Meeting the Needs of Web Site Visitors

How to Meet Their Needs

        Creating a Web site that meets the needs of visitors with such a wide range of motivation can be challenging. Not only do Web site visitors arrive with different needs that they hope to meet, they arrive with different experience levels. In addition, these Web site visitors will be connected to the Internet through a variety of communication channels that provide different bandwidths and data transmission speeds.   The Web designers should consider the implications of many visitor characteristic variations to convert visitors into customers.

        One of the best ways to accommodate a broad range of visitor needs is to build flexibility into the Web site's interface. Many sites offer separate versions with and without frames and give visitors the option of choosing either one. Some sites offer a text-only version. If the site design uses graphics, the visitor can be given the option to select smaller versions of the images so that the page will load on a low-bandwidth connection in a reasonable amount of time. If the site includes streaming audio or video clips, the visitor can be given the option to specify a connection type so that the streaming media adjusts itself to the bandwidth for that connection.

        A successful site lets visitors choose among information attributes, such as level of detail, forms of aggregation, viewing format, and downloading format. Many sites give visitors a selectable level of detail by presenting product information by product line. The site presents one page for each line of products. A product line page contains pictures of each item in that product line accompanied by a brief description. By using hyper-linked graphics for the product pictures, the site offers visitors the option of clicking the product picture, which opens a page of detailed specifications for that product.

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