Complex Website Architecture Design w.r.t Usability and Design
Are there any good websites/blogs which discusses about Complex website architecture designs when it comes to usability and Design. For example if some one wants to build websites like Amazon, Ebay, etc how we need to start with? What are the basic things to be kept in mind while preparing a (mockup) architecture design, etc
Note: I don't need information on back end process(like web-services, API's, etc). Just from a design perspective need an answer here
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are you speaking of UI "architecture" soley in terms of f. e. usability or of how to run backend services with clusters etc? The latter one is hard to find, its to complex. The first one you'll find when lookin through amazon searching for "usabilityb" – Christian 12 years ago
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I'm looking for UI Design not the services which run in the backend – Krishna Reddy 12 years ago
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Would you please consider re-wording your title and your question? :-) "Architecture" is an overloaded word, and would make it hard for other people to find this discussion. AFAIK what you are looking for is often called "information architecture", "usability", and "interaction design". – Jesper Mortensen 12 years ago
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@JesperMortensen yeah, thats done i rewrote my question. Hope it makes more sense now. Thanks for the suggestion :) – Krishna Reddy 12 years ago
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Its much better :-) – Christian 12 years ago
2 Answers
There are plenty of books and resources on the topic; and it's also something which many design schools and universities teach. Lastly you can often hire consultants with prior experience, these are often called "interaction designers", "information architecture specialists", or just "usability experts".
One hands-on book with practical information is "Designing Web Interfaces " by Jenifer Tidwell. It mostly covers patterns for distinct user interface elements, such as a main navigation menus, edit-in-place interactions, main navigation menus on mobile, etc.
Steve Krug has written excellent books in this field. His latest book "Rocket Surgery Made Easy " is a practical and quick introduction to usability testing, i.e. discovering what the problems are. His previous book "Don't make me think" is a classic.
if some one wants to build websites like Amazon, Ebay, etcIMHO you can't start from scratch and make a proper design for such a complex site. The design needs to be appropriate for the customers, but as a company grows and adds to its products, the customer needs change. Design for the interactions you have now with an eye to what's going to be added in the near future -- not for what your site might look like in 2+ years.
how we need to start with?KNOWLEDGE. Accumulated by experience. A website wont help you - like a cookbook will not make you a 5 star cook running a restaurant or even come close to enable you to.
In this case hire a freelancer software architect with relevant experience - expect to PAY (1000+ USD per day, minimum).
What are the basic things to be kept in mind while preparing a (mockup)Brutlaly speaking: that you dont know how to do it when you have to ask. YOu have to keep in mind scalability, physical limitations, uptime requirements, response time envelopes and a ton of new things as well as put up a decent technological stack (java or .NET being significantly positive here - especially .NET - as you can do the whole stack in one langauge). Not making stupi mistakes because you overlook something so the uptime or scalability fall flat on your nose.
architecture design, etc
Takes "make it in a project" and some years of experience.
