Blog
Title: Forsaking users in favor of "cool" design or technology
Date: 01/20/10
As a designer I always want to produce an eye-popping design that's never been conceived. Alas my usability sense often gets the best of me. I end up with strong, consistent design that is accessible and usable. Just before I get frustrated with my lack of creativity and hang it up and call it a career it hits me ... dummy, this is what you are supposed to do. You are supposed to give businesses a chance by providing them with a web site that fits their brand and that their user-base can find and navigate.
This site best viewed with ...
Remember those days when those "cutting edge" designers would disclaim within their web site "This site is best viewed with Internet Explorer 5.0 on a Windows PC with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768". Well, this same mode of thought continues in 2010, but now they aren't even nice enough to tell us what browser and screen resolution we SHOULD be using.
The arrogance factor
I never prescribed to the mode of thought that essentially says "who cares about users, look at my awesome new technology and cutting edge layout and design". Seriously, it was just over a year ago when I finally stopped coding my display logic to render in Netscape 4.0 and 640 x 480. As it turns out, that was a bit extreme. However, it is true and finally valid that users are browsing the web on their portable wireless devices - and some of them are browsing on a device with less than 200 pixels of width. So the question is, what is the magic number of users you are willing to alienate by continuing to produce design and technology work that doesn't do what it is suppose to do? If your site is for public consumption, it is my humble opinion that your cutting edge technology / design better degrade gracefully without losing the user.
Happy surfing in 2010!
Title: A web presence makes sense in any economy
Date: 05/02/09
With all the schizophrenia in the media and government about the economy it is nice to hear that some business investments make sense. A thoughtfully approached web presence is a cost effective way to obtain new business and maintain existing customers.
Getting new business
There are new web surfers every day. Why miss out on a low-cost opportunity on capturing new customers? A focused web presence and smart search engine optimization will allow you to see the maximum number of site visitors.
Keeping existing customers
Yes, a strong web presence can keep current customers happy. By offering customers a membership to your website with a slightly upgraded set of features (wholesale shopping portal, frequently asked questions, appointment scheduling etc.) you can keep your competition at bay! Be careful not to fall in to the trap of over spending on technology. Ask your customers questions to find out what kinds of services are attractive to them on a web site.
Title: Content Management - What is it? Do I need it?
Date: 04/05/09
What is Content Management and do I need it on my web site? Maybe. Maybe not. The first question is: Do you have content
that changes frequently? For example: Say you own a custom tile contracting business and you constantly do work and take photos of your
completed projects. You could benefit from having the ability to manage your own photos on your web site so that you don't have to
pay a web developer to add new photos every month. The capability of being able to manage your own photos is one example of content management.
Fresh content = Fresh search engine results
Another thing to consider about content management is that the search engines do give some preference to those sites that change more frequently. If your site is the first listing in the search results on Google under the keyphrase "custom tile Tennessee" ... you have to work to maintain that listing. If your content goes stale for 6 months or more, you will undoubtedly slide down the search results. The most cost effective way to keep your content and keywords fresh is to have your own tools to manage the content of your site without consulting your web developer.
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