Good advice from D. Keith Robinson on the subject of redesign a website:
- Make sure you really need a redesign first. There are many, many times when it might not be worth the risk, let alone the time and effort.
- Set concrete, realistic goals for your new design and stick to them. Don’t get too crazy.
- Let your visitors know it’s coming beforehand.
- User test your new design before you launch. At least have a few “user representatives” go through the site and offer feedback.
- Consider a staged approach instead. Maybe you just need to enhance portions of your site, not the whole thing.
- Consider a beta version to let people try it out first.
- Gather feedback about what your visitors would like from a redesign before you begin.
- Respond to feedback (both before and after relaunch) and make changes if needed.
I'm trying the incremental change approach with my current website project. By making a number of small changes and tweaks over time, we can avoid pulling the rug out from under our users. But, as Robinson says, if you're going to pull the rug out, at least give 'em warning first.
Posted by Karl
May 26, 2004 08:36 PM