1. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
CSS remains the quickest and simplest way to separate content structure from content presentation. CSS allows intranet designers to defi ne the look of various document components—typeface, headings, font sizes—independent of content provided by authors.

CSS can be used to apply site-wide styles that put few demands on content providers. And future changes in layout or presentation will require only modifi cation to the style sheets rather than having to manually change every page. This is essential for high-volume intranets.

2. “Black box” content input applications
A black box application—aptly named because those using it don’t need to know its inner workings— allows content providers to input content into an intranet by way of an online, web-based form.

Once the content is submitted, a black box application processes the input and applies all style and layout rules. The entire process is shielded from content providers, allowing them to concentrate on their content rather than presentation.

Black box applications—usually built in-house by web programmers—can become quite complex depending on what you need them to do. They can take the place of, or be used in conjunction with, commercially available web authoring software like Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage.

Purpose-driven design
Intranet design is more than mere eye candy. It’s a way to communicate information—and do it in style. Content and design are not mutually exclusive intranet elements; you don’t need to forgo one for the sake of the other.

While driven by content, intranets can employ design to create interesting and positive user experiences. Remember: It’s important for an intranet’s design to reflect the qualities of its content. You should never allow good content to be polluted by poor design. When you’re on the podium at that all-star gala giving the speech of your life, you don’t want the only comment from the audience to be, “Is she wearing sweat pants?”

For CPP, the publisher of the Myers-Briggs personality assessment and other tools for development, Mortensen Design developed an intranet identity guide. The guide was one component in a major overhaul of the client’s corporate identity, to which Mortensen contributed new logos, a new collateral system, and an updated company catalog. The intranet guide aided the process of implementing the comprehensive overhaul by providing those with passwordcontrolled right of entry one-click access to logos, graphics, and type in formats developed for print, web, and presentations.

The use of Flash in intranets is a controversial topic that Gordon Mortensen, principal of the firm that created CPP’s site, has strong feelings about. While Flash inhibits updating sites where content management is widely distributed across an organization, there are instances like this one when it’s essential, he says. “Because of the restrictions of HTML, it’s difficult to create an online identity manual that’s both graphically appealing and useful. If an HTML-based identity guide is graphically consistent with the richness of your identity, the files are generally too large and take too long to download.” Yet an HTML-based intranet guide that’s quick to download can’t accurately reflect the corporate identity.