Adaptive Design for Web Environments

World Usability Day New England

At its best, the web is a model of efficiency, with a single document playing to multiple contexts. Adaptive design provides the basis for this flexibility, with documents that move gracefully between small and large screen and printed page, with multiple stops in between. For the web designer, designs that adapt are far more difficult to accomplish than fixed, controlled pages. But adaptive design is also liberating, for designers and users alike. Designers are relieved of the burden of trying to devise a single design that works for all users. Users are spared the frustration of trying to navigate environments that do not take into account their use context. This session will focus on the practice of adaptive design. We will begin with document design and how to create machine-friendly source documents. Next, we will discuss best practices for adaptive design, including page layouts that accommodate different window widths, functional elements that can be worked via the keyboard, and styling for print and mobile contexts. Finally, we will discuss the partnership between designer and user in an adaptive, user-controlled environment. Sarah Horton is Director of Web Strategy, Design, and Infrastructure at Dartmouth College. In this capacity, she provides overall strategic direction for the College’s web presence and leads the Web Services group, which provides design, development, and hosting services for the College. In her previous position as an instructional designer in Academic Computing, she promoted the use of information technologies to foster learning. Sarah is a writer and advocate for universal usability and user-centered design. She is co-author with Patrick Lynch of Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, published by Yale University Press, which has sold over 120,000 copies and been translated into eight languages. Her second book, Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites, also published by Yale University Press, won the American Association of Publishers award for the Best Book in Computer Science in 2000. Her most recent book, Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, was published in July 2005 by Peachpit Press. Sarah regularly writes articles and gives presentations and workshops on web design with a focus on usability and accessibility. Patrick J. Lynch is the Director of Special Technology Projects in the Office of the ITS Director at Yale University's Information Technology Services. In his 35 years with Yale University he has been a medical illustrator, biomedical and scientific photographer, audiovisual producer, and for the past 20 years a designer of interactive multimedia teaching, training, and informational software and web sites. Pat has won over 30 national and international awards for his work, including the 2005 Pirelli Internetional Awards for Best Overall multimedia teaching site, and best site from higher education, the 1992 Best-in-Show Award from the Health Sciences Communications Association and a Gold Medal, Silver Medal and Award of Excellence in the international INVISION Multimedia Awards. He has authored over 100 professional papers, magazine articles, and book chapters, and published three books—A Field Guide to North American Wildlife, Web Style Guide, and Manual of Orinthology—with Yale University Press. He has been a consultant and invited speaker on web design and web communications issues to many universities, goverment agencies, corporations, and non-profits groups, and regularly does talks, workshops, and professonal papers in biocommuications, academic computing, medical illustration, biomedical visualization, and web publication.