[Sigia-l] General access versus members-only sites

[Andrew Boyd]

Good grief,

too early in the morning :)

What I meant to say was:
"- design subsite-specific interfaces that are similar enough not to 
break branding but different enough that users know which site they are 
in." Most CMS have some kind of layout/template control that allows this.

Just on this, IBM's product description/sales areas and redbook areas 
are a good example of this principle - you know that you couldn't be 
anywhere but an IBM site, but they are distinct within themselves.

Cheers, Andrew


Andrew Boyd wrote:

> Hi Anthony,
>
> I've worked (and continue to work on) projects where there are 
> different patterns of information dissemination based on access levels 
> and need. Over the years I've found it easier to admit defeat on 
> successfully maintaining a bunch of sites sharing the same information 
> manually and have gone to recommending and using CMS. Used properly 
> (by constant application of sound design principles), they work to 
> serve different levels of the same information to a range of users. My 
> 5 seconds worth of free advice would be:
> - don't forget St. Ranganathan's facets - beware of 
> organisational-hierarchy-as-God organic structure bases,
> - do thorough user/task analysis so you know exactly what you've 
> supposed to be providing to the target audience members, and
> - design an interface that is similar enough not to break branding but 
> different enough that users know which site they are in.
>
> One project I worked on produced a CMS that disseminated appropriate 
> information across 6 different-but-linked intranets, dependant on user 
> security access and particular need. It is quite doable.
>
> Cheers, Andrew
>
> Anthony Hempell wrote:
>
>> Hi -
>> I'm working on the beginning stages of a project for a large
>> service-provider company. In our pitch and creative process we came up
>> with idea of having a dedicated site that was for members only - not
>> just a "members" section or a username/password like on Amazon, but a
>> separate URL that would marketed specifically to members.  There would
>> still be the existing URL for a general-purpose web site that would be
>> aimed at new/potential members and the general public.
>>
>> Although I haven't started the design process yet, I'm already having
>> some concerns about how to divide up the content of the two sites.
>> Specifically:
>>
>> - how to manage content that would be of use to both sites;
>> - strategies and tactics for making the general / member site concept
>> clear to users who may be confused which is which; 
>> - any evidence that this is or isn't a good idea, specifically with the
>> additional time involved to create and manage two sites instead of one.
>>
>> Offhand I can't think of another example of this high-level architecture
>> (other than banking sites, which often have a dedicated URL for their
>> online banking applications... not an exact parallel, but a similar
>> idea) and was wondering if others had either seen this setup in action
>> or have had experience in designing two complimentary sites like this.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Anthony
>>
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>>  
>>
>
>


-- 
_________________________________________
Andrew Boyd 
Business Development Manager
Daily Basis P/L
Phone 02 6282 9797 or 02 4885 1357
Mobile 0412 641 074
Email andrew at dailybasis.com.au
or andrew_db at bigpond.com
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