Toward an analytical approach for effective Web site design: A framework for modeling, evaluation and enhancement

Effective website design is critical to the success of electronic commerce and digital government. We consider website designs as structural problems and propose a conceptual framework for classifying different design scenarios into generic categories. We describe each generic design category using objective and constraints, and map it to a specific graph model analyzable or solvable analytically. By modeling website designs using well-defined structures and established analytical methods, our framework allows systematic and quantitative design evaluations and improvements. The proposed framework can complement existing practices by enhancing the design process and quality with increasing ease of analysis, implementation and continuous improvement.