[thelist] intranet design

[Watkins Matthew]

Martin, 

> A thought - many people design Internet, Intranet and Extranet
> systems separately, despite them essentially being about the same
> stuff. Why not have one system which presents different views
> depending on your rights?

Agreed, I have always wondered about this. I think in the end it is really
only a semantic difference if at all. For example if you have very different
target groups and need to communicate in a different way to each of them. 

- A company web site for end consumers
- Extranet for your sales reps around the world, retailers (who might also
be customers).  
- Intranet: all your employees 


> http://www.cluetrain.com/ is useful for Intranet stuff as
> well as Internet.

cool link, thanks.

> The third point is that usability is as critical (if not more
> so) for intranets as Internet sites, because poor usability
> means that the users take longer to complete tasks, which
> costs money.

By standardizing a navigation toolbar Nielsen claims that he saved Sun $10
million a year."
http://www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/020197_facts_content.html 
Although I am rather dubious of his math, he make a point.

> Matthew, I have a CM for Intranet presentation on my
> work laptop which I put together for a conference a month
> or so ago - interested?

You can bet your favorite PricewaterhouseCoopers mouse pad that I am... your
mailbox is going to be humming...  

cheers

Matthew