Web Development Tips (Part 1)

I just read a wonderful article in the Intranet Librarian section of Online (which I read online through EBSCOhost MasterFile Premier.)

Web Development over the Past 10 Years. By: Fichter, Darlene. Online, Nov/Dec2005, Vol. 29 Issue 6, p48-50, 3p;

Abstract: Provides some insights on Web site usability and false assumptions about Web site development. Developments in the field of web site development; Factors to consider in designing web sites; Tips for optimizing the usability of web sites

Fichter points out how people actually interact with Web sites, rather than with preconceived notions about how they do so by giving the tips below (clipped and modified, but not by much!)

• Users read less than you think: The Poynter eyetrack studies show that even when reading headlines people don't read the whole line but scan the first two to three words.
• Designers must make tough choices about placement: The screen is like a newspaper--the important headlines or features that compel you to open the newspaper, or purchase one, have to be placed first. If you place the most important information in the upper-left-hand area of the content region of the page, almost everyone will scan that area...Make sure you're making the tough choices about what to place first on your home page. Be sure to pick something that matters to your users.
• Users do not want help: Web surfers expect to "walk up and use" your site. If they have to read a manual or "help" pages, most won't. The majority of people perceive themselves as capable, even above-average, Internet users...They expect your site to be intuitive and "make sense."...Adopting conventions used on other sites can help your site be more intuitive for your visitors.
• It is perilous to ignore website conventions: Watch and learn what conventions popular sites are adopting for layout, labeling, and interaction behavior on Web forms. Your visitors use these sites hundreds of times per year. Your visitors have internalized how these sites work and expect to interact with your site in a similar way.
• Usability testing saves time in the long run: The ROI on usability testing has been proven many times over. Visitors who can successfully complete tasks on your site are more likely to return. They will put fewer demands on library reference and technical support staff for navigational type questions. The quality of the question will change from "Where is?" to "Do you have even more about X, Y, or Z?"
• Text RULES: The best way to hide a new program or service on your Web site is to create a special graphic image to promote it. Post this image on your site without any supporting text and it's usually overlooked...In a usability debriefing session, we asked a participant if he had noticed a graphic image promoting a library program and he replied, "Oh, that graphic, I just ignored it. I never look at the pictures. They're usually ads." Sometimes users say it best.
• CONTINUED in PART 2