Functional Architecture -II

Considering the number of functions, their features, and their actions, it is easy to see how things can get very complicated resulting into messy, disorganized, unfriendly, and unusable websites. The fundamental principle is to abolish the practice of designing websites based on a page-centric approach introduced by artists and technicians that resulted in chaotic mazes. Instead, we should borrow some discipline and best-practices found in desktop and enterprise applications developed by trained software engineers.

Functional architecture attempts to take a holistic approach that covers the entire website rather than being bogged down by the needs of a particular webpage. A good functional architecture starts by asking what functions are needed, how to group them together based on common properties, where to place them, and how to invoke them.

Desktop and enterprise applications have certain minimum industry standards, some best-practices, and certain software engineering disciplines that required a holistic architecture. This led to the creation of toolbars which offered consistency throughout a particular application, and throughout different applications. For example, the “Save” button in Microsoft Word stays in the same exact location throughout the entire product. Furthermore, the “Save” button, in almost all desktop or enterprise applications, is placed in the same spot. Such consistency increases usability within an application and across applications.

Websites on the other hand have been often created by artists who became technicians who fall short of being disciplined engineers. This led to the creation of websites which are page centric instead of being holistic. Those technicians have been designing websites one page at a time. Buttons appear anywhere. Inconsistency is everywhere – within a website and across websites. The lack of discipline in the entire websphere is mind-boggling. Mind you, other industries such as the auto industry or the electronics industry have adopted certain standards. Similarly, software in general, and the web in particular, should be subject to universal standards for the purpose of increasing usability and enhancing user experience.