We got a support email the other day from a guy who thought Jumpchart was way off base. Usually we don’t take the bait, but we decided to send him a courteous response saying how we respectfully thought he was wrong. Mostly, it was the same arguments we usually get:
- The wireframes aren’t descriptive enough visually
- No way to segregate navigation
- It doesn’t deal with “user experience”
We’ve never argued against any of this for Jumpchart. We tend to believe that the beginning document of a website should be very simple, and not illustrative of divisions of space, but rather what content goes where within a site. The web development industry has a lot of blurry lines between types of specialization. 37Signals thinks that designers should do mark-up. We think that most small studios blur their own lines according to strengths of their staff. Which means there is a diverse set of methods for building websites to appeal to. In our opinion, this means the simpler starting document you have, the more agreeable it will be to individual workflows that can shape it to their own methods. That’s why Jumpchart has the simplest non-descriptive layout imaginable for its wireframe preview.
With Jumpchart, we try to appeal not only to the developers, but to the clients as well. We believe that website planning is a collaborative process. We believe that it should be based around telling the unique story that the client has to offer. Which brings us to the quote from the support email that led to this blog post:
“The process of collection all the information before the information architecture is created is, to my mind, slightly backwards. My view is that information architecture is routed not in the actual information but on the task associated with the information. How the information fits in context with those tasks is where the site IA comes from in my view. IAs, ultimately, are not librarians but architects not organsing each book but creating an environment where those books can best be found and used. That’s the first major philosophical difference I can see.”
Which makes our heads twirl… The idea that the practice of organizing information for websites has advanced to a level where we can ignore the information we’re trying to organize is baffling. Creating a system for the content before you see the content, and then trying to shoe-horn it into place is a recipe for a pending redesign. Jumpchart is about exposing the information that the website needs to present. Doing it in a very simple collaborative way, and doing it quickly. Allowing you to change your mind easily and often, and ultimately getting to the build phase. -Which means getting the “what goes where” approved by the client…
We hope that Jumpchart users are enjoying the freedom to organize content, create navigation, and envision their sites without needing to draw little boxes, or think about whether it’s a 2 column, or a 3 column layout. First thing is first, – and in our opinion, content is king.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I love you. Thanks so much for making Jumpchart! It really takes the confusion out of the website process for the client. When people would ask what I needed to begin building a basic website… My first response was always “a well structured word document outlining the content of your site” ... But now I will be able to interact the client directly with the process of wireframing and they can share in building the bones and content of the website. I think it’s a very comforting thing for the client to see and participate in their website process. Great product.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Thanks Andrew… Glad you like it.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hmm – I kinda see both sides of the coin on this one. Yes, I agree with the JC philosophy, but I do see where your critic is coming from too. Suppose (just for argument’s sake) that the content the client has is not fit for purpose; suppose it’s all PR-focussed, self-serving and self-promoting nonsense that the client thinks everyone is reading but no one actually is. Surely the task-based approach would come into play then? In order to identify the necessary content required, the need arises first to identify why the user is coming to the site and what tasks s/he is trying to accomplish?
July 14th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
It’s an interesting discussion …. keeping it clean and simple or providing a columned approach.
I suppose I’d prefer the ability to add a second column to my page if I wanted it…but only to help highlight the priority of content. Sometimes it is necessary to break out the flow of content separately from the priority.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Lesley: Agreed. Clients shouldn’t be solely responsible for deciding if content is relevant, and where it should go. We typically used copywriters to work on actual content creation. In a more specialized larger company, it’s imaginable that both architects, and copywriters would work with the clients to decide what to say and where to say it. We still think JC is a great tool to allow the collaboration necessary.
Nathan: We tend to think the less the better, but we see your point. In another note. if you really need columnar information, Jumpchart supports standard Textile formatting for tables using the ”|” pipe symbol to separate columns.