? Where will you place these elements in the site?

informative title for the bookmark, creator's identity, creation or revision date, at least one link to a local home page or menu page, the "home page" URL

3. List the needs and demographics of your target audience that you will have to consider during development of your site?

My target audience will be UT staff and faculty, who will mostly be familiar with the basic Library departments and services. I will try to expand on their knowledge by providing behind-the-scenes information about how we accomplish these services.

A secondary audience will be UT students seeking more information about Library services. I need to be careful about not overwhelming a novice with too much technical detail.

4. Why is it important to build clear navigational aids? What might you include in this category that will make your pages easier to navigate?

One of the main interface problems in web sites is the lack of a sense of where you are. Clear, consistent icons can give the user confidence and will help to not waste their time. Graphic identity schemes, summary screens, and basic links back to the home page and other major navigation points will make pages easier to navigate.

5. How will you avoid having dead end pages in your website?

Make sure all pages have, at minimum, a link back to the main home page or also links to other sections of the site.

6. What is the maximum number of links that you will have in the index? List what these will be.

Basically six: the three sections (Digital Production Services, Library Express, Interlibrary Loan), plus a site map, a frequently-asked-questions page, and an author/contact page.

7. What do you think the bandwidth of your target audience will be? How will you design your interface design to accommodate this?

Most of my audience will access my site through UT's campus network (T3, ethernet), but some may reach it from their home or office or wireless. I don't intend to be heavy on the graphics (or audio or video). I will try to be consistent will the Library's web page, which was designed for speed and navigatibility.

8. How will you achieve simplicity and consistency within your design?

I will follow the basic idea of the UT template template with a banner across the top and the rest of the page divided into three columns - navigation menu on the left, main body of information in the middle, and other links and contact information on the right.

9. How will you establish design integrity and stability within your site?

Do thorough editing, make sure all links work, and maintain the accuracy of those links. The Library's departmental pages are updated often, so keeping up with any links I make to them will be important.

10. How will you offer feedback and dialog opportunities for your readers?

through contact information (email, phone number, and address)

11. How will you make your site accessible to all users?

by adding ALT tags and descriptions to graphics (including blank ALT statements for spacer GIFs), by providing a text-only navigation menu, and by possibly using CSS-styled pages

12. How will you guide the reader through the sequenced web pages within each section?

The general idea is to provide paging buttons and links to local home pages and contents pages. I will probably do a button bar with consistent graphics (and text) to jump to the common Library services between my three basic sections (DPS, LX, and ILS).