- Jack J. Yu <jy@kodak.com>
- More Flexible Questioning
- Surveys and questionnaires are conducted throughout the Web for
a variety of reasons. However, the types of questions that can be
asked over the Web are constrained by the user interface elements
provided. The following assumes that we will limit our discussion to
that which can be accomplished using HTML.
- The Web supports the following types of questions well:
-
- Multiple-choice question with single response (radio buttons, pull-downs)
- Multiple-choice question with unconstrained multiple responses(checkboxes, selection lists)
- Open-ended question with constrained response (text field with MAXLENGTH)
- Open-ended question with unconstrained response (text field, text area)
- The Web is not as good at supporting the following types of
questions, many of which have applications in market research:
- Multiple-choice question with constrained multiple responses
(e.g., pick two from Column A, two from Column B)
- Rank-ordering a number of items
- Distribution of a constant sum across a number of options
- Sorting a number of items into an arbitrary number of groups
- Presentation of different follow-up questions depending on
respondent's answer to a previous question (without resorting to a
form submission)
- How can these types of questions be asked, given the currently
available user interface elements? What can be accomplished using
HTML only? Using HTML and Javascript?
- Translating, globalizing, and localizing a Web site
- This problem seems partially a question of policy, but presents
some interesting Web site navigation challenges:
- How can a Web site, especially a very large one, be provided in
multiple languages? The simple answer is to translate the entire site
into each language, but this leads to a maintenance nightmare; every
modification must be repeated in each site. Is this the only way to
do it? What, if any, alternatives exist?
- Assuming that an "original" site exists in one
language, how should versions in other languages be developed, and
what relationship should they have with each other and with the
original? How should they be linked together, if at all? If a version
is incomplete, should it link into the original site wherever needed?
If so, how? Or should incomplete versions not be released until they
are fully developed?
- Many corporate sites have country-specific sites. Many languages
are spoken in more than one country, and many countries have more
than one official language. What relationship can or should exist
between country-specific sites and sites in various languages? How
can they be linked together such that duplicates of information in
the same language are eliminated, or at least minimized?
- "More than one way in"
- Sometimes a single topic needs to be presented to several
different audiences needing to examine the topic from different
views. As an example, for a given product, a consumer might want to
learn about the benefits of buying that product, whereas a retailer
might want to learn how to get set up to sell that product. Each
viewpoint can be quite different, but can also contain significant
overlap of information (in the previous example, both consumer and
retailer need to know some common basic information about the
product).
- One way to address this problem on the Web is to create
completely separate Web sites, each one catering to a specific
audience. However, this leads to the duplication of the overlapping
information, which can lead to serious maintenance difficulties.
Another way to address the problem is to provide two separate Web
sites that point into a shared repository of common information
wherever necessary. This solution is also less than ideal, as there
is no good way (without using frames or cookies) to return the user
to the appropriate site of origin when s/he is finished viewing the
common information.
- How can we best present common information about a single topic
to different audiences, and different information where needed, while
still providing clear and logical navigation and minimizing
maintenance?
- The Ideal Site Map
- Web site maps are typically developed to provide insight into
the content and structure of a Web site, and to facilitate the user's
movement through the site towards desired information. A survey of
Web site maps reveals great diversity in implementation. Many site
maps attempt to display as much of the site structure as possible on
a single page. Others attempt to show the user moving through a site,
or provide a way to "zoom" between views of varying detail
of the structure.
- What is the ideal site map interface for the Web? What are the
user requirements? What can be accomplished using HTML only? Using
HTML and Javascript? Using Java? Using other Web technologies (e.g.,
VRML)?
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