Think twice before re-designing your website: January 14, 2002 issue of New Thinking

January 14, 2002 New Thinking:
Think twice before re-designing your website

Website content management

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Books by
Gerry McGovern

Content Critical

Gaining competitive advantage through high-quality web content

The Web Content
Style Guide

The essential guide
for online writers, editors and managers

January 14, 2002

Think twice before re-designing your website

By Gerry McGovern

The desire to 're-design' your website just because it looks 'out-of-date' may not simply be unnecessary but may also be counterproductive. Your most loyal customers will have got used to the layout and structure of your website. Launching a major new design risks confusing and alienating them.

One of the greatest strengths of the Web can also be a major weakness. Websites are made up of digital bits and bytes, and these are generally easier to change than physical things. For example, it's a very poor architect that keeps pulling down their buildings and re-building them. Yet, many websites go through a constant process of 'evolution,' where their entire architecture gets overhauled on a regular basis.

The evolutionary approach had some logic in the early years of the Web when website design was an emerging discipline. Today, websites that are constantly evolving reflect bad planning rather than best practice. The most popular websites, on the other hand, seek to achieve solid architectural foundations that will remain constant over time.

Take, for example, Yahoo, which is one of the Web's most popular websites. The basic architecture of the Yahoo website has changed little in seven years. In 1994, when Yahoo launched, it offered the following classifications: Arts, Business, Computers, Economy, Education, Entertainment, etc. By 1996, this had evolved to: Arts, Business & Economy, Computers & Internet, Education, Entertainment, etc. In 2001, the classification was: Arts & Humanities, Business & Economy, Computers & Internet, Education, Entertainment, etc.

What is noticeable from Yahoo is how little the basic information architecture has changed over seven years. This is despite the fact that the quantity of content on, and the number of visitors to, Yahoo has grown explosively over that period.

The essential 'look and feel' of Yahoo has remained the same too. Why? Because millions of people are used to it. The behavior of people on the Internet is conservative - they go to less and less websites. Yahoo visitors have invested time and energy learning how to get around Yahoo. This very investment is what keeps many people using Yahoo, rather than going to another portal.

In advertising it's said that advertisers get tired of ads long before the public does. As a result, great ads get dropped, not because they are no longer working, but because the ad agency or marketing manager got bored. This is very true on the Web too. Websites are often changed, not because the people who use them regularly want them changed, but because someone in the organization is tired of the design.

The irony is that the re-design, demanding much effort and expense, can do real damage. The people who use your website most will be among your most valuable customers. Unless the original design was deeply flawed, they will likely hate any changes you make. A new website design means they have to re-learn how to get to parts of the website they regularly visit.

Always resist advice from people who say your website isn't 'eye-catching' anymore. Websites should be functional first, eye-catching second. Don't change your website simply because it's two years old. When someone tells you it's time to change, tell them that the same basic design has been 'good enough' for Yahoo for the last seven years.

Gerry McGovern

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University of Regina, Canada, selects Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide as course material
January 14, 2002: Prof. Curt Schroeder, who teaches web design at the university, stated that, "Every serious webmaster, web designer, online editor, web developer or student-in-training will find these books will make them stop and critically think about their web design work. There is so much useful information here, and it's very readable. Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide must become part of every professional's personal library. My students are now required to read these textbooks." More

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When someone tells you it's time to change, tell them that the same basic design has been 'good enough' for Yahoo for the last seven years.

Content Critical: Highly recommended
"Content Critical is highly recommended. It belongs in every design library. It should be on the reading list of every course in Web design. Any Web designer who plans to be in business five years from now should read this book." More
Ken Friedman, Design Research News, January 2002