Article: Prioritizing Design Time: A Long Tail Approach

UIEtips 4/24/06: Prioritizing Design Time: A Long Tail Approach

Several years ago, we came to the realization that there are eight distinct types of navigation pages that users encounter as they work through a web site trying to locate their target content. Since then, our research has consistently shown that the most successful design teams are those that understand these different page types and prioritize their design resources accordingly.

As we’ve researched further, it’s become clear to us that, out of the eight types of pages, the least important navigation page is the Home Page. But all too often, clients tell us they spend the majority of their time focusing on the design of the home page.

In this issue of UIEtips, Joshua Porter has written an excellent article suggesting that other parts of your site might be far more worthy of attention than the home page. Josh discusses how design teams may be better served taking a “Long Tail” approach to design, focusing on their site’s less accessed pages instead of the home page.

Does your home page get too much attention from the design team? What pages does your design time focus the most energy on? We’d love to hear what you’ve been doing. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

If the article interests you, Joshua Porter and I will be discussing UIE’s latest research at the upcoming User Interface 11 Conference this October. In our full-day seminar, Web Site Usability 2006: The Latest Research, Joshua and I will share UIE’s outlook on the latest topics in web design, such as The Long Tail.

I can tell you our session is going to fill up quickly so, if you are interested, you’ll need to register right away. (Plus, we’re giving away iPod nanos if you sign up by April 25th! )

Read the article here.