My new favorite phrase: seduction by wireframe.
Here’s why this is dangerous – everything works on a wireframe. Just like the hot guy or girl that seems so perfect in every way from across the bar, wireframes are wonderful zones of pure enjoyment, free from concerns like reality and technical feasibility. Everything just works.
Wireframes will always put the toilet seat down and put the cap back on the toothpaste.
My favorite is “Related Content” (the following is not from the article, BTW).
Isn’t this great? The user gets a list of other content they might like related to this one! It’s wonderful!
How are we going to do that? Um, well, we’re just going to…ask the CMS? Yes, that’s it, we’ll just ask the CMS to provide us of a list of related content.
But why are there a bunch of articles here about equestrian Olympic events? What? Okay, but that article isn’t really about a horse. The word “horse” is just a metaphor for something else.
What do you mean the CMS doesn’t understand metaphors?
We have to provide metadata? And it has to be organized to provide some continuity between articles? So, there has to be, like, a directory of tags and stuff?
Um, what the hell is a “taxonomy”?
Too much stuff gets crammed on wireframes. They become like brainstorming sessions run wild where everything goes in, and it’s the integrator’s job to sort it out. But a lot of times, the integrator is fairly hamstrung by the CMS platform and its capabilities.
Then you have to add the editors’ desire to manage all this content.
We have to enter all the stuff? And what happens when it changes? We have to go edit it all? We don’t have the staff for this. I thought this stupid CMS was supposed to make our lives easier!!
Keep your wireframes simple, people. Get that stuff working, then incrementally add complexity after thoroughly considering (1) whether or not it can be justified in terms of ROI, and (2) whether or not you have the editorial capabilities to manage it.
Put another way: sober up before you propose marriage.