Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes for Crafting a Customer-Centered Web Experience

Sometimes customers will need help carrying out and completing a task on your Web site. This pattern group describes ways to structure your site to...

Background All Web applications that lead visitors through stepped tasks—PERSONAL E-COMMERCE (A1), SELF-SERVICE GOVERNMENT (A4), WEB APPS THAT WORK (A10), and ENABLING INTRANETS (A11)—need ways to...

Figure H2.1. MSN Hotmail has an easy sign-in if customers already have an account, or if visitors create a new account on the spot.(www.hotmail.com, October...

Background Some customers prefer just to use a Web site instead of having to create an account first. An example would be going through the QUICK-FLOW...

Figure H4.1. This account management page lets customers see and update all the information that Buy.com manages for them. Customers can update their e-mail address,...

Figure H5.1. Cookies are the most common way of implementing persistent customer sessions, which are necessary to provide personalized services. However, cookies pose several implementation...

Background Some PROCESS FUNNELS (H1), CONTEXT-SENSITIVE HELP (H8), and EMBEDDED LINKS (K7) need to display information in addition to the current page, without taking visitors to...

Background Customers often have the same questions when browsing through a Web site, whether they are on a PERSONAL E-COMMERCE (A1) or a COMMUNITY CONFERENCE (A3)...

Background People will always encounter problems, finding that they need more information to complete a task. This may even occur when they are trying to complete...