District Web Page Design 3.0
I’ve been involved with web design for a few years. When I was teaching Webmastering, I taught using the guidelines of the “three-click-rule”; where information could be found in three clicks or less. The reason for this rule was based on people leaving sites if they could not find information in three clicks or less. They get bored and move on.
Currently, web design falls into the “two-click rule”. This is quite a change for designers because we lost a click. We lost placement of navigational tools. Information is literally flooding the main page of websites. Text has taken over. Main pages are full of links to information that used to be in a menu bar that allowed for multiple clicks or “drilling down”.
These days, we are a cell phone/two-click society. We use tools like RSS, FeedReaders, Google Voice, etc. to access instant information. Miniature tools like cell phones make it hard to navigate sites because of the tiny screens. To click on a particular link takes extra time. I want information at my fingertips but I want it to be found without having to zoom in on a button to click on. That takes time!
Today, I read about Wolfram-Alpha; the new search engine that structurally changes how information from a search is presented. Current and popular search engines like Google and Yahoo, require you to enter search queries where a list of links are provided to connect you to pages of information on your query. This requires the extra steps of clicking. Wolfram-Alpha presents the answers to the query without the links.
In effect, they have removed a click.
There is the Twine post about Search 3.0 and how the new search tools will be more personalized for the individual searching instead of the generic search tools used by everybody. Information readily available for my needs in less than 2 clicks in this Search 3.0 paradigm.
I see these things develop and I question the design of district websites. More and more, our district site is moving toward instant communication. You can subscribe to calendar events delivered to email, your personal calendar, or via text messaging. We are looking into an alert system to allow customizable subscriptions to specific groups: band, choir, athletics, reading, emergency, etc.; which in turn will send via text or email. One-click subscription for no-click messages delivered as soon as they are sent.
People are already receiving information via text messaging, RSS, email updates, etc. The questions now become: Are people reading the content on our websites? Are they taking the time to download and read PDFs? Why are we driving traffic to our website if it is storing old information?
In KISD, we have software on our server that tracks not only the places people go on our sites but also how much time they spend on pages. I am constantly evaluating this information to make strategic steps to improve district communication.
But with the coming age of 1-click/no-click/instant information, the district web site design is flawed. So are business designs. So are most web designs out there.
As portals, cloud-storage, and collaborative workspaces become more prevalent, the idea of a “teacher web site” becomes worthless. What are we storing online? Why are we driving traffic to documents that are old and updated (if we are lucky) once a year??
All this to say that I wonder if Web 3.0 district web design becomes much simpler. Similar to the picture posted here, a search window with the district logo could be the new KISD website. Instant information sent to the subscribers but stored invisibly on the back-end. The search provides access to the queries. Instead of listing links, we adopt the Wolfram-Alpha or the next generation of search that posts the answers on the same page.
Search that is personalized and provides answers in 1 click.
Is this the path for web design for schools and districts soon?
