One of our favorite things about Jumpchart is it’s focus on content. It forces you (or gently encourages) you to plan the navigation, and the content organization at the same time. We’ve seen some backwards processes in the past…

• A project starts with a flowchart. As copywriters and content creators fill in the skeleton of the site, they’re obligated to write pages that didn’t need to exist. They wrote to the frame, instead of writing the story.

• A project starts with partial content. In an ever increasing rush to feel progress, a site is started before the content is totally hashed out. “We’ve got the top-level navigation figured out after-all.” Inevitably the site has a disproportionate section that could have been spread out or reorganized if it had been planned comprehensively with the rest of the site.

• A site starts with a blank CMS. Since the site can easily expand and contract, -why worry about the architecture right now… “After-all, we can just add a new section later.” Of course that site ends up miserable to navigate.

• A site is started before a client understands how the content will be organized. Some clients just don’t get it until they can click it. Regardless how many paper mocks you show, they just can’t visualize navigating the site. Outrunning your client means you have to make costly revisions to navigation after the development has already started.

We know Jumpchart won’t be perfect for everyone. But so many of the critical site failures we’ve witnessed in the past could’ve been solved with adherence to a better system. With a focus on content, we’re hoping that Jumpchart will force people to get organized from the beginning. We’re hoping that clients will ease up when they see actual clickable progress. We’re hoping that most of the course correction happens before the first pixel is pushed… It’s been working for us.