We started the new website effort with a different point of view than most; the visitor’s! From that starting point after much deliberation and collaboration, we determined four top criteria; make information easy to find, make science approachable and to the point, make the site easy to get around (navigate) and lastly make it equally easy on a computer monitor as it is on a mobile device. That was a tall task. Here’s how we did it.

To begin with the first criteria easier to find, we studied how visitors find the site based on search. From that data we completely reconsidered the categorization of the pages from the previous site. Ultimately, we were able to get down to just three basic categories; services, the standards by which the work is done, and our company. Fewer categories creates more clarity and easier navigation.

For the second criteria, approachable science, we focused more on shortening our writing style. By writing underlying science from at a higher level of observation the visitor gets a message more quickly without lots of dense text. This provides the visitor with confidence in our expertise at what we do. Additionally, on the services pages we added a Quick Read box filled with additional information about assays and the development and validation processes.

When it came to improved navigation there are two ways that visitors tend to navigate; by traditional text and drop down navigation and by visual location cues. Our choice was to provide both methods on the home page. For the traditionalist visitor, the dropdown box is more spacious and easier to read making for higher accuracy of clicks for less frustration for visitors. Also in that drop down, for visitor’s who can’t quite find what they want, there is a search tool inside the drop down itself.

For the visual navigators we applied a stylized button approach which blended in with our final criteria of equal performance on a computer monitor and a mobile device. The button approach is an important alternative for mobile users. Scrolling in a drop down on a phone can be too small to read. By using the button approach, the scroll of the page with a tap of a button gets a visitor where they want to go quickly. Applying that to the Home page as a navigation option provides a similar visual experience for both platforms creating interchangeable familiarity on the site.

That’s how we thought it through. Please wander around at the new website and see if it works for you. Try it on your phone, too. Send us any comments you have about your experience finding the information you are seeking.

Tags : New Website