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Presented at InterLab 2013, a workshop aimed at web designers, web application developers, online communications professionals, and managers of internet resources throughout the United States Department of Energy laboratory complex.
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Redesigning
BNL.GOV
A Journey in Five Acts
@gary_schroeder
(or How We Blew Up the Death Star)
Hi. I’m Gary Schroeder @gary_schroeder
Redesigning a website is a big, hairy deal that involves extreme challenges, risks, adventures
and intense battles
Obviously, it’s just like
Call to Adventure Our web team was trapped on Tatooine, stuck on a moisture farm with no hope of ever getting into the Academy, a complete life of unfulfilled boredom
UNLESS…
OMG, we’re going on a
REDESIGN ADVENTURE
So, what was wrong with BNL.GOV?
EVERYTHING
BORING Long passages of text that no one would ever read
www.shorpy.com/node/15673
OUTDATED Last major update was NINE YEARS ago
MISSION? Can anybody tell if we even have a
‘Some kinda scienc-ey stuff?’
ORG CHART Death by
No one gives a rip about internal fiefdoms
AMATEURS We looked like
(Amateurs have no credibility)
APATHY
Redesigning a website is a big, hairy deal that involves extreme challenges, risks, adventures
and intense battles
CONTENT STRATEGY Since we don’t have one, let’s start with a
Content strategy plans for the
creation, publication, and governance
of useful, usable content.
Kristina Halvorson
www.flickr.com/photos/45923218@N00/4835160197
Publishing Criteria Why are you publishing this?
Info Architecture Is it logically arranged, findable?
Content Strategy
Messages What do you want them to know?
ID Audiences Who are you trying to reach? (And why?)
Work Flow Routine process for scheduling, producing, publishing
Measure success (or lack of it)
Metrics
The content strategist defines not only which content will be published, but why it’s being published in the first place. Without a strategy, we’re just running a production line for content that nobody needs or wants.
www.shorpy.com/node/15585
A Mentor Journey begins following contact with sages or wizards who give guidance
Between regular baseline work and a relentless stream of unscheduled work requests, our available resources are fully subscribed. We have insufficient reserve capacity to sustain a project that requires the long-term focus that a full content overhaul requires.
(Actual quote!)
Erin Kissane Author of ‘The Elements of Content Strategy’
www.flickr.com/photos/webstock06/6885493653/
CORE TEAM
CS DELIVERABLES
Accessibility Guides Publishing Workflow
Benchmarks Qualitative Content Audit
Channel Strategies Quantitative Content Audit
Competitive Analyses Resource Review
Content Style Guide SEO Review
Content Templates Success Metrics
Editorial Calendars User Persona
Example Content User Research Plans
Feature Descriptions User Scenarios
Gap Analyses Workflow Recommendations
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
AUDIT Oh boy! It’s time for a content
TOTAL DRAG
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
Our home page is a blizzard.
There’s too much information
right away.
www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551851700
Our website should facilitate a two-way conversation with industry.
www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/8533281990
Our site lacks a compelling vision. What’s our version of ‘we helped put a man on the moon’?
www.flickr.com/photos/bergen_public_library/5427117205
Potential recruits are our most important audience.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2552861639
The website needs to work better for elected officials, high-level industry reps and community
members.
www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/9031464131
Audiences Dept. of Energy Current employees
Elected officials (staffers) Students
Community members Journalists/Media
Science-interested public Facility Users
Potential employees Potential facility users
Top Tasks Find contact information Learn how to apply for a job
Evaluate programs or facilities Find relevant research news
Understand what BNL does Learn how to become a facility user
See available jobs See what BNL offers industry
Recommended Site Structure
Content Templates
0. Home Page 1.0 Landing Page 1.1 Sub Page
Template 1.0: ‘Our Science’ Landing Page
Intro to BNL’s work Brookhaven’s scientific breakthroughs ensure a successful energy future for our nation. We research: 1. nuclear and particle physics, to understand more about matter, energy, space, and time; 2. photon sciences and nanomaterials, to research new kinds of energy production; and 3. the relationship between climate change, sustainable energy, and the Earth’s ecosystems.
