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We at CIO advise people how to get the most from their Web investments. This month, as we preach about the importance of making Web sites easy to use (see 'Mazed and Confused'), we've put our own Web site to the test. Louis Rosenfeld, president of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Argus Associates Inc. and co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (O'Reilly, 1998) critiqued CIO.com. Tim Horgan, CIO.com's Webmaster and VP of Technology prepared a response to Lou Rosenfeld's critique of our site. We've excerpted Tim's response below. We also ask you to particpate in our online discussion about our site. Help us make CIO.com even better for you! |
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 Rosenfeld: CIO.com's
main page holds lots of information: 76 discrete links, 3 major navigational
areas and at least a dozen content areas. It is visually overwhelming. A
main page should answer the major questions that users have when they arrive
at the site. This page tries to answer every question. |
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Horgan: We face a difficult challenge at CIO.com... we have thousands of pages and several different services that we make available to the site visitor. We do have one consistent navigation aid, the nav bar that runs down the side of almost all of our pages, and then we have mini-nav bars for individual areas, such as specific Research Centers. What's your opinion of our content presentation? |
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Rosenfeld: Much of the site's organization system mirrors sections in the print publication (CIO Web Business). The site also includes an Exclusively Online area. These distinctions are irrelevant to many Web users; they'd probably prefer to see all available content and see it organized by subject (such as Electronic Commerce). | |
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Horgan: We've developed two principal grouping
tools for our content-- Research Centers
and the Archives. I believe that these provide the organization
by subject that I agree we need. We do have three entry pages, one for each of our publications,
as each of these has a different audience. What's your opinion of our site's organizational structure? |
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Rosenfeld: CIO's labeling system uses consistent terminology though
the terms can be confusingly overlapping. What is the difference between
Web Central and Web Resources, or Analyst Corner and Ask the Expert? You'll
have to dig to find out. Alternative means of navigation include an unwieldy
table of contents; as the main page already provides an overview of CIO.com's
content, a site index might be better for users who already know what they
seek. |
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Horgan: True, we probably could be clearer or
more precise with our names, although we felt that once the viewer visited these pages
it was probably obvious what they were about--and in most cases we have a blurb on the page
to describe it for the visitor. Tell us what you think about our site labeling. |
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Rosenfeld: And I found four different searching system interfaces;
it's unclear which one to use when and why so many different versions are
needed. |
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Horgan: We are currently working on radical improvements
to our search tool. Quite honestly, we've not paid enough attention to this area. |
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Rosenfeld: The CIO Web site is architected as a collection of poorly
integrated resources. CIO should consult site users to learn more about
their information needs and redesign the information architecture to better
match those information needs. |
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Horgan: Over the years we have listened to comments
from many of our readers, and have incorporated many of their ideas into the site
as it evolves. We should do this in a more formal way, and this excercise is the start
of our reviewing the site and what could be done better. Tell us what you think! |
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 CIO Web Business - April 1, 1999 | |||||||
