Coding and Testing the Site

After a few tweaks to the design, I've begun building the site in HTML and CSS. Because different web browsers sometimes show pages differently, I'm testing each change I make to ensure I don't break what I've already done.

The hardest thing right now is aligning some navigation links that run along the top of the page -- it's a tight fit and I want to be sure they don't shift around and create gaps when the page is resized.

If you are interested in how CSS is used to make websites, here's a link to visit:

W3 Schools - CSS Examples

Sorry this is so short...I have a lot of work to do!

Writing for the Web

When people think "web design," they often focus on the visual design. But the design of the content is equally important. A pretty site without substance is just an empty frame!

One of my big challenges is to understand what my customers want their sites to say. In this case, the customer is the group I work with. I've been meeting regularly with several of them to get opinions about what our group has to offer the people who come to us for help.

After settling on topics to include, part of my job is to locate the information, writing and edit it, and share it back with my coworkers for revisions and corrections.

A few words about writing for the web... Because the web makes it so easy for our attention to wander--there's always a new site to explore--most web writing has to be quick and to the point. I write in a style to help my online readers recognize quickly whether they will find the information they need, so they can decide whether to try another page.

Working with Visual Design

For this site, I've been working with a visual designer on the appearance of the pages. She came up with several options that use the site structure I designed, and presented them to the director of our group.

Here's the design that was selected:


The next step is to test the design with users to see if they respond positively to it.

Testing for Usability

After drawing a basic plan for the site pages, I tested it with a few people to see if they understood the navigation.

These volunteers clicked through a simplified version of the site to perform some common tasks we'd expect our regular visitors to do.

One interesting finding was related to a version of the site that had a special section called "Research" to highlight the research and exploration performed by the group I work for. When viewing the site, some of testers interpreted it to mean THEIR research and how our group could help. Because of this, I chose to remove the section and fold that content into sections called "Online Resources" and "News and Events."

Our test users also preferred a simpler page header with fewer supplemental links to other Ohio State services. For this reason, we moved them to the bottom of the page.