When web authors begin writing and organizing their sites, they must ask several questions about the site:
- What is the purpose of the site?
- Why is the site necessary?
- How does the author convey this purpose?
These questions are simply stated; however, properly conveying the site’s purpose requires skill on the part of the author and a knowledge of the audience and its purpose. Thinking about the audience for a site raises more questions including:
- Who is the audience?
- What does the audience want to know?
- What are the tasks the audience will need or want to perform on the site?
- How can site design increase usability for various audiences?
- How should the author represent the audience and interpret the subject to be most useful?
These questions tend to complicate the job of the web author. The web model suggests that the audience and subject influence the author as much as the author influences the audience and subject (see diagram). Thus, the author must not only consider the audience and the subject to write effective web documents. The author must also be willing to adapt, accommodate, and adjust to audience purposes and the changing subject itself.
A model such as the one presented above reminds us that as authors, we have a certain understanding and relation to the subject of the text. The understanding and relation held by the author differs from the audience. We will never share perceptions exactly, but we need to work toward communication that helps the writer’s understanding work together with the reader’s.
The job of every web author is to accommodate multiple audiences and subject(s), especially since it is virtually impossible to predict who will visit the website. One suggestion is to develop personas, or theoretical people who may use the site. By doing this, the author gains more knowledge about the many possible audiences that may visit the website. STCBOK’s website lists several personas that can be used as examples of the range of people that may visit the site. For example, both Consuela Roehl and Eric Hernandez are two people with contrasting backgrounds who may come to STCBOK searching for information. Consuela is a 44-year-old mother of two with a professional background in technical writing, while Eric Hernandez is a high school senior looking to start his college career. Since these personas represent potential audiences from opposite ends of the spectrum, a website must accommodate them both.
Once web authors are able to meet the needs of the multiple audiences who may visit the website, they must then decide what the audience wants to know and provide them with a way to access that information quickly and efficiently. If the author fails to provide them with a way to do this, the users will discontinue their use of the website. Thus, the author must design the website in a way that allows for easy navigability, meaning that the website’s users can quickly figure out how to get to their desired destination.
There are several design techniques that the author should consider, which include…
- Using an ever-present navigation bar that allows the reader to visit other sections of the site without feeling lost or forcing them to use the back button
- Using an ever-present masthead that allows the reader to know they are on the same website at all times
- Not overloading web pages by dividing up information among multiple pages, making it more readable and efficient
- Listing material when possible, since lists provide users with information quickly so that they do not have to read long paragraphs
- Providing links to other parts of the site, so that there is a direct course for the user to the part of the site they want
- Naming sections of the site by using short, descriptive names so that people know exactly what they will find by following the links
Therefore, web authors must consider both the audience and the design of the website because the web has changed the roles of the audiences and how they interact with written texts.
For an overview on this topic, see: Krug, S. (2006). Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.