Designing intranets - Creating sites that work [Paperback]

A great value distillation of years spent designing and understanding intranets, James Robertson has packed his book with real-world intranet screenshots and experiences.

It's the kind of book that's handy to have prominently displayed on your desk or within reach when someone insists their approach is best. The first 50 pages may help correct so many dangerous assumptions, that the book could pay for itself in minutes. That manager over your shoulder might like to ponder why the chapter Developing Page Designs appears almost exactly halfway through the book, and home page design is even further on.

Having helped the reader establish the priorities for the intranet, Robertson introduces a well-tested framework rooted in understanding staff needs. After establishing a brand and strategy, he introduces a user-centred design methodology going through a content inventory, card sorting to "understand how users think", developing (and then testing) an information architecture, before finally getting onto creating page designs (and then testing them). This is a fleeting introduction to these techniques but, for those readers who require more, Robertson is generous with his recommendations.

Some may be disappointed there is not a universal intranet design that will just work, but here they will find something that genuinely adds value. Experienced designers will find details that illuminate their problems or examples to challenge their assumptions. My largest concern is the book focuses on more traditional intranets, concluding with a few short chapters touching on issues including personalisation/targeting, applications, search, large-scale intranet issues, collaboration and social. The advice remains sound, especially in the context of the book's advocacy of user-centred design, but that might not be enough for some readers.

With that in mind, I have little hesitation in recommending Designing Intranets. There is something useful to be found on almost any page--whether a principle of good practice, an insight, or one of the many screenshots--to provide great deal of help and context for intranet designers whatever their level of experience.

[Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from James Robertson]

Relatively written has been written about design specifically for intranets, and although many principles from web design carry-over, not all of them do. Moreover, a typical intranet has a much more diverse set of roles than a website, yet it is harder to see examples of good practice because they all sit behind firewalls.

Robertson does an excellent job of balancing theory with usable, practical advice in a short space. The techniques are well explained and often illustrated with real-world (rather than made-up) examples, which helps bring it to life. He also tackles recurring intranet debates such as how long a homepage should be, and how much should be devoted to news vs other roles.

Just about anyone who works on an intranet would get something from this book.

[disclosure: I was a reviewer of a draft edition]

Following on from `What Every Intranet Team Should Know' this book successfully tackles the nuts and bolts of intranets and their management. It deals in greater depth on the practicalities of how to change intranets for the better, using real life examples and known best practices.
James also draws on other experts in the field and helps de-bunk many common myths along the way.
If you are looking to make your intranet more usable; start afresh; or are just looking for some material to support your case on a particular position - you'd be hard pressed to find a better starting point.