One thing we notice when we’re looking at large intranets is the sheer number of ‘external’ attachments that they often have. Rather than displaying content on HTML pages, many intranets make users download PDFs and Word DOCs.

These documents have their place online. They’re great for larger articles or graphic-heavy content. They’re also good for templates and policies – essentially, things that a user might want to print and read, or that don’t need to be changed. They’re also good when an intranet relies on users to upload content, as templates can be provided.

However, external attachments do detract from the usability of a site. They often take longer to load than a standard HTML page, and always have to load up an external program in order to read them. While this won’t slow down most modern office PCs, it may put remote users at a disadvantage, and will mean that users must contend with more open windows on their desktop (assuming they have the applications at all, although most people will at least have Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office).

If you must use external documents, then it is generally a good idea to warn users when they’re about to open one. We recommend marking documents with the file type (.doc, .xls, and so on) and the file size, which will give them an idea of how long they will take to open. It is also a good idea to show the upload date to keep track of old content. Platforms such as Sharepoint can often do this automatically, making site maintenance easier.