title: A user-centered model for web site design: needs assessment, user interface design, and rapid prototyping.
abstract: As the Internet continues to grow as a delivery medium for health information, the design of effective Web sites becomes increasingly important. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of one effective model for Web site design, a user-centered process that includes techniques for needs assessment, goal/task analysis, user interface design, and rapid prototyping. They detail how this approach was employed to design a family health history Web site, Health Heritage <www.healthheritage.net>. This Web site helps patients record and maintain their family health histories in a secure, confidential manner. It also supports primary care physicians through analysis of health histories, identification of potential risks, and provision of health care recommendations. Visual examples of the design process are provided to show how the use of this model resulted in an easy-to-use Web site that is likely to meet user needs. The model is effective across diverse content arenas and is appropriate for applications in varied media.
authors.affiliation: Instructional Technology, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA. kinzie@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Mable B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kinzie
authors.forename: Wendy F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.forename: Marti F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Julian
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Knaus
mesh_terms: D005192:Family Health; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020407:Internet / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012985:Software Design; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface