The road sign metaphor

I've mentioned before how I think road and highway signs are a really interesting example of usability in action -- they have to be extremely clear, concise, and informative, and it is literally a matter of life or death in some cases (consider a world without "stop" signs).

I've begun using them as a metaphor for web design in the hopes of making it easier for clients to get in the mindset of their site visitors. We'd all like to believe that people coming to our website are deeply interested in our materials and want to read everything we have to say about them. Unfortunately, it's much more accurate to think of your site visitors as ruthless hunters with non-existent attention spans who are scanning for relevant content rapidly, and are willing to toss you aside if they don't see what they want in 2-3 seconds (note, that 2-3 seconds is actually borne out in testing -- that's about how much time you have before someone hits the back button and leaves your site altogether if they don't see what they want).

So that's all well and good to get that in your head -- your visitors want everything fast and easy, and want to do as little reading as possible -- but I think you need to add a little more to the equation in order to figure out how to deliver that content.

That's where road signs come into play.

When you are driving down a highway at 65 MPH, it's generally not that hard to read road signs. They typically do simple things like list the name of a place with an arrow, or they indicate with symbols and short words whether there is food, gas, lodging, or other amenities available at this exit. A road sign wouldn't say "Turn right at the next exit if you're heading toward the greater metropolitan Toledo area, where we have a number of fine hotels and dining options for the whole family." It might simply say "Toledo" with an arrow, as well as "FOOD" and "LODGING" icons. Those thirty words have been boiled down to three words and an arrow. Was any valuable information really lost? And furthermore, if you were flying down the highway, would you have even gotten past the first few words before the sign was gone behind you?

This is a good way to think as you construct your site, particularly when it comes to navigation and basic site structure. You want to pick "content-heavy" words -- typically short words that clearly indicate the content they will lead to. And just as a signpost with 25 signs is going to be harder to parse than one with 5 signs, you want to keep the number of options to a minimum.

This is not to say that you should avoid writing sentences at all -- it's important to keep prose available, but make sure it's where it counts. You don't need to describe in detail how great your parking garage is, but you do need to provide directions that tell you how to get there. Conversely, if someone is trying to pick your next book to buy online, a simple title, author, star rating, and genre is not going to be enough -- a brief prose description of the plot, potentially with quotes from reviewers, is probably going to do a lot more to sell the book than just providing the bare bones. That said, providing a quick look at the genre and rating information on a previous page may be all you need in terms of navigation to get that visitor to the full product page.

If you're not sure how to set up the text and navigation for your site, it may be helpful to stop and thinking of your visitor cruising down the freeway, looking for a particular destination. What would they be able to quickly read on a road sign that would make them turn in your direction?