the missing link in sharepoint site usability

1 | SharePoint Saturday Chicago 2013Twitter: @SPSChicago Hashtag #SPSChicago

Tips for Site Owners to make their SharePoint sites more usable and keep users engaged

Wendy [email protected]

The Missing Link in SharePoint Site Usability


Wendy Neal Senior SharePoint Consultant

for McGladrey Community Rep for

SharePoint-Community.net Contributing Author for:

EndUserSharePoint.com CMSWire

Die-hard Chicago Bears fan

@SharePointWendysharepointwendy.comlinkedin.com/in/wendyneal


Outline & Agenda Basic Usability Concepts The “Missing Link” Responsibilities of a Site Owner Keeping Your Site’s Users Engaged


Basic Usability Concepts


Rule #1: Don’t Make Me Think

According to Steve Krug, websites should be obvious and self-explanatoryIf you remember nothing else about usability, remember this rule!


Types of Navigation

Navigation by browsing Primary navigation Secondary navigation Utilities links

Navigation by Searching


Navigation Best Practices

Secondary links relative to where you’re at

Active links highlighted

Page titles match link names

Breadcrumbs

Concise and consistent primary navigation Identical no matter where you are Max 9 links


Home Page Design Attract attention Good balance of images

and text Answer these questions:

1. What is this?2. What can I do here?3. Why should I be here?

Place important content “above the fold”


Home Page Design (cont.) Omit needless

words Don’t write a book;

people won’t read it anyway

Provide short blurbs and links instead to wordy content

Keep content succinct and uncluttered

“Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” – Steve Krug

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Design for Different Screen Sizes

Typical minimum screen size is 1024 x 768 Test your site on different

screen resolutions You want to avoid left/right

scrolling at all costs! The “fold” will be in

different places depending on screen resolution



Hyperlink Etiquette

Are you linking to…

New Window

Same Window

A site other than yours?

Someplace within your site?

To open in a new window or not, that is the question



Remember… Anything that confuses or frustrates

users, or makes them think too hard, will not persuade them to come back



The “Missing Link”



SharePoint Navigation Areas

SearchGlobal Navigation

Quick Launch

Utilities

Page Title

Breadcrumbs



SharePoint 2010 Usability Report Card

http://www.sharepointwendy.com/2013/02/sharepoint-2010-usability-report-card.html

Element A B C D F

Primary navigation

Secondary navigation

Breadcrumbs

Page titles

Search

Screen size compatibility






What do all these have in common?

Websites are the underlying element and are how users consume everything on the wheel



Types of Access

Locked Down by IT Traditional “Intranet” Navigation structure not

editable by users Usually team/department

based hierarchy

Open to Site Owners Team sites Collaboration areas Assign site owners to

manage navigation and content

We are referring to these sites going forward (although people who design Intranet sites could benefit from this discussion as well)



So what is the Missing Link?



People are the ones who must design and maintain their sites User-friendly SharePoint sites must be

designed with good usability principles in mind

We must teach our site owners: Basic usability concepts How to be webmasters of their sites



Responsibilities of a Site Owner



Responsibilities of a Site Owner Designing the

Site/Navigation Setting up the

information architecture Permissions

management Analyzing usage statistics Content facilitation Assisting users with

issues



Designing the Site/Navigation You don’t need to be a

designer; simply updating the site image and theme can make a big difference

When creating sub sites, make sure to inherit navigation from parent site (it is set to “No” by default!)



Sub Sites vs. Pages

Use sub sites when: You need several supporting lists and libraries You have separate permissions needs You don’t want to manually create or manage

top navigation links

Sub sites:

• Hierarchical global navigation automatically cascades down

Pages:

• Global navigation hierarchy must be manually created

How they affect navigation



Don’t be tempted to do this!

If a page or section isn’t ready, simply hiding it from users is better

Or this!



Permissions Management Keep permissions as simple

as possible Don’t give the entire team

“Full Control” privileges Give users the least amount of

privileges necessary to do their job

Utilize SharePoint and/or Active Directory groups Try not to put individuals directly

in the site/library/list level



Setting up the Information Architecture Hopefully, your company has defined

standards around the information architecture Important to understand

metadata, site columns, and content types

Don’t use folders, use metadata and views!

Don’t just dump all the files on your shared drive into SharePoint!



Analyzing Usage Statistics Usage Stats allow you to see WHO is

viewing your site, WHAT they are looking at, and WHERE they came from

The Advanced Web Analytics feature must be activated at the site collection level



Content Facilitation

Posting news and announcements

Regardless of type of content – each type needs an OWNER who will keep the content up-to-date

Moderate blogs, forums, discussion lists Define document management and

archiving policies



Assisting Users with Issues You will be the first line of

defense It’s important that you

understand how SharePoint and your site works

Can escalate issues to your Help Desk if necessary



Keeping Your Site’s Users Engaged



If You Build It… Will people flock to your site just

because you’ve published it?



Promote Your Site

Lunch and learns Contests Set up user

alerts Bulletin boards



Frequent Updates to Content

Announcements Did You Know? What’s New? Quote of the Week Team Member

Spotlight



Eat Your Own Dog Food

Lead by example Use SharePoint

for your own processes, collaboration and document sharing



Conclusion



Key Points to Take Home SharePoint sites have the capability of

being user-friendly, IF they are designed properly

Organizations need to provide SharePoint training as well as teach site owners how to be “webmasters” of their sites

A well-designed, user-friendly website is like a clean house… It doesn’t always get the full appreciation it deserves, but when it’s cluttered or disorganized, everyone notices!



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