I’m shocked that MMS gave me the ability to mass publish my ramblings (blame them – not me). But, today you readers are in for a treat, because we’re going to talk about … drum roll, please!…. Usability Optimization and Maximizing Information Architecture (yay!).

For those of you who aren’t bored yet, I should first state my general philosophy on web development is this: If your user can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave and they probably won’t return. The best of ideas have been killed by shoddy execution (i.e., the Snuggie… A blanket I can wear while watching the entire Battlestar Galactica series while holding a remote — win. Thin, itchy fabric that’s not long enough to cover my feet — sad, sad fail. FYI – get the Slanket – you won’t be sorry).

As we interact with our users and go about our daily lives of looking after web communities, keep in mind that one of the best things you can do for them is to make your site easy to use.

• If they have to search too hard for what they’re looking for (where do I go to login?), you’re discouraging usership.
• If they get lost along your site, look around, and don’t know where they are (am I on the purchase page or the downloads page?), you’re discouraging usership.
• If your site states that you’re offering one thing (awesome blanket with sleeves), but delivers another (your uncle’s bathrobe you can wear backwards), you’re discouraging usership.

A great marketing plan, super fun games, a highly tailored virtual world, etc., won’t do you a bit of good if your site users can’t find them. I’ll be the first to admit it requires a bit of restraint to sit down and really think through your site architecture and how your users will navigate through your site. We all want to get going on the game ideas, and customizing our avatars, and that big part of our site that’s a competition killer. It can be boring, tedious, and downright frustrating to face your site architecture head on, and make it simple and easy to understand. But it’s also the first step in nurturing your community.

User Interface Engineering is a company specializing in just that (see how their name already makes it easy for us to understand what they do? They’re off to a great start!). Check out this here article on how great designs are rarely even noticed:
Great Designs Should be Experienced and Not Seen

Web Pages That Suck documents sites that fail so drastically, it’s comical – but we could all learn a little something from the mistakes of others (and if we can’t learn from them, at least we can laugh at them).

– Tamara Brown
– MMS Director of Community Development

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