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Web apps that work at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group a

magnify image Figure A10.1 Salesforce.com offers a Web application for automating sales functions. With this application, salespeople can see tracking, forecasting, and editing capabilities after they create a customer account.

Background

Like other site genre patterns, this pattern is flexible enough to add to almost any other, including VALUABLE COMPANY SITES (A7), EDUCATIONAL FORUMS (A8), COMMUNITY CONFERENCES (A3), and STIMULATING ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT (A9). PERSONAL E-COMMERCE SITES (A1) can also place a Web application at the focus of a business. This pattern shows what’s at the core of a Web application.

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PROBLEM

Web applications are not like software applications that come in a shrinkwrapped box. Web applications are services that are sold online rather than in a store, that sometimes offer a form of online collaboration, and that often do not have printed documentation. Customers use Web applications differently from traditional Web sites as well: they use them for real work, often for hours every day.

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SOLUTION

magnify image FigureA10.5 A Web application can be sold over the Web through detailed information pages and demonstrations. Once customers have signed up and received secure access to their application home, they see a menu of tasks and associated online help.

Provide a public site where potential customers can preview the application, see how it will work, and sign up to try it. Once they have signed up, give them access to their application home through a secure sign-in, and provide a menu of options for their roles. Use standard Web interface widgets for complete cross-platform, cross-browser compatibility, or an enhanced AJAX based interface that gives more direct control. Give effective feedback about communication and processing delays. Provide online documentation, training, and support.

Other Patterns to Consider

On your public homepage, provide MULTIPLE WAYS TO NAVIGATE (B1) to information and demonstrations of the various Web applications that you sell. If visitors decide to buy, you can ask them to pay online with QUICK-FLOW CHECKOUT (F1). Create a SECURE CONNECTION (E6) and ask customers to use SIGN-IN/NEW ACCOUNT (H2). Build an application home with PERSONALIZED CONTENT (D4) for each customer’s role. Again, establish MULTIPLE WAYS TO NAVIGATE (B1) to the various applications and options, where each discrete task that a customer may perform is a PROCESS FUNNEL (H1) and has CONTEXT-SENSITIVE HELP (H8).

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Pattern Resources

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