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The need for wireframes is ever present in our dear business of web design. Being able to effectively diagram a site's information and navigation proves helpful in the beginning concept stages, especially when presenting to people outside the domain of UI, IA and design. But selecting the wireframe tool that's right for you can be challenging.

Website Redesign Glossary - Entry 5 Breadcrumb: An element on a web page (usually directly below the page title) showing the click path a user traveled to arrive at the current page. For example: Home > About Us > Our Staff Usually the terms are active links, which enable the user to retrace their click path (or skip back several clicks). Breadcrumbs, especially in deep sites with multiple levels of navigation, improve usability because they help users understand where they are now as well as the overall structure of the site, and navigate back to the pages they've visited. The term "breadcrumb" comes from the trail Hansel and Gretel left to try to find their way back home. read more

Website Redesign Glossary - Entry 4 Related Content: Content that is related to the main topic featured on the page. These links may be manually determined (by the content editor) or may be populated by the content management system based on predefined tags (e.g. a particular issue or region). Links to Related Content are often displayed on a narrow column to the right of the main body copy on the page. The idea is "If you are interested in the article on this page, you may want to read additional articles on similar subjects." This is in contrast to "Read More" which usually refers to "reading more" of the article you are currently reading, by going to a page with the full article. read more

Every once in a while it's good to review the basics and yesterday I virtually attended a website usability presentation given by NTen. Using three simple criteria they reviewed the websites of various not-for-profit organizations to deomonstrate how some simple changes could potentially have a positive impact on the site and, more importantly, online donations. read more

Here's the start of a subjective Usability Glossary. Information Architecture. Think of it this way: You are building a community center. You want to make sure to build enough bathrooms to accommodate everyone, that the meeting room for seniors is on the ground floor for maximum accessibility, that you put the computer room on the side of the building with the least light. The Information Architect designs the "blueprints" for this virtual "community center", a place that will become the foundation for your community to gather. read more

I WANT YOU TO READ MORE The CivicActions team is in the process of redesigning our website at this very moment. In my role as information architect, I am helping to design the site's navigation and page structure so that users can meet their goals. Here are some sample scenarios:

• A potential client wants to find a savvy web consulting firm to transform their site and increase their audience and fundraising base.
• A job-seeker wants to find a cool place to work.
• A CivicActions team member wants to be sought after in their area of expertise, and more broadly, wants to express their ideas and get feedback from creative, brilliant people.

Click on the tiny Read more link on the far right side of the next line. read more

The first step in creating a genuinely useful intranet is to ban the intranet team from using the word "information".

Attached you'll find the latest revision of "my" IA presentation at DrupalCamp Vancouver 2008. This presentation has been evolving since DrupalConBarcelona. read more

On a whole, the art of Web design has begun to be better understood as a necessity in the world of ecommerce and content management. After all, content is only as good as its design and vice versa. Once viewed as something that made your site look pretty but had little significance to the bottom line, web design is now considered an integral part of a site's success.

Earlier this weekDrupalCamp Vancouver Sessions were announced and 2 by CivicActioners were among them. Robin's session on "Introduction To Module Development" will be on Friday and 2pm. I heard Robin give a this talk for Six Hour Startup folks a few weeks ago, and even though I am no developer, it sounded great and others seemed to benefit from it. read more

"There ain't much of a difference between a bridge and a wall..." Tear Me Down (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) Yesterday I walked into a local retailer and found this widget I'd heard about. I was considering buying it, but had a few questions for the saleman, so I went over to him and asked "Can you tell me more about this widget, like how long will it last between charges?" "Buy it now," he replied. "Well, I might, but I have a few questions. Besides battery life, what kind of warranty does it come with?" "Buy it now," he said. read more

Yesterday I met CiviCRM co-founder Dave Greenberg to discuss potential usability improvements to CiviCRM, an open source constituent relationship management system. Dave is heading to Australia for the CiviCRM retreat and wanted to have wireframes in hand. Dave suggested we start by focusing on two specific pages: the Contact Summary and Search Results pages. A newbie CiviCRM user, I hoped my "beginner's mind" would help me understand the "pain points" our clients feel in using the new system. I quickly realized that I'd need to have a better sense of how people typically use CiviCRM in their daily workflow. Here's a call-out to those who regularly use CiviCRM: 1. What do you use CiviCRM for? For example: I use CiviCRM for our contributions database, our donors database, and our customer database.