Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
of the page. Don't turn the Web portfolio into a treasure hunt where the
user has to search to find the golden content. Let access to the most
important and most impressive work be immediate, if not faster. You want
to engage the user by giving them what they are looking for.
•
Consider users' bandwidth, and design accordingly.
Users will not
tolerate long delays. So keep the Shockwave Flash files lean. Optimize
your graphics to be as small as possible, but look as good as they can
without crippling user performance and creating a bad user experience.
The Web portfolio may be your shot to get someone's attention. You
don't want performance to issues to waste the opportunity. Spend time
doing things right when developing the Web portfolio. Don't use extra
large graphics and expect to scale them down later, the Web pages
demand all text, graphics, motion, and animation items be to scale (the final
size needed for output)
•
Ask for feedback and encourage dialog from the user.
This allows
you to gain inquiries, comments, and interaction with your users. It could
help build the communication ties between you and the person you are
trying to persuade. Always include feedback forms and e-mail contacts on
your site. Proactively work towards developing an ongoing relationship
with your audience members. Adding feedback forms and e-mail links are
a great way to allow the user to connect with you. Get a multitude of friends
and family to visit the Web portfolio before the real “official launch” this
way, bugs and problems will raise to the surface before the Web portfolio
is unleashed on the critical work for hire audience.
Define Your User and Their Goals
Here is your chance to spend some time thinking about your audience. Define
it in terms of who you need to inform, impress, and persuade with your Web
portfolio. Does your audience consist of customers, prospects, parents,
students, communities, or groups? Think about the answers to these questions
and begin to jot down some rough notes. After some loose brainstorming,
tighten the focus a bit and answer the following questions to establish some
basic definitions for your user and your goals:
