I recently searched the web for some deals on a new product I had tried out. Visiting the manufacturer’s website, I discovered a coupon offering decent savings. You had to provide your contact information, which for me was a decent exchange for the coupon’s value. I completed the form and submitted it.
Why do website owner’s do this? All the time? They come up with a great website element or feature. Then, they build the site around it. But they forget the primary reason for the site. The goal. Increase sales. Sell books. Increase downloads of brochures. They’ll all agree that these are the reasons they wanted a website in the first place.
Then why is the goofy menu, or the tacky videos the focus?
It’s been a while since I last posted to the blog here. A lot of things have happened in my live, both professionally and personally. I’ll cover the professional here.
In June, I started a contract gig at United Airlines as a HTML Developer. Hands-on, indeed. It has been an adventure and a great experience. Although I don’t yet write my own JavaScript, I’ve been engaged in working with JavaScript, calling on the expertise of others. I’ve actually written and worked with JSP more than JavaScript. This, from a front-end guy.
It has, although, placed my on an emotional roller coaster. A good chunk of it relates to my lack of control; being able to handle certain tasks on my own. And there’s the “things” that just drive you nuts (nope, won’t go into it).
When this gig is over, I will be a better web professional. Stay tuned. I promise to be more prolific with my writing soon.
This project was not so much a redesign as a refresh of the site’s current design. The original design was flat & dated. The initial view of the site was a Flash-based animation, followed by a redirect to the About page which contained information on the organization, PDF newsletters and the club’s board members, not hardly the primary interest when the club’s goal was to promote activities, events and membership.
Google recent released a change to its search engine results page. While the change is subtle, one of the new features is a handy, easy to access tool for performing keyword research for optimizing your web site for the search engines.
Search engine optimization is an ongoing task that covers a variety of aspects of your website. One item of note is the relevancy of your landing pages. I’m not referring to search engine ranking, but meeting the expectation of site visitors when they first arrive on your site.
Here’s an exercise that can improve your website’s landing pages. The article assumes you have your site hooked up to Google Analytics. If not, stop reading, register the site and install the code.
I’ve done several presentations in my time. They tend to be text heavy, as I want the presentation to have value long after I’ve delivered it.
In the last several years, there’s been a trend in the Internet community to give presentations where primarily supportive imagery is displayed on the slide, while the presenter talks through the points he/she wishes to communicate. This is great for during the presentation. However, after the event, when a presentation is posted for all to view online, there’s only frustration when the viewer cannot obtain the “message.” Just read the comments of frustration from many of the presentations from SXSW.
Late last year, I wanted to verify thoughts I had on web design and the industry, specifically related to the web design process. I tapped my network at LinkedIn to poll. The results are definitely not scientific, as the questions were polled at different times, with different responders. Consider this just a quick check into the industry, not an all encompassing survey, like A List Apart’s Web Design Survey.
The topic of using text-decoration versus border-bottom for hyperlinks recently cross my mind. To be honest, I had never consider the effects and impacts of these two different implementations. However, since playing with these concepts, it has become quite an important usability item to me.
I evangelize about things that I’m passionate about. I’ve evangelized about the web and web design for over ten years. I attend web-related meetups and get really wound up about the topic.
Segue to the networking side of those same meetups. I stumble. Ok, I fall flat on my face. I typically find someone to introduce myself to, but it ends there.
I really don’t know the official term to describe this method. It’s not new, by all means. However, it’s a powerful method of using CSS code & classes effectively and efficiently.
First, you may not be aware that you can use multiple css classes on elements. Example:
<p class="classone classtwo"></p>
Here’s where the power comes in. We can use these multiple classes to separate the structure from the “skin.”
Just learned of a great new web design podcast.
The Pipeline, hosted by Dan Benjamin, features interviews with leading designers, developers, writers, and entrepreneurs. The first episode featured Jeffrey Zeldman, designer, founder of ALA. I found this to be the best interview with Jeffrey.
Other shows feature interviews with Ryan Carson and Jason Fried, with more interviews to come.
Visit the web site to listen to individual interviews, or subscribe via iTunes.
My typical post center around sharing my knowledge and experience with other web professionals. This particular post will depart from the norm and cover the very important topic of diversity & respect in the web industry, specifically related to gender.
I recently attended the 200th episode of the Boagworld podcast. The podcast celebrated by spanning twelve hours with special guests; experts in their specific web-related field. As usual with the Boagworld podcast, there was plenty of banter, including a few music numbers and bad jokes, along with the valuable, motivating information. If you don’t listen to the podcast, I highly recommend it.
Early in my web career, say 2000, I was always told to limit what you emphasize. The theory is that the more you emphasize, the less something is emphasized. I remember debating with several content producers on this topic.
This website redesign project was referred by my web design partner. A printing business has an existing site, which was outdated and not representing the company’s products and services. We worked with the client to examine their competition and agree upon an information architecture that would provide results. After creating wireframes that represented the content for each page type, my partner designed the website in Illustrator. I built the approved design on the WordPress CMS platform, using a web standards-based approach. Future phases will include eCommerce features to purchase products online.
Lindblad Alaska is a standards-based, lead-generation, travel-related microsite designed for an existing client and developed on a WordPress CMS. Much of the look n’ feel was derived from existing branding from travel supplier print material. I participated in the end-to-end design & development of the website.
I recently had a bad experience at a local restaurant. So what does that have to do with web design?
My wife & I were told to view the carryout menu online. As we were physically at the restaurant, we attempted to view the menu on the restaurant’s website from our smart phones. That failed, due to the site being created solely in Flash.
It’s a new year, and it’s time to get back to work.
So why do your websites still read © last year or worse?
Most web site owners forget to update their copyright date. And it’s easy to understand why. For most sites, the footer, where the copyright date usually sits, is below the fold and in small type anyways. But for site visitors, it can communicate the freshness of a website’s content. So it doesn’t hurt to make sure this information is updated.