Wk 5: Think twice before re-designing your website

The desire to 're-design' your website just because it looks 'out-of-date' may not simply be unnecessary but may also be counterproductive. Your most loyal customers will have got used to the layout and structure of your website. Launching a major new design risks confusing and alienating them.

The evolutionary approach had some logic in the early years of the Web when website design was an emerging discipline. Today, websites that are constantly evolving reflect bad planning rather than best practice. The most popular websites, on the other hand, seek to achieve solid architectural foundations that will remain constant over time.Take, for example, Yahoo, which is one of the Web's most popular websites. The basic architecture of the Yahoo website has changed little in seven years. In 1994, when Yahoo launched, it offered the following classifications: Arts, Business, Computers, Economy, Education, Entertainment, etc. By 1996, this had evolved to: Arts, Business & Economy, Computers & Internet, Education, Entertainment, etc. In 2001, the classification was: Arts & Humanities, Business & Economy, Computers & Internet, Education, Entertainment, etc.What is noticeable from Yahoo is how little the basic information architecture has changed over seven years. This is despite the fact that the quantity of content on, and the number of visitors to, Yahoo has grown explosively over that period.

The essential 'look and feel' of Yahoo has remained the same too. Why? Because millions of people are used to it. The behavior of people on the Internet is conservative - they go to less and less websites. Yahoo visitors have invested time and energy learning how to get around Yahoo. This very investment is what keeps many people using Yahoo, rather than going to another portal.

The irony is that the re-design, demanding much effort and expense, can do real damage. The people who use your website most will be among your most valuable customers. Unless the original design was deeply flawed, they will likely hate any changes you make. A new website design means they have to re-learn how to get to parts of the website they regularly visit.