Create better website wireframes ‘By Ryan Sackett, consultant, Precedent, wew.precedent.o.uk Cover the basics What are the business objectives ofthe site? Who are the intended users? What does the business want the user todo? Inthe excitement of creating visual design or writing cade these questions ae often overlooked yet the answers are fundamental to everything hat comes after. The deeper the understanding you have around what youre creating the greaterthe chance yout design something that delivers value and delights users. 01 Wierameroughs Falpyoustoigentty what ‘eed ogo were— and Dataven mabe taiet, and desicon patorms, List the elements Identity the pages on the site by walking ticough the steps the user ‘goes through to fui the desired actions or tasks. Now ist the page ‘elements: standard ones, euch as haaders, footers, content aress, ‘menus: and the non-standard ones, suchas acalendar, RSS or Twitter feed. A matrixcan be auseful ayof seaing at a glance, elements goon what page. c2desinesty Precedent Thee Trustewebsitepostions infocorectywhiealso remainng ees Remember you're a user, too aoe uriquelaok sftro Tiny Laban ‘While yournight nothavea wealth of wieframing experience, Conervetnteot youdo havea lotof experience of beingavisitortoa website ‘Mose and Dance Draw upon the sites you regard highly and those you disregard sebesreioas yaaa ooh ‘completely. Give consideration for relevant comparator sites and see winat you think works well or could be improved, and;curney flow Get your thoughts down There are numerous eptons for creating wireframes ranging frompenel and paper sketchestothe yse Otol that produce wireframes esembingrea-ife ebpages our approach andthe level of deta should be informed te purpose ofthe wirerame: iitsony for you,sketchesere fine but youre working wth another designe orneasto present tothe cont youngad Somethingwith reget resented more formally for example sing nDesignandllustrator mht be abet open Sweat the insights Web analytic area ich source intaligence that, sal are often overlooked, Knowing what contents popular, which page has the highest entrances from Google or contributed the greatest number of exits from the site eal valuable for sense-checking yout recommendations. User research, favalabe can bolster by proving the story behind the numbers the why tothe wh. ° Computer Arts June 2012