Wednesday, February 11th, 2009, at 1:27 pm
An important comment about the concept of a website “redesign,” from #3 on this list:
Because corporate websites are under-resourced, they are often neglected for long periods of time. They slowly become out of date with their content, design and technology.
Eventually, the website becomes such an embarrassment that management steps in and demands that it be sorted. This inevitably leads to a complete redesign at considerable expense.
This concept of investing considerable money to “reshape” as things get “stale” is a hold-out from two prior models: 1) the distributed, desktop software model from the IT perspective, and 2) the brochure model from a marketing perspective.
The truth is that websites defy the rigidity of both of these models. A website can change organically—that is, many slight changes over time—without the need for new distribution, packaging, etc. This is a more natural approach for users and allows the website to better adapt to the changing needs of the marketplace—without ever having an overbearing and costly “redesign.”
Read more from the list here:
10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites | How-To | Smashing Magazine.