Audience - Designing for your Viewer

So many people start out to create a site, thinking only “I need a web site”. They do not think about much about the actual content, or the look of the site. They just want to get something up quickly. The problem, then, is only made clear when their viewers can’t find the information that they need or want, and have the courage to send e-mail to complain about it.

As designers of sites, it is very important to not lose track of the audience that you are trying to reach. At the same time, you need to design for the average viewer that may happen upon your site, and may not have the same characteristics of your specific target audience. The goal is to present information in such a way that it reaches your audience, yet doesn't alienate others that are not in your target audience.

There are only two assumptions that you can make about your audience:

1. They have a computer and an Internet browser of some kind;

2. Or, they have WebTV.

You can make these assumptions based on the fact that they can't get to your site without one of these two things. You cannot, however, assume that your audience has a specific browser, or a specific screen size, or a specific computer, and gear your site only to those specific viewers.

As the saying goes, "When you assume too much, you make a ASS out of U and ME."

There are ways of refining your content to reach your target audience, but your design of the site architecture and navigation needs to be geared toward the lowest common denominator. Unfortunately, designers can't quite seem to get synced on what that lowest level is. For general purposes, we can say that the lowest screen size is 640 x 480, and the lowest modem speed is either 14.4K or 33.3K, depending on who you ask. Doesn't give you a lot of room to put that full-screen, 1024 x 768 pixel, 5 MB Director file that you shocked on the web, does it?

Let's start off with a list of basic considerations to make when designing sites.

1. Do not assume that your audience knows what or where the back button is on their browser. You need to provide alternate navigation to get them back to the main page of a sub-section, or to get to the first page of an article. Don't laugh, this is a real problem, especially in education.

2. Do not assume that everyone who is going to view your site has the latest in computer equipment, like you do. People in the "real world" tend to use their machines for a long time before getting new ones, unlike those of us in the graphics world, who chafe at having to use the same machine for two years (I really want my new G3, d*** it!). It's an economic decision. Some people cannot afford a new machine, no matter what, but want to get online. Tailor your graphics and content so that the pages load quickly, even on slow modems, or create a low-bandwidth site for viewers with slower connections and older brwosers.

3. Do not assume that your entire audience uses Internet Explorer on a Windows machine. Believe it or not, many, many surfers and web creators use Macintosh computers, and many people, on both platforms use Netscape. If you design using Internet Explorer as your only browser, without checking how it looks in Netscape, you may be in for some shocking shifts. The major problem is in JScript, Microsoft's version of Javascript. It does not work properly with the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer, for certain key features that work in IE for Windows and in Netscape for both platforms. There may be a fix for those problems in the near future, but until then, just check before you do something critical that isn't supported by a certain platform or browser. Another problem is the shifts in color that occur between platforms and between different browsers (even on the same platform and machine!) For a good description of the Browser safe color palette, visit Lynda.com. These shifts can be major, so it's a good idea to get a handle on what the issues are surrounding color and browsers.

4. Do not assume that your audience has the patience to wait for all of your super-cool graphics and animations to download. People are paying for Internet time. They generally would not appreciate anything that wastes their money or time. You need to really walk the line between good design and efficient delivery of that site. These people may want to spend money at your site - it is a good idea to not force them to waste money waiting for your site to download.

Keep in mind that, while you may be able to get your site online, you cannot force anyone to visit it, or visit it often. You have to hook them in some way or another. the best way is to provide good content, good design, and an efficient delivery of those elements. Think about what sites you visit most often. What is it that keeps you coming back for more?

May 5, 1999

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