To ensure the net is cast wide enough to capture these multiple dimensions of brand, the marketer's, consumer's and web-constructor's perspectives will initially all be taken into account (see Figure 2).
The ultimate determinant of consumers' evaluative criteria must, of course, be driven by the consumers themselves (Strauss and Frost, 1999; Deighton, 1999; Maitra, 1996; Hanson, 2000; Vassos, 1996).
Maitra (1996) and Hanson (2000) discussed the importance and difficulty of designing web sites. They said that the basic challenge of providing on-line information is making it both attractive and easily accessible to users. For example, in developing the Thomas server of the US Library of Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov), one of the main difficulties faced was deciding how to organize and deliver information in a way that is helpful and useful, just to lighten the cognitive difficulty of the web site (Hanson, 2000). Other sites need a different personality, to attract different types of target audiences. Hanson (2000) placed strong stress on the flow and the mechanics of navigation and choice within the virtual world. Hoffman and Novak (1996) and Csikszentmihalyi (1997) have also earlier claimed the importance of the flow, which represents the process of an optimal online experience.