Measuring web success

The most common scale for determining the success of a website is its popularity: a successful site has a lot of 'hits'.

This, however, is not the whole story. To start with, 'hit' is a very poorly defined term. Depending on the site a reported 'hit count' will include the user's access to graphic elements such as pictures, icons and buttons. So at the very best a 'hit count' can only legitimately be used to measure changes in usage, therefore popularity, over a long period of time. It does not represent a comparative measure of how well your site is doing.

Another flaw in using 'hit counts' as a basic measurement is its leveling effect. A 'hit count' does not distinguish between a content-rich page, a list of internal or external links, or an ‘under construction’ page. A 'hit' is a 'hit', regardless of substance.

Worst of all, a 'hit count' often rewards exactly the wrong thing. A site that has been redesigned to streamline user access to the most frequently retrieved material may well show a reduction in hits precisely because its utility has been enhanced.

There are certainly quantitative measures that can be used: number of sessions, number of users, and number of repeat users are all valuable statistics to gather and analyze. But qualitative measures are equally important. The best measure of success is how well a site facilitates users in accomplishing their goals. In short, the value of a site can be assessed by measuring its utility and quality.

In order to determine whether a site’s goals have been met, it is useful to begin by examining a rough breakdown of site types and web users.

Site Types

With the explosion of the Internet over the past few years, websites have sprung up for almost every imaginable purpose. Despite this diversity, when analyzed from the standpoint of interactivity there are only three basic types of site:

- Vanity sites;
- Resource / Information sites;
- Transaction sites.

A personal home page is the embodiment of an vanity site. Its purpose is to say 'Hello! I'm here. I'm cool. Look at me!' Ego sites may serve as a communications channel for a very small audience (personal friends and family for example), or as a promotional device (I'm a photographer, a writer, a musician, etc.) but their primary reason for existing at all is personal gratification for the creator. For an ego site, user interactivity is of secondary importance.

The success of an ego site can be assessed quite simply: is the creator satisfied or not? No further evaluation is required.

Resource / Information sites attempt to provide a data pool for their readers. This is primarily one-way communication, with the site developer providing information he/she wants to share in some way and site visitors consuming this resource. Most government sites follow this model. Many corporate sites are also primarily resource oriented, providing company profiles, product descriptions, and other marketing documents. The resources need not be serious, however. Most entertainment-oriented sites, such as online magazines or gig guides, etc. can also be categorized as resource sites.

The success of a resource site should be assessed by asking whether most users found the information they were looking for, how quickly they found it, how many wrong turns they made along the way, and how satisfied they were with the quality of the information they found.

Transaction sites, by contrast, involve two-way communication. Both the site owner and the user have something to contribute to the interaction. Commercial sites, such as an online store, are typically transactional in nature (the site owner provides a list of products; the user assembles a list of desired goods, then adds a shipping address and a credit card number; finally the site owner physically sends a product). Data collection sites, such as those offering forms for market research, though non-commercial, are also interaction sites.

The success of a transaction site can be measured with the same tools as a resource site, adding a measure of how many successful transactions were completed.

Web Users

Like site types, users of the the World Wide Web can be broken into three categories:

- Non-discretionary;
- Discretionary, directed;
- Discretionary, casual.

Non-discretionary users include those who, for whatever reason, are required to access a particular website. This might be an organizational website which holds the only copy of a local bus timetable for example. Non-discretionary users do not have the freedom of choice - they go directly to the only site holding the specific information they require.

Discretionary, directed users are those who are not required to use a particular website, but who are strongly motivated to do so. This may be because it is a particular favourite, it performs well in the search engines, or it has been recommended by a friend. It may be because it is attractive, easy to navigate and fast loading. A discretionary user will try very hard to make sense out of a website, and to obtain what he/she is looking for, but will leave if the experience proves too frustrating or the desired information does not appear to be present.

Discretionary, casual users are the stereotype 'surfers'. Such users may stumble upon a given site, and may be willing to spend a little time investigating, but are not particularly motivated to stay and are likely to leave as soon as they get frustrated or bored.

Different audiences require different approaches to design and implementation. In general, non-discretionary and discretionary, directed users are likely to focus immediately on how well a site supports their particular task, while casual users may be seduced by superficial attractions. Ultimately, however, even a surfer requires meaningful and well-organized content to remain at a site or return to it later.

Naturally there are many other user and usage characteristics that are relevant to the website designer: familiarity with the topic, familiarity with the technology, frequency and duration of sessions, etc.

Site Perspectives

The single most important predictor of site utility is the perspective from which the site has been designed. Just as there are two participants in any interaction between a user and a website (the user and the site designer), so there are two perspectives around which the site can be designed.

The first is 'provider-centred'. This is a site where the designer cataloged everything his/her client had to offer, then built a site around the specific material. Provider centred sites are often structured to toe the corporate line. Provider-centred home pages frequently begin with 'Welcome to Our Site', they probably feature a picture of the company directors and an 'About Us' section. Most of this information may seem extremely important to employees of the organization, but is seldom of interest to outsiders who are looking for concrete information.

By the same token, any site that has an ‘under construction’ holding page is also  showing signs of provider centricity. The real meaning of ‘under construction’ is the site developer saying to the user, 'I know there is something missing here. Its just not ready yet. Please call back later!' ‘Under construction’ pages are invariably frustrating for the user; they serve only to bolster the self-esteem of the business or organization to which they belong.

Provider-centered sites, regardless of the intent of the client or the designer, end up being ego sites more often than not.

