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Sorting through a pile of old papers today I found a little stash of articles about the ways content can be sorted. It was neat to run across so many different ways of sorting information. Here's part one of what I found in the pile.

Information seekers pursue objects relevant to their tasks and apply task action steps to achieve their intentions. ... In planning a web site to present complex information structures, it helps to have a clear definition of the atomic objects and then the aggregates. Atoms can be a birthdate, name, job title, biography, resume or technical report. With image data, an atomic object might be a color swatch, icon, corporate logo, portrait photo or music video.
Information atoms can be combined in many ways to form aggregates such as a page in a newspaper, a city guidebook or an annotated musical score. Clear definitions are helpful to coordinate among designers and inform users about the intended levels of abstraction within each project. Information aggregates are further combined into collections and libraries that form the universe of concern relevant to a given set of tasks.
Strategies for aggregating information are numerous. Here is a starting list of possibilities:

• Short unstructured lists. City guide highlights, organizational divisions, current projects (and this list).
• Linear structures. Calendar of events, alphabetic list, human body slice images from head to toe, orbital swath.
• Arrays or tables. Departure city-arrival city-departure date.
• Hierarchies, trees. Continent-country-city (Africa-Nigeria-Lagos), concepts (sciences-physics-semiconductors-gallium arsenide).
• Multi-trees, faceted retrieval. Photos indexed by date, photographer, location, topic, film type.
• Networks. Journal citations, genealogies, World Wide Web.

These aggregates can be used to describe structured information objects, such as an encyclopedia, which is usually seen as a linear alphabetical list of articles, with a linear index of terms pointing to pages. Articles may have a hierarchical structure of sections and subsections, and cross references among articles create a network.
Some information objects, such as a book table of contents, have a drual role since they may be read to understand the topic itself or browsed to gain access to a chapter. In the latter role they represent the actions for navigation in a book.

Excerpted from "Designing information-abundant web sites: issues and recommendations" by Ben Shneiderman in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (1997) 47, 5-29

Welcome to the new year! Today SlideShare.net sent out a fantastic set of social media tips. I loved the list so much, that I'm sharing it with you as well (with my own comments).

1. Pay Attention to the Metrics
   Know what you're going to measure before you get involved. You need to know what you're doing right and what's just a waste of time.
2. Scale Good Habits
   Just because it works for you, doesn't mean it'll work for a team of 20 people. Make sure you scale the things that ought to be extended to your whole team.
3. Have Rules, But Trust People
   I don't think I need any more explanation on this one!
4. Creativity & Personality Trump Big Budget
   Think of your favourite YouTube video that "went viral." There probably wasn't a huge budget behind it--just a story and maybe some humour too. Don't wait until you can afford to do everything perfectly. Figure out how to take action when you've got the right story and the right people to make things happen.
5. Listen Listen Listen
   To quote slideshare's original list, "Don't focus so much on you and your message. Put that farther down on your To Do List. Focus first on your customers. Hear what they are saying, see what they're up to. Once you've been able to connect, and figure them out, then see how you can help."

I love this advice, I hope you found it useful too.

I don't invest a lot of money in hardware. My desktop computer is one that I bought used from ReNewed Computers in downtown Owen Sound. When I travel I carry a netbook that probably has less computing power than an iPhone (it probably cost less too). Even though I don't spend a lot on hardware, I still expect everything on my computer to happen at a laser-fast speed. I get impatient when things don't happen instantly. This applies to the Web as well. Over an over again the experts have told us: Users care how fast your Web pages load. Amazon reports that they make fewer sales when pages take longer to load; and Google reports that fewer searches are made when there are more search results per page.

Fortunately almost all of the user response time happens on the parts of your Web site visitors can see. In other words: you can make your Web site a lot faster by making some very simple changes. Here are five tips you can implement today to make your Web site faster for your visitors.

1. Send less data. How many stories do you have on the home page of your Web site? Can you reduce this number by half? A lot blogs put a ridiculous number of posts on the front page. One month's worth of news, or up to 5 stories, is enough for most small business Web sites. Of course if you're running a news site, like the CBC or Globe and Mail, this tip may not apply to you. And if you've ever tried visiting the front page of the G&M site from a dial-up Internet connection you've probably found a different source for news.

2. Choose your images carefully. Calculate the size difference between one large banner image and several smaller images. Where it makes sense, combine images into a single collage.

3. Compress your content. Instead of uploading huge images; make sure you resize them to something that is more appropriate. Most graphics programs will also allow you to adjust the "compression" of the image so that it takes up less space. For JPGs set the quality to 70% instead of 100%. For single-colour logos and other line drawings, use a GIF instead of a JPG.

4. Reduce widget and overall template weight. Do you really need all that stuff in the side bar of every single page on your Web site? If you use a content management system, such as WordPress or Drupal, examine the goal of each of type of Web page. Find places to simply your template design and help visitors focus on taking the Most Wanted Response for each page of your site.

5. Test your page speed and look for more ways to improve. I've been using a fantastic analysis site for years. You simply plug in the URL of your Web site and it will give you a full report explaining how long it takes to download each element that makes up each page. This free tool is available at http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/. My Web site is 80% faster than the CBC home page. How does your site compare?

Studies have shown that faster sites sell more products. Now is the time to cut down on page load times as holiday shoppers gear up for the buying season. With these five simple tips you will be able to improve your speed and sales too!

I spend a lot of time explaining to geeks how business works; and a lot of time explaining how Web development works to businesses. Every year I work with clients that have found out too late they've asked a software developer to build something they don't need, or don't know how to maintain. This wastes a lot of time and money. Even if you don't need this information now, here are the top five things you'll wish you knew the next time you need to work with a Web design firm to create a new Web site.

1. There are multiple ways to build software "the right way." The two main
styles of Web development practiced today are waterfall and agile. Waterfall software development is very rigid and has discrete development stages; agile software development uses iterative development with very small features being added in very short time frames. If you are a process junkie, read up on these two development methodologies to see which style matches the way your business operates.

2. Not all "Web designers" are the same: know the roles you need to hire. A Web site will typically need the following technical skill sets: user interaction designer, visual designer, software developer, front end developer and information architect. Over the years I have worked as nearly every "kind" of Web designer but I currently specialize in front end development for microbusiness Web sites. I am the glue that holds together the work from graphic designers and software developers.

3. Have SMART goals. If your goals for your Web site are not Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Relevant and Timed, do not hire a developer. You're not ready for one yet. If you know you don't have SMART goals hire a marketing specialist or small business consultant who specialises in online marketing to help you create these goals.

4. Know what your customer wants and what they want to buy. Unless you're running a "vanity" site, your Web site isn't really about you, it's about your customers. Make sure you know what they want and that you are only building features that will improve your interactions with your customers. Don't be distracted by the things your Web design team knows how to build. Identify what is “urgent” and required for launch and then plan to release something new at least every four months for the first year of your site. It will keep people excited and talking about your business.

5. Identify the people who will be updating your Web site once it has launched. Include these people in the planning process and talk to them about any restrictions, and freedoms, they need to have to get their job done. Being exposed to only the tasks they need to work on will help your staff to be more productive and will reduce training costs. Where possible, have your staff enter content into the Web site as part of the development process. It will be cheaper than having a "geek" do it, and it will provide your staff with valuable training time in a safe environment where the "geeks" can help fix mistakes.

These are the top five tips I wish everyone knew before they hired a bunch of software developers to build a Web site. If they aren't immediately useful to you, tuck them away for later. They will save you time and money on your next Web project.