The fundamental core to any redesign of the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Web site will inherently address the navigation and organization of the information of the site. Without a doubt, a site’s navigation is the single most important element in creating a useable Web site.
Our challenge, as this redesign project continues, will be to develop an intuitive navigation structure that addresses the needs of the site’s many audiences: both current and potential faculty, staff, and students; media outlets; community leaders; and many more groups of visitors.
While UMB’s current navigation clearly addresses the needs of our internal audience (current faculty, staff, and students), the redesign will also focus on the needs of our external audience as well. By incorporating a sound organizational structure, we will be putting in place building blocks for a logical and easy-to-use navigational system that will allow users to move through the site without getting lost in process.
How do you plan on developing a revised structure? I completely agree it is a key improvement, and I’m glad to hear you bringing it up early in the process. Are you planning on doing any usability testing with this?
Thanks for the comment. Usability testing is something we will be conducting throughout the redesign process. In fact, one of the reasons for this blog is to learn more about how visitors to the University Web site use the site, what they’re looking for, and how they are finding the content they want. Site navigation is an element that is directly tied to content organization; a topic we’ll be elaborating on in the near future.
-Danielle, for OEA’s Web team.