At NetObjects I contributed to the design of desktop web site authoring tool Fusion MX.
Development Issues
- Market niche changed from professional site developers to small business owners.
- Product focus changed from single license to recurring revenue from service subscriptions.
Research
- Interviewed users of the current product.
- Observed target audience of small business owners attempt to build a website from scratch.
- Referenced survey data from current users.
- Monitored newsgroups for problems, solutions and suggestions.
- Solicited feedback from professional trainers and informal user groups.
Observations
- Very difficult for small business owners to get a 1-page site designed and published (>8 hours).
- Having a website extended legitimacy to a small business.
- User had little understanding of the hosting model of web site design.
Solutions
- Following the realization that it is much easier for users to edit content than to create it, we introduced a New Site Wizard complete with sample business sites, fresh site styles and placeholder text. This drastically reduced the time to create a new site.
- Reorganized architecture to encourage service enrollment.
- Improved usability with new look and feel that emphasizes content, not navigation.
- Added hosting subscription options to the site publishing flow.
Images
Fusion 5 (Dec '99)
Fusion MX (Mar '01)
