Designing
Web
Usability
Written
by
the best-known guru
of usability.
Secrets
of
Successful
Web Sites
Siegel
gives
a perfect blueprint of ways to
plan, develop and design websites
that work.
Creating
Killer
Web Sites
Another
enlightening book by
Siegel, which (in my opinion) counts as the "creme de la creme" of
website development books.
Don't
Make
Me Think
If
you read
this book
along with Nielsen's books, and follow their advice,
visitors will
love visiting your
websites.
101
Ways
to Promote
Your Web Site
Once
you
have your website launched,
you want people to
visit. Author Sweeney
is
an expert on
a plethora of ways to accomplish it.
Volume II, Issue 1
ISSN: 1547-7754
June 2004
printable
version
Chris
King, Editor
By
subscription only, this monthly e-newsletter is loaded with short, "down
and dirty" tips to help you with solving the everchanging and growing
puzzle of the Internet. This e-zine serves as a place
to ask your questions and find the answers. So, send
me your burning questions.
In celebration of this e-zine's one year anniversary, I decided to move from my usual positive approach to the opposite. Instead of the usual Tips I am going to list what I feel, and what other surfers have shared with me, are the Features - I could call them Failure Features - that not only drive visitors away, but also drive them "crazy."
Feature #1. An incredibly long download time. We have all become impatient when it involves surfing the Internet. Remember, there are still many computer users without high speed connections, so avoid the following factors that contribute to slowness:
-
Flash Intros - Don't get me wrong. I love Flash. It is an amazing program that helps a designer/developer do exciting movies and animations that are captivating. The main problem, however, that many of the intros don't actually add to the experience and take so long to open, the visitor has clicked away.
- Graphics that are large and/or not optimized - I also love graphics (even fun clipart). The problem is that designers resize the graphic after it is already placed on a webpage. This means that the visitor has to wait for the large graphic to load and then be resized. They should be resized before being added to the page. Graphics should also be optimized for quick loading by lowering the resolution (quality) - good graphic software programs will perform this task easily.
- Bloated code - Several authoring software programs produce more code that is necessary. FrontPage 2003 is better than the earlier versions, but my authoring program of choice for clean, non-bloated and web compliant code is Macromedia's Dreamweaver (the current version is MX 2004).
Feature #2. Lack of clarity. When we visit a website, we expect to find our way around easily, to realize the purpose of the website and to know what the site has to offer and how to find it. So, for the sake of clarity, avoid the following:
- Mystery meat - Vincent Flanders and Dean Peters in their Web Pages that Suck books compare websites that are confusing - you don't know what they are about or where they are going - to mystery meat (meat disguised by gravy, etc.). Be obvious - most users are not into guessing what it's all about. They may surmise that we don't know either.
- Difficult navigation - It is another mystery when it comes to finding a page or the information you want. If visitors are forced to click more than three times to find what they are looking for, they will click away from the website. Solutions to this are providing a search feature - at least on the home page (I like to include it on most pages) - or a straightforward site map made up of obvious text links.
- Hidden or incomplete contact information. I find it frustrating, and so do visitors, if there isn't a clear way to contact the company or owner of the website. Personally, I don't advise having only one contact page. I prefer to include the information or at least a link to the e-mail address on every page of the site. It is also my bias that the full address and phone number be posted for credibility, even if visitors will prefer to e-mail.
Feature #3. Little substance, professionalism or attention to important details. I am sure that you have visited websites that proceed to tell you how they are the "best of the best" and yet shout out the opposite message. To avoid giving the wrong message, pay attention to the following:
- Content must be informative, well developed and complete. How often have you visited a site for useful content and found a bunch of photos with a few short bullets and no true substance? I am not advocating long or difficult text, but I am suggesting that we need to make our content strong enough that the visitor wants to read it and then come back for more.
- Typos and grammatical errors scream non-professional. Yes, I know that we all make errors, especially if we are writing many articles, descriptions and e-newsletters. It is easy when we are working on our own to miss these, no matter how many times we check what we are writing (and we do need to check and recheck often). But, if our copy is loaded with poor grammar, misspellings, terrible punctuation and malapropisms (how's that for substance?), we will be sending the wrong message along with sending our visitors away forever.
What features drive you away from a website? Let me know and I will share them with our readers in an upcoming Internet Tips E-Zine. And, thank you again for a successful first year!
Remember, send your comments and questions to me at chris@creativekeys.biz. I love to receive feedback and will answer your questions in future e-zines.
If you would like to subscribe to this e-zine and receive five free Internet tips, send an e-mail to subscribe@creativekeys.biz with subscribe in the subject line. If you ever wish to be removed from the mailing list, just send an e-mail to unsubscribe@creativekeys.biz with unsubscribe in the subject line.
Chris
King
P.O. Box 221255
Beachwood, Ohio 44122
(216) 991-8428
http://www.creativekeys.biz
