Datasheet
Figure 1-1: A sample persona. (We didn’t say it was going to be pretty.)
So, how do we actually create a persona? There are a number of ways to begin this process. The one you
pick will ultimately depend on the scope of the project, and the amount of energy you’re able to commit
to it.
The first (and least “time-expensive”) option is to assess what you know of your audience from various
internal sources. Examining your site’s server logs isn’t a bad place to start. These files can give you
valuable technical information about your users. At the base of it, this research will yield some impor-
tant technical demographics: you’ll be able to assess what kind of browser landscape exists in your audi-
ence and on what operating systems they view the Web. As you’ll see in later chapters, each browser has
a number of CSS bugs and rendering idiosyncrasies. Knowing what browsers you must support will
play a critical role in the development and testing of your site.
Furthermore, you might be able to glean some valuable geographic data as well. As they troll through
your site’s pages, each visitor will leave their IP address in their wake. From this bit of information, vari-
ous log analysis tools can tell you from what parts of the world your users originate. Why is this impor-
tant? If you’re building a site for an international audience, your design should be able to speak to
people of multiple languages and cultures. For example, will your site’s icons convey the same meaning
to an American audience as they would to a German one, or even to a user from Singapore? Knowing
from where your site’s audience comes is as important as knowing what your audience wants.
There are a number of log analysis tools available to you in conducting this research. AW Stats
(
http://awstats.sourceforge.net) is a freely available log analyzer that can analyze log
formats for such popular Web servers as Apache’s httpd and Microsoft’s IIS. Webalizer
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The Planning and Development of Your Site
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