Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places

Communities are part of all successful web sites in one way or another. It looks at the different stages that must be understood:Philosophy: Why does your site need community? What are your measures of success?Architecture: How do you set up a site to createpositive experience? How do you coax people out of their shells and get them to share their experiences online?Design: From color choice to HTML, how do you design the look of a community area?Maintenance: This section will contain stories of failed web communities, and what they could have done to stay on track, as well as general maintenance tips andtricks for keeping your community <169>garden<170> growing.

Derek M. Powazek is a designer, consultant, and storyteller based in San Francisco, California. As Powazek Productions he's worked on sites with community features for Nike, Netscape, and Sony, as well as creating critically-acclaimed labors of love like {fray}, Kvetch!, and SF Stories. He's spoken all over the world, and was recently nominated for a 2001 Webby Award in the community category. Derek lives in San Francisco, California, in a house where the plants outnumber the humans five to one.