Designing for User Engagement on the Web

Cheryl Geisler is Professor of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University where she is the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology.

• The PrinciplesPrinciple 1: Design for Diverse Users Principle 2: Design for UsabilityPrinciple 3: Test the BackbonePrinciple 4: Extend a WelcomePrinciple 5: Set the Context Principle 6: Make a ConnectionPrinciple 7: Share ControlPrinciple 8: Support Interactions among UsersPrinciple 9: Create a Sense of Place Principle 10: Plan to Continue the EngagementThe Case StudiesCase Study 1: Information Gallery for Young People Case Study 2: Wikis for CollaborationCase Study 3: Cultural WebsitesCase Study 4: Usability in Distance EducationCase Study 5: An Interactive ImageAppendicesAppendix 1: Heuristic EvaluationAppendix 2: Comparative User TestingAppendix 3: Formal Testing

Designing for User Engagement on the Web has arrived at a pivotal moment in the field of communication design and technical communication in particular, when the proliferation and popularization of user-generated content threatens to marginalize the role of the professional designer/writer. The authors convincingly argue and effectively demonstrate that this professional obsolescence is far from inevitable. The book envisions new roles for writers/designers that build on traditional strengths in user and task analysis, design, and usability testing, but that must now adapt to the uncertainty of tasks, users, contexts, and motivations that attends massively-collaborative user input. The ten principles outlined suggest how we build on our strengths, both analytically and formatively, by accommodating user engagement. Instead of framing the work of writers and designers in a traditional way, as packagers of usable content, the authors use their principles to recast that work as the facilitation of usable content. The principles are sensible, well argued, and compellingly grounded in projects whose usefulness will be immediately apparent. This book will be essential reading for programs that train writers and designers with relevance in the 21st century. -- Jason Swarts, North Carolina State University