2007
Balanced Website DesignOptimising Aesthetics, Usability and Purpose Authors:

• Dave Lawrence BSc, MA, PhD, PGCertHE,
• Soheyla Tavakol BA, MA, PGCertHE
• …show all 2hide
  

ISBN: 978-1-84628-518-9 (Print) 978-1-84628-795-4  (Online)

About this textbook
Balanced Website Design (BWD) is a new methodology that fuses the strengths of traditional structured, stepped, and iterative approaches with a sharp focus on defining and achieving the desired characteristics of purpose, usability and aesthetics – absolutely essential requirements for any website. The book includes discussions of new perspectives on usability and aesthetics in the special context of website design.
BWD is suitable for all types of websites, for individual and/or team projects, and should prove to be of significant value for even the most experienced of website designers. BWD provides guidance, structure and detailed documentation/process support for the activity of designing and implementing your next website – helping you to maximise its effectiveness and relevance.
Features:

• A stepped, iterative, comprehensively structured and easy to follow approach to website design
• An approach that identifies and balances design needs against specific design ideas across each of the categories of aesthetics, usability and purpose
• New perspectives on usability and aesthetics
• Specially designed documentation provided to facilitate and support each process step
• A methodology that is applicable to all types of website, and to all project scenarios
• Resource based support via the book’s website (www.springer.com/1-84628-518-6)
  

Dr. Dave Lawrence is a Senior Lecturer in multimedia web technology at Middlesex University, and has been researching in this field for over a decade. The BWD concept and material have been progressively tested in classes over the past five years. Soheyla Tavakol comes from a freelance graphic design background and has been teaching at university level in desktop publishing and digital media for many years.


Table of contents Grounding.- BWD: The Context Explained.- The World of Website Design.- Website Usability.- Aesthetics and Websites.- Methodology.- Requirements: Initial Acquisition.- Design Needs: Building the Picture.- Designing the Solution.- Creating the Website.- Implementation Issues.- Software Tools.- Website Hosting and Website Management.

From the reviews:
"‘Balanced Website Design (BWD) is a new methodology that fuses the strengths of traditional structured, stepped, and iterative approaches with … the desired characteristics of purpose, usability and aesthetics.’ … Throughout the book, there are many helpful figures and tables to support the methodology. The structure of the book makes it appropriate for academic use. In addition, practitioners looking for ways to improve or broaden their skills, to serve clients with varying needs and interests, will be interested in reading the book." (M. G. Murphy, ACM Computing Reviews, Vol. 49 (3), March, 2008)