Technology in Architectural Practice

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  • 1.  website review

    Posted 11-24-2010 09:59 AM
    Doing a website is on this next years 'to do' list, so I read your suggestions with interest. The last suggestion, 'And last but the most important** is your site easy to navigate? Does it use eccentric navigation rather than a clear, intuitive menu bar? Prospects don't have patience for artsy navigation; they want to get to the good stuff in less than 2 clicks.'   made me chuckle.  My suggestion to you is to send this to the folks who created the AIA web site.  Does anyone else have a problem finding what they need and navigating the AIA site....they have tried to cram everything on the home page and I find it a confusing mess...trying to find and use the Continuing Ed section since the AIA took it over now requires at least 8 clicks....just getting to this post page required 3 clicks instead of one.  Physician, heal thy self, first.

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    Bruce Glass AIA
    Owner
    The Architect
    Garden City KS
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  • 2.  RE:website review

    Posted 11-26-2010 07:04 AM
    We recently did a review of our website.  In researching the latest website trends, it appears that best practice is to put link-rich content up front in lieu of a lot of flash-y graphics.  We looked at many big name firm's web sites and some are doing this, some are not.  While I too can never find what I'm looking for on the AIA site, it does seem to follow the latest trend.  Our problem, IMHO, is that since we insist on doing our own website designing, its never the priority, never really gets done or gets the attention it deserves.

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    Andrew Craven Assoc. AIA
    Intern
    HBA Architecture & Interior Design, Inc.
    Virginia Beach VA
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  • 3.  RE:website review

    Posted 11-29-2010 12:52 PM
    Hi Andrew,

    Thanks for your reply. It's probably not a good idea to follow trends on the web. It's best to make it easy for prospects to find what they are looking for on your website, which is best practice. It depends on how much fresh content you are pushing.

    It seems lots of people have something to say about using the AIA site. I didn't create it butwant to help. I'd like to open up a forum for input and suggestions from the KN community so I can help AIA make it easy for everyone to "get to the good stuff" more quickly. 

    I want to remind all small and medium sized architecture firms that they have unique opportunities to stand out on the web.  Comparing your site to a large firm's site isn't fair to you, because you simply don't have the same resources allocated or possibly the same intended audience. Your best bet is to allow someone outside the throws of your project deadlines to take charge of it.

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    Crystal Wilson
    Director of Interactive Media
    PlaceVision Inc
    Chicago IL
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