Themes Energy Security: We collaborate with industry and academic partners to reduce the carbon footprint of our economy through efficiency and renewable fuels. Light as a Discovery Tool: Our light sources work as powerful microscopes to help researchers find solutions to the grand energy challenges facing the US. Etc. …
Our Science
Science Powering Industry Short blurb, link to case study, small image.
About BNL Brookhaven carries out critical energy research at the frontier of science and operates world-leading research facilities on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Success Metrics Unique visits Subscriber volume Number of shares
What number indicates ‘success’?
Time on site Is a high number or a low number good? High number might mean they couldn’t find desired content. Low number might mean they didn’t stop to read content.
www.flickr.com/photos/60527064@N00/3538962602
What We Had at end of CS consult
• Who we were trying to reach • What we wanted to tell them • What we thought they wanted to do (top tasks) • Suggestions for how to arrange content in a way that
would be easy for them to find it • List of content to dump b/c it had no WHY • Where the content gaps were and what had to be
written to better explain the Lab’s mission, capabilities, national value and achievements
• The attention of management and our own writing staff
Frustration Far from reaching the goal because there’s a series of obstacles
USER INTERFACE Uh oh, we need a new
Many of BNL CMS functions write out database records in "slats" format, where each record is returned as a unique <li> where <ul class="slats">.
BNL.GOV/COMMON
HOME PAGE The Big Bone of Contention, the
www.flickr.com/photos/38611695@N00/2210578063/
Home Page Content Priorities
START SKETCHING
RESPONSIVE Yup, it’s
NEW CONTENT Time to write
www.shorpy.com/node/15322
CORE TEAM
NO PROJECTS WITHOUT
MILESTONES
Template 1.0: ‘Our Science’ Landing Page
Intro to BNL’s work Brookhaven’s scientific breakthroughs ensure a successful energy future for our nation. We research: 1. nuclear and particle physics, to understand more about matter, energy, space, and time; 2. photon sciences and nanomaterials, to research new kinds of energy production; and 3. the relationship between climate change, sustainable energy, and the Earth’s ecosystems.
Themes Energy Security: We collaborate with industry and academic partners to reduce the carbon footprint of our economy through efficiency and renewable fuels. Light as a Discovery Tool: Our light sources work as powerful microscopes to help researchers find solutions to the grand energy challenges facing the US. Etc. …
Our Science
Science Powering Industry Short blurb, link to case study, small image.
About BNL Brookhaven carries out critical energy research at the frontier of science and operates world-leading research facilities on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
‘RIGOROUSLY FRIENDLY’
www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/8755526695
Document Control
The Final Ordeal Culminating in a great battle
Communications ALD
Stakeholder Relations
Chief Information Officer
Deputy Director for Ops
Management Council
PRESENTATIONS
THE DIRECTOR In which we present to
I applaud your motivation and expect that the results will be fantastic. However, I was shocked earlier this month when CERN rolled out their new web pages. Perhaps it was the way I used the old web pages, but it is much harder to find the links which were trivially available on the old CERN site.
Goal Achieved After a thrilling escape from death, the goal is finally won and order is restored
PARTY TIME
I had friends on that Death Star…
PUT THE PHONE BOOK LINK BACK ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!!!
billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
Where is the phone directory? It used to be right on the home page.
billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
You changed the way to look up phone numbers. The old way was much simpler. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
The menu bar at the top is way too small !
billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
I have large margins of dead space on the left and right sides that I don’t recall seeing before.
billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
I know it’s job security for you folks to revise web pages, but this revision was not only unnecessary, it was in the retrograde direction.
NO, THERE IS ANOTHER ‘That redesign was our last one.’