Hello from the windswept south

Hello everyone there in sunny (?) Leicester. As they say at the Oscars, "I'm sorry I couldn't be with you today..." (cue video of badly synced Mike with enormous replica trophy..)

Just been reading the blog and it's all looking really very interesting.

A couple of things to just chuck into the pot - and these could well have been covered during the time you've spent already so just ignore/bin/chuckle if they have.

I've been thinking about the "elevator pitch", less than 5 minutes worth of advice I would give to anyone going about website designing (and by "designing" I mean the whole process, not just the graphic, beard-strokey bit). I could obviously bang on about this for some time, having done it for a while, but brevity is good so here's a few distilled highlights:

• The single most - and I mean MOST - important thing to take into account are your users. This sounds easy, but in an institutional (and geeky) context, it's very easy to get lost in "stakeholder" (important people) requirements and "feature creep" (IT excitement) gadgetry. Start your design, IA and content from the ground up with the user in mind. Read (sorry, might be a bit late for this) Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" - he is incredibly clear about the importance of user testing (even if it's just with your friends) and the fact that technology should be invisible.
  
  
• Closely related to this is the notion of using technologies for a reason. I'm a classic example of someone who struggles daily/hourly with the huge excitement of THE NEXT BIG THING. Don't have a FacebookRSSBlogTwitterWikiFlickr thingy unless you think your users will find it useful. There is a fine line here - sometimes you need to push your users rather than just asking them but do tech for a reason rather than because you can...
  
  
• Personally, I'm a visual kind of person, and in my experience, so are the majority of people. Spend a lot of time with wireframes - vanilla designs built in tools like Powerpoint. Use these for testing, sharing "shapes", IA, words or even content. Be very clear that these aren't designs - (yes, I have had a curator say to me "but it's a little bit grey, and there aren't many pictures.."). Remember that Google Docs has a simple Powerpoint clone which (as always) lets you share ideas online...
  
  
• Develop a site map early on. I love mind maps for this. After a few years playing with (and paying for) commercial tools like MindJet I've actually now settled on MindMeister, an online mindmapping tool that is not only excellent to use but also lets you share and export as well. There are other ways of doing site mapping (not least on paper!) but mind maps float my boat. Connect your site map with your wireframes and use this to decide what templates your site will have.
  
  
• Use tools to develop proof of concepts. Online, try Google Pages - a very simple way of editing and publishing web pages. It's easier and cheaper than Dreamweaver and also lets you share concepts with your "client".
  
  
• Think about things like extensibility and the way the site holds together if you're going to procure or use a CMS. The concept of an API might seem unimportant to you now, but imagine what will happen if in ten years you want to export all your data and have it visible on-gallery via a kiosk, or the CMS company goes bust. Alternative ways of getting at your data are crucial.
  
  
• If you're going to think about accessibility (and you should...) then think about it holistically and not (as is often the way with museum and government sites) in terms of box ticking. Usability and accessibility are inextricably linked. One of the joys of the "modern" way of designing sites with CSS, DIVs and separation of content and design is that these approaches potentially bring you a powerful blend of visual candy, flexibility AND accessibility. Don't (and this is a little bit controversial) design JUST for disabled users - design for your entire audience. Whatever you do, ignore the people who say "don't use Flash" but listen to those who say "do we need Flash, or can we do it better another way?". If the answer is no, do it in Flash but make sure you provide an alternative version for those who can't see or use it.

I said I wouldn't go on. And I've also failed my first point by not knowing anything about my audience, so I could well be preaching to the converted... :-)

Please don't hesitate to get in touch this week (or at any other time!) - I'd love to be involved. Ross has my contact details. I'm also a Twitter addict - http://twitter.com/dmje so please drop me a line.