Asset 4

Better Weather: Information Prioritization

The National Weather Service (www.weather.gov), while a robust and powerful tool, lacks in some usability heuristics (Neilsen Norman Group which other weather websites have paid attention to and addressed.

Namely, when a person comes to the site and types in their location, they want to see:

  1. Current temperature
  2. Current conditions
  3. Forecast for the next week

The current NWS local forecast page currently does not prioritize this information, and also does not reflect the search term used, which is confusing for the user, and does not follow convention.

The current NWS local forecast page. The extended forecast is well below the fold.
The current NWS local forecast page. The extended forecast is well below the fold.

I propose and implement the following changes below:

  1. Add a breadcrumb navigation which reflects the user's search term (Haverhill, MA)
  2. Move the current conditions up to have greatest priority
  3. Move the map up so the user has a secondary way of verifying their successful search term.
High-fidelity mockup reflecting changes to match convention and information prioritization.

In this mockup, I haven't yet found a place for News Headlines, and the rest of the auxiliary information available on that page; I would probably implement the News Headlines right above or next to Detailed Forecasts, and everything else as links below that.

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