Phone book and spider web

Singtel used to print a phone book containing the telephone numbers of subscribers arranged in alphabetical order. The first 50 to 100 pages of the phone book described their various types of services, and can be searched by an index. Although the phone book is still available, it is used less frequently now.

Although the information in the phone book is volumnous, it is quite easy to search for the right page using the index. It is also easy to read the page of information.

When Singtel moves the information to its website, it changed the format and introduced the spider web. It now requires many mouse clicks to find the right page. Consumres find it difficult to figure out where to click. They usually need a staff to guide them.

This same pattern is adopted by the website of most large organisations. It is not natural to the user and causes a lot of difficulty.

My prototype website is designed to overcome this problem. It allows an organisation to store information for the public in various documents (in PDF format) that can b searched easily by the Title (partially or in full) or by a listing of all titles in the Category. It will be quite easy to read the document.

I hope that most organisations will consider to build a second website, based on my prototype. The cost is quite low. The second website can run with the main website for 6 to 12 months, to gauge the response of the consumers or the public.

Tan Kin Lian