Though I first signed up with Bank Simpanan Nasional (their website is too horrid to visit) when I was rather young, I signed up with Maybank while I was doing my internship for a company in the vicinity. The whole reason of doing it was because it was just an easier method to get your paycheque.
One of the reasons I found that most Malaysia companies don’t value their website is due to the poor integration or planning of their site architecture. And what’s a site architecture?
The structure of a web site. It reflects how information is organized, including categories, subsites, labeling and other relationships.
Source: www.alco.org/help/help090.html
Just by looking at a site architecture, we’ll be able to see how big is the website. It’s also used to analyze the organizational issues that the website sometimes have. Or in this case, the issue that the Maybank2u website has.
There was a day I found myself at the ATM machine for at least 10 minutes. It wasn’t because it was fun to hear the sound of beeps but it was the annoyance of trying to figure out how to work the Touch n’ Go reload. Now, it was advertised that every Maybank ATM bearing the yellow Touch n’ Go sticker should be able to do this. But the particular I was at didn’t.
So where else do I go to find a solution but the Maybank website? You’d be having too much free time to be standing in line at the bank during lunch hour.
As I was surfing the Maybank website, I was clicking almost half of the wrong places just to find out more about the Touch n’ Go reload service. And like almost every user, patience ran out after 10 minutes not being able to find what I was looking for.
The next option that kicked into my mind. Fire up Mozilla Firefox and visit Google. Just seach for ‘Maybank Touch n Go‘ and tah-da!
So what’s the lesson we learn from devalued Malaysian websites?
- Have an expandable site architecture.
- Have a search if your website is huge.
- Make sure things aren’t too far hidden away.
- And for goodness sake, organize your links better.
I feel half the dropouts of Malaysian websites are due to its unfriendly nature.
yes, have been tormented more than enough…
danny, how do you really can see a site architecture?
Well, the same applies to hotlink.com.my It’s just so frustrating trying to get info about promotions. Worse off, it’s loaded with images and takes ages to load.
noproject,
it’s difficult to just visualize how a site architecture is going to be but the most basic method of doing it is listing the site architecture down on paper. when you get used to it, you’ll sometimes be able to assume how confusing or inefficient is the site navigation.
one of the cause of this half the time is the ridiculous timing pushed in our faces by clients to get the job done and they refuse to listen.
The structure is bad when you can’t find/navigate to the information that SHOULD be there. I’m quite agree with you regarding bad Malaysian website structures.
Btw, I’ve seen others struggling with Touch ‘n Go reload as well. Though I’ve no problem using it, but, (damn!) there’s extra charges for it!
Yes Hotlink’s site totally needs a better architecture. And the search button is almost useless.
danny, do u mind to show me some example which i can learn about site archi.?just a rough idea would be nice , thanks!
Danny, I’ve been thinking of making a list of Malaysian websites and blasting them for being so sub-standard.
noproject, try out these links:
1. http://www.yourtotalsite.com/archives/information_architecture/redesign_phase_2_inform/Default.aspx
2. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/information-architecture
3. http://evolt.org/article/web_site_architecture_101/4090/635/
thanks david
Just two short comments:
1) Yes, Maybank2U website in Singapore is as bad as what you have described.
2) I call Site Architecture as Information Architecture. It is the art of deciding what content you need to deliver your site purpose, organise them into reasonable structure, and decide on relationship between each page.
And then you really build the content on each page.
I have read this somewhere before, and I think it might be the most basic tool for IA. Write on pieces of PostIt pad the title of each of your website pages. And then start shifting them around. It is like Lego. Obviously, it is horrible for large site.
Okay, not so short comment after all :)
It might not be short but it’s constructive. :)
Well, though websites might not have a long life thing like businesses, I think companies need to consult someone before just adding things here and there.