User-centred sites, by contrast, are usually structured to follow specific tasks. Here the designer has attempted to determine what users are likely to wish to accomplish when visiting the site, and has structured the site around those anticipated demands. Corporate information like that described above may still be present on the site, but it will be lower on the list of priorities, not the first thing a user will see. Instead, items of interest to the user will be displayed most prominently. The site as a whole will be structured so that information of interest to the largest number of users is the easiest to reach, while less popular pages might take a few more clicks.

Building a user-centred site requires a very good understanding of the target audience. This understanding can come from past interactions with the client, his products, and his projected user base, from studies of user behavior and demands, or from analysis of what users are actually doing on an existing website.

Developer intuition concerning user needs and desires is typically not very good. People steeped in a technological background are frequently unable to leave their knowledge behind and project the experience of either a less knowledgeable individual or an individual with a markedly different perspective. Some sort of objective user study is usually required.

Many designers are thrown by the potential diversity of users. 'How can I possibly design a site for a particular user group when literally anyone in the world could stumble across the site?' It is certainly true that the web user population is huge. But some initial development decisions must be made, without which no trade-offs can ever be approached systematically. This can be as simple as assuming an  understanding of the English language. Different portions of a site can easily be optimized for distinct user populations, but no site can be built for 'everyone.'

A user-centred site will usually require several iterations to get right, and can be expected to evolve along with the user population.

Components of Web Site Design

There are two main components of website design:
Page design and dialogue design.

Page design comprises all the elements that can been seen in one piece through a browser: text, pictures, icons, titles, and links for example. The objective of good page design is to position elements in such a way that important information is easily recognized, less important information can be located with only a little effort, and unimportant information has been eliminated.

Web page design corresponds to page layout in paper-based graphic design. A great deal of research has been done in this area, much of which can be transferred to the Web with only slight modification.

Dialogue design has to do with the interaction between a user and a website. Typically the user enters a site (through a link, a bookmark, or by typing a URL) and is presented with a page. The user spends some time looking at the page, then clicks on a link. The system responds by presenting a new page. The user looks at that, then clicks somewhere else, and so forth. There is an interaction between the user and the website. With any luck, the website is responding to the user's actions in a meaningful and predictable way, and the user, in turn, is reacting to the site itself. This can be seen as a conversation between user and website, or between user and site designer.

The objective of good dialogue design is to facilitate the user finding the page he/she is looking for (i.e. the page or pages on which the desired information resides) in the most effective way possible. The quality and efficacy of a particular dialogue design can only be assessed in the context of its use: specific users performing specific tasks.

The Website Development Life Cycle

Successful websites rarely happen by accident. A careful development process will increase the chances of a useful site.

In the past an illusion of ease (Word documents turned into HTML) coupled with unrealistic deadlines, resulted in a plethora of chaotic sites, sites with little or no advance planning, little or no stylistic coordination, and no process in place for controlled updates, corrections, or expansions to the site once it had been released.

The traditional website development life cycle can serve as a model for a proper development process:

1. Analysis
2. Testing
3. Design
4. Testing
5. Implementation
6. Testing
7. Iterate until correct

Analysis is the phase during which the designer and developer determines what needs to be accomplished. In a web context this means identifying the target user; determining what the user wants or needs from the proposed website; and determining what client criteria is to be accomplished.

Design is the life cycle phase during which the designer determines how the website will look and how required functionality will be provided. In a web context this includes identifying the content to be placed online, determining the site structure, and developing a uniform style guide.

Implementation is where the site is actually built. Existing documents are converted for online use. New documents and graphics are created, as are forms, scripts, etc. links are inserted. The site is then transferred to a server and is 'on test.'

Testing is an ongoing activity, particularly important towards the end of each life cycle phase. The earlier an error or misunderstanding can be identified, the cheaper it will be to correct. It must be recognized, however, that later phases tend to uncover insufficiencies in earlier phases. Thus design may well highlight missing functionality, and implementation will surely point out gaps in the design. So developers should be willing to revisit each life cycle stage more than once. Development can be viewed less as a waterfall, where each phase leads clearly to the next, and more as a spiral, with each phase revisited as often as necessary.

All of the above phases have a traditional functionality component and a usability component. The two are not fully independent, but neither are they the same thing. Insofar as careful methodologies have been applied to web development in the past, most of it has been directed towards functionality: is the CSS styling correct, do the links point to the correct pages, is the appropriate content present, is the code fully debugged. This is critical to a fully functioning, successful site. Equally important are other questions: Does this make sense to our expected user group? Can new users figure out where to go? Can experienced users take advantage of shortcuts? Does the site assist the users in accomplishing their underlying goals? Usability analysis, usability design, and usability testing run parallel to their functional counterparts.

The website development life cycle is not unique; some general equivalent exists in most professional fields.

Conclusion

The World Wide Web is an interactive information dissemination mechanism unprecedented in scale and accessibility. Never before has it been so easy to provide computer-supported data, news, knowledge, analysis, opinions, and advertising to so many people around the globe. And never before has it been possible for a computer to confuse, frustrate, and annoy so many people in such a short time.

Given the vastness of the information space represented by the web, only the best sites can be expected to thrive. Slick technology tricks are fascinating the first time, but become boring after the second or third iteration. Fancy design becomes stale equally quickly.

If a site is to endure, it is the value of its content that will make the difference. For the value of content to be apparent, the site must be designed to sustain and enhance that content.

micky pixel

Mike has worked in the advertising and design media since leaving art school and has a vast range of experience across a number of key disciplines.

He believes that given the constant shifts in technology it is essential that our advice to clients remains focussed and centred on the best possible solution for their project. "At wight365 we love to be loved! So we always go that extra yard for our clients".