Planning and Designing a Successful Web Site - New Perspectives on Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Comprehensive - page 57

appeal to the target audience? How is the space used? Can you ascertain what the sites'
goals might be? Is the content presented in straightforward language or in slang spe-
cifi c to the target audience? Is there a lot of text on each page, or is the text broken into
smaller segments?

To explore other music festival and tribute band Web sites:

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1. Type tribfest.co.uk in the Address bar, and then press the Enter key. The splash
screen for the Tribfest Web site opens and the home page of the Tribfest site
appears in the browser window.

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2. Navigate through the Web site, evaluating the colors, information layout, naviga-
tion system, use of space, content, language style (formal, conversational, slang,
etc.), and so on.

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3. Record your findings and make notes about anything you feel is important about
the site. Note how the fact that this festival is held in the United Kingdom affects
your findings. Write a brief summary of your findings and notes.

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4. Visit www.fakefestivals.co.uk (th e Fake Festivals site), and then repeat Steps 3
and 4.

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5. Search for and explore at least two other music festival sites that the target audi-
ence might frequent. For each site, write a brief summary of your findings. Were
you able to locate a tribute band festival in the United States?

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6. Look at the Web sites of at least two other types of festivals such as www.
aclfestival.com (th e Austin City Limits music festival site) or www.coachella.com
(the Coachella music festival site). What information do they include? Does the
information change when the festival is trying to target a different audience? For
each site, write a brief summary of what you like and dislike about the site.

◗

7. Search for and explore the Web sites of at least two tribute bands by typing
tribute band into a search engine. What information do they include? Does the
information change when the band is trying to target a different audience? For
each site, write a brief summary of what you like and dislike about the site.

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8. Close your browser.

By this point, you should have a clear idea of the target audience, including the users'
habits and interests. You should also have an understanding of what you can do with the
Web site to attract the target audience. You will use this information to develop end-user
scenarios.

Creating End-User Scenarios
End-user scenarios are imagined situations in which the target audience might access
a Web site. End-user scenarios help you to envision actual conditions that various end
users will experience while visiting the Web site. Scenarios enable you to visualize
abstract target audience members as real people. By placing characters in realistic situ-
ations, you can get a better sense of the factors that might affect the users' experiences
with the Web site. You can then anticipate the end users' needs and build a Web site that
incorporates these factors into the design.
Gage created two scenarios for the NextBest Fest Web site, as shown in Figure 2-5.
The scenarios provide insights that go beyond statistics and facts. For example, from
Scenario 1, you learn that there is a chance that the target audience will not have access
to audio on the Web site; therefore, you can conclude that audio should not be a pri-
mary component for conveying necessary information.