Designing the Web from the Content out

It can be safely said that we’re in the era of Web 2.0. New technologies abound to bring far richer experiences to the end user through the medium of the browser. The technologies and capabilities of browsers have evolved considerably since the mid-90s, so should we not review the creative and production process of how we design and build websites so that our processes keep pace with capabilities?

In the mid-90s – and it’s a technique that is still widespread today – the website design (how it looks) is often the first things that gets produced – before any content is written, before any photography or illustration is planned, before any functionality is considered. Often, even the content structure (approximate number of pages. navigation structure, etc) is not known or has not even been thought about.

This approach is inherently flawed for a number of reasons:

• It sets wrong client expectations
• It creates problems for the designer after the design is signed-off
• It creates problems for the developer
• It creates problems for the website visitor

These are not trivial issues, so why do many agencies and freelancers still persist in adopting this “design first” approach?

Client Expectations

Once the design is complete and signed off, it is usually what they expect to see on screen once all the development work is complete. However, if content has not been thought about before the design work starts it is very easy to fall into the trap of discovering that there is much more content that there is available space in the design for, or there is supplemental content which would be nice to have alongside the primary content but there is nowhere to put it.

Consequently, design changes will be necessary during development to accommodate the actual content. This may, in the worst case, mean a complete redesign which could be costly.

Problems for the designer

Following on from the client expectations, it is quite easy to see that the actual fault lies with the designer for not ensuring that the site conformed to the primary requirement of being suitable for the content. Theoretically, the designer should fix this problem before development begins. The designer then needs to manage and realign the client’s expectations as well as deal with the fact that they now have an extra workload to accommodate which may be unpaid.

Where the designer and developer are separate, as in the case of freelancers or agencies working together, it is sometimes left up to the developer to sort out the mess.

Problems for the developer

At this stage, we are now 2 steps removed from the content and the developer is left in the difficult position of trying to fit a quart into a pint pot – an old expression which means trying to fit too much into too little space. The problem is exacerbated when the client expects the developer to be able to fix the layout problems caused by too much (or not enough) content, especially when the developer is purely technical and does not have visually acuity as I have discussed in earlier posts. The problem can be reversed when the client insists that the design is followed strictly but the content can’t allow this.

Problems for the website visitor

Once all the hacking has been done by the various people involved – the client, the designer and the developer – the end result may not be an ideal experience for the website visitor. After all, the website should be designed to present the client’s information in the best possible fashion so that the required messages are delivered clearly and succinctly, the site is easy to use and a pleasure to experience, produces a favourable brand experience, is easily navigable, visitors don’t get lost, products get sold, etc, etc. If we haven’t started from a content out approach, as we have seen from the preceding three problems, we can very easily dilute the experience and fail to deliver the message because design is more important than content.

So why do many agencies and freelancers still persist in adopting this “design first” approach?

Simply because that’s how everybody does it, and it seems that’s how the client expects it to be.

An analogy

When you buy or rent a house you have to accept the limitations of that house; after all it was built in advance of you moving in; the designer, architect and builders didn’t know what furniture you had and so could only created generic spaces to live in. You can’t move the walls (without major work) and so you have to make your furniture fit when you move in. This might mean there is too much space and you need to buy more furniture, or you need to get rid of some so that what you have left fits properly. And you will probably redecorate.

However, on the web we have the advantage that we can measure your furniture (content) before you move in, and design each room (page) to fit perfectly around your content. Consequently, we can build a perfectly tailor-made house (website) for you. But few people adopt this approach and we end up with the problems above which can easily be avoided if we adopted a content-out approach to web design and development.

If we try to do it the house-building way, we often run into additional costs and delays mid-project when the client’s content arrives and we find it doesn’t fit the original design. Who bears those costs is another topic entirely!

Why content-out is a good approach

The web is a content delivery medium; the more effectively we can deliver the content to our target audience, the more effective our website will be for our business. So, if the web is a content delivery medium, shouldn’t content be the most important element of our design and development process?By starting with the content we can align every member of the team to the core purpose of the site, from the stakeholders through to the sales and account managers, and on to the project teams – information architects, designers, developers. With every member aligned to a common purpose, it is much easier to achieve that purpose than if different members or teams operate in relative isolation only to come together towards the end to find their individual pieces of the puzzle don’t quite fit together.

To summarise; Content-out design is a good approach because it:

• Improves cross-team and inter-team communication
• Ensures everybody is working towards the same goal from the start
• Clarifies the goals much earlier
• Avoids unnecessary surprises and consequential rework
• Establishes the relationships between the different content elements early in the process
• Improves efficiency and allows developers to start earlier in the project lifecycle
• Creates a real sense of how the site will work much earlier than traditional methodologies

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