WEB DESIGNER AND DEVELOPER

Melanie Gann is a web designer and developer with wide ranging experience in web site development, user interface design, requirements analysis, and product development. She also has 20 years of experience in telecommunications.

Melanie began her career in the late 70's with GTE Telenet. At this time packet switching networks based on the original ARPANET were beginning to evolve. Computer vendors began interfacing directly to these networks. Melanie taught and documented the required communications protocols and certified vendors for compliance.

With Sprint International, Melanie assisted in the development and testing of communications networks and equipment. She served as Project Manager and interfaced with technically oriented departments as well as field personnel and implementation teams. During this time it was also her responsibility to run focus group sessions with end user groups to better understand what was required for them to effectively manage and run the network. These requirements were then fed back into the development process.

In 1992, her skills were put to work for Alcatel Data Networks. Using her understanding of the underlying networks, Melanie developed customer care systems to support the resolution of customer and field problems. Systems were web-based and used internationally. The development of these systems required her to:

• Synthesize the requirements from varying disciplines, cultures, and languages.
• Assess and select the appropriate technology for implementation,
• Manage and participate in the development, and
• Manage the rollout and training

In 1998, Melanie formed Second Street Web Design where she develops websites and web based applications for a wide variety of businesses. She believes that her years of concentration on end user needs help her to build sites that are easy to use. The principles upon which she approaches every web based project can be synthesized as follows:

• Begin building from the outside in: Always begin with an understanding of what the end user needs. Never begin development without understanding what information needs to be found, and the process it needs to support.
• Keep it SIMPLE: Keep the sites, the information, and the navigation as simple as possible and you will end up pleasing the widest portion of the population.
• Respect the end user: Write content for the reader, speak to the problem that you can solve for them. Respect their time; always put emphasis on ease of navigation. Don't overload them: More is not necessarily better - when in doubt, leave it out. Remember that people can only absorb 3-4 items of information at a time. Use the unlimited space of the internet to their advantage and don't overpopulate pages.

Melanie majored in art at the University of Maryland, and continued her studies in the Management of Technology at American University.

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