Designing for Multiple Audiences

Request that Users Log In

A login screen could be used to determine which user from which audience is viewing the site. Typically such sites have a home page that focuses on the largest segment of the audience, usually a general audience. At the top of the page is a request for users from the other audience segments to log in to the site.

Using this approach, the home page of the website for the Water Quality Monitoring Laboratory would show information intended for members of the community, the general audience. A prominent link at the top of the page would invite scientists and educators to log in. The first time a user logs in, s/he could be asked to provide information about her/his profession and purpose in visiting the site. After the user has logged in, the page would change to the home page designed for that user's audience group.

This solution combines the usability of having three separate sites with the accessibility of putting all of the information in one site. This design also offers the advantage of allowing you to post information for one audience that you may not want to show other audiences. The educators' section might contain quizzes and their answers, for example.

However, asking users to log in based on their professional affiliation may exclude some audiences. Parents who are not educators might want to see what their children are studying, or community activists might want access to the data available on the scientists' page. Such users may be left wondering what is behind the login screen, or they may just leave your organization's site frustrated that they could not access the information they needed.

abstract, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, works cited

 

home | about us | articles | resources | search