Virgil Carroll presented on bringing web best practices to SharePoint intranets. He discussed why intranets should be designed like websites with a focus on usability rather than just finding information. Key practices included talking to employees to understand challenges, prioritizing their needs, making navigation and search easy to use, focusing on scannable content over documents, and using the modular capabilities of SharePoint to separate content from design. The goal is to create intranets that help employees accomplish tasks without needing to be taught how to use the system.

1. bringing web best practices to
SharePoint intranets
#SPSBE21
Virgil Carroll
April 18th, 2015

2. PlatinumGoldSilver
Thanks to our sponsors!

3. about me
• From the great State of Alaska
• Certified Athletic Trainer
• Masters in Instructional Design (from UAB)
• User Experience Aficionado
• Been building websites since 1998
• Been building SharePoint since 2001
• Blog: http://monkeyblog.highmonkey.com
• Twitter: @vcmonkey

4. about high monkey
• Been around since 1998 (HMC name since 2004)
• Offices in Minnesota and Michigan
• Clients throughout the US and Canada
• Core Competencies
• Web and interface design
• SharePoint / CMS consulting
• User Experience

5. why use web best practices?
• People think intranets are websites, not SharePoint
• Most intranets focus on finding information not
collaboration
• Like a website, if you have to teach someone how to
use an intranet, you have failed

6. why use sharepoint for intranets?
• Unlike web sites, intranets are not about the page, but
about the content.
• SharePoint does not excel at building pages, but excels
at sharing information across multiple avenues

7. web best practices for intranets

8. talk to people not on your team
• Good intranets will include feedback from other people
• Requirements interviews
• Discovery workshops
• Surveys
• You must balance opinions with the questions you ask
• ‘What would you like to see’ vs. ‘What challenges do you encounter with
our current intranet’
• A ‘wish list’ build will fail
REMEMBER
Just because someone has an opinion, doesn’t mean they are right

9. example
good info
• “HR forms are important, but
getting to my team site is more”
• “Why do I have to go to 3
different systems to figure out all
my employee stuff”
• “I don’t understand different
department acronyms”
wishful thinking
• “People really want to know
about project updates”
• “The page should know who I am
and only show me what I want to
see”
• “We should have a chat window
where I can ask questions”

10. your people should always be first
• We believe our people know us better than they do
• If ever in doubt, ask any person to recite your org chart
• Often treat employees like its their first day
• Unlike Facebook, intranets are not suppose to help
people waste time
• Focus on functional-based results
• Latest news is only important to the communications group
• Understanding their stories
• For large, multi-discipline organizations consider creating personas /
customer journeys
• Accessibility

11. example

12. getting around should be easy
• Organize information according to how your people
think
• Card sorting
• Tree tests
• Navigation should be simple and act like a multiple
choice question
• Mega-menus can be useful when used well

13. example

14. good design supports function
• We don’t call it ‘branding’ its design
• Design should never be used for the sake of pretty
colors
• Balance must be established between the design and
getting people to what they need to do
• Color contrast can help people be successful
• Making it mobile
• Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
• Popular frameworks: Bootstrap, skeleton, responsive grid system
• Use media queries vs. 2013 device channels

15. UX best practices

16. example: too little

17. example: too much

18. example: just right

19. make sure search … works
• People are really poor searchers
• You have to handle all the variabilities
• They don’t know what they are looking for
• They don’t know how to spell
• Refiners that are relevant
• Remove SharePoint objects from the results
• Great use of 2013

20. example

21. documents are NOT content
• Documents are for reading ‘stuff’ longer than people
will read on a screen
• Develop content standards, consistent tone and plans
to govern
• Find a good balance between too much and too little
• Just because content resides somewhere else doesn’t
mean people want to go there too

22. tips: what people want to read
• Content that’s scannable
• Bullet points
• High level information up front, can dig further if
desired
• Easy to read and understand
• Up to date information
23

23. example: how do people read on
the web?
24

24. example: how people spend their
time
Above the
fold
80%
Below the
fold
20%
Reading Above and Below the Fold
Right Half
30%
Left Half
70%
Left vs. Right
• People at most read 20% of the words on a webpage
• People are much more likely to scroll past the fold if the first content they see
matches their need
25

25. learn from your logs
• Search logs
• Great source for understanding
• Spelling challenges
• Search patterns
• Many searches for obvious things mean they are not
• Web analytics
• Great source for understanding
• What people really do on your intranet
• How non-search people look for information
• Creating ‘push paths’ or placing of content in multiple locations
• SharePoint web analytics is still crap, use Google analytics

26. example

27. separate storage from presentation
• Content may need to be re-used
• Allows authors to store and work on content ‘where
they want’
• Good use of 2013
• Roll up content summaries via CQWP or CSWP
• Use audience targeting to further refine

28. example: content from different
sources

29. example: content on multiple pages
Home
My
Employment
Forms
Expense
Sheet
Documents
and Forms
Expense
Sheet
Company
News
Departments
HR
Expense
Sheet

30. example: sharepoint 2013

31. use the ‘modularness’ of sharepoint
• Centralize CSS and media assets
• Use proper page structure for flexibility and future
updates
• In 2013, display templates add another layer of flexibility
• Create structure that content contributors can expand
easily

32. master page
• Can be applied to entire site or
sub-sections
• Link global CSS & Script files
• Establish overall look-n-feel

33. page layout
• The insides of an overall
page
• Designers can create
multiple, content creators
can pick-n-choose

34. display template (2013)
• Represents the
‘container’ of a search
web part rendering

35. item template (2013)
• Controls the rendering of
each item in a Display
Template

36. pay attention after launch

37. summary: why use web best
practices
• People already think your intranet is a website, so make
it like one
• Web usability teaches us we shouldn’t have to teach
• Good websites grow by learning what your people do
and helping them do it better
• One path to success usually breeds failure

39. questions??
Virgil Carroll, President
High Monkey Consulting
virgil@highmonkey.com
763-201-6040
Blog: http://monkeyblog.highmonkey.com
Twitter: @vcmonkey