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So... What if we could discuss these articles? That will be like live discussion, which makes brain to work harder comparing to plain reading :)
I start with the latest one:
>Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability
> [useit.com...]
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1. Include a One-Sentence Tagline
- Totally agree with this one
2. Write a Window Title with Good Visibility in Search Engines and Bookmark Lists
- :) Of course
3. Group all Corporate Information in One Distinct Area
- Ok, sounds logical.
4. Emphasize the Site's Top High-Priority Tasks
- Logical. But how do they count 1 to 4 main tasks? ?Why not 3 or 5?
5. Include a Search Input Box
- Generally would agree with that. But not in the case of promo and small site. For example, we have many 5 sites.
Including a search box may be not good, as people start to think there is much more content than actually there is. The search for keywords and get 0 results.. Of course, 5 pages will not contain so much info. That is just a visiting card online..
6. Show Examples of Real Site Content
- Ok, logical
7. Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword
- I would say, finish with that too :)
8. Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features
- This is new to me. Do you often see such sites?????
10. Use Meaningful Graphics
- Of course images to be relevant!! But..
"For example, it's almost always best to show photos of real people actually connected to the topic, rather than pictures of models. "
Well.... I am not sure you can always get the professional photo of the company president. I mean, so professional that can be used in the design. And even if such exists, I bet nice model girl will have moch more impact than man in age, which is manager or president.
Your thoghts??
There's one (the search box) that I don't consider absolute (through my own tests), and I have a few other comments. However, Jakob is usually commenting on monster sites that are much larger than even my biggest - important to remember that.
1. Tagline
It's got to identify the field that the business is involved in and not just be some clever motto.
Although I haven't directly tested this, I have the sense that taglines are so overdone that people are beginning to get "tagline blindness" in the same way they've developed "banner ad blindness".
5. Search Box
There are times I've seen through measurements that good navigation is better than a search box. This is especially true when the site is only a few humndred pages and many searches may come up empty, rther than placing the dominating search box right on the home page. In these cases I prefer a LINK to a search utility. [url]=http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/1654.htm]Site search discussion[/url]
8. Recent Home Page Features
I don't see this as often as I would like. It can be frustrating for a user to want to revisit a featured article only to find it buried in some obscure spot.
I've found that a "What's New" or "Recent Features" link, going to a page with an index of recently featured items is an often clicked item, and a boon to search engine's keeping recent articles in the database. How far back to maintain items on this page depends on the site's frequency of update.
Yes - big time. Describe the site - evoke something. Pique their couriosity while explaining what the site is about.
It was after that tagline article came out, that I sat down and labored and labored to come up with ours here (homepage, top center). I kinda went into seo mode. I wrote down the kw's I wanted people to read. After that, it just kinda formed it's own descriptive sentence. It's about the biggest single 'promotion' thing I've done for the site - I know it has helped more than anyone can imagine. In one sentence, you know what we do, what we are about, and who our target audience is.
q:Most effective tagline on the net?
a:News for nerds - stuff that matters.
2- Write a Window Title with Good Visibility in Search Engines and Bookmark Lists
sure, but its old news -- like the back of the hand -- to our members here.
3- Group all Corporate Information in One Distinct Area
Yep, about.htm
4- Emphasize the Site's Top High-Priority Tasks
ya, but I don't see why it's this high.
5- Site Search.
No, not me. Not my experience at all. Mine has been to bury it, hide it, obfuscate it. Bury it so deep, that they have to type "search" into their browser find window to even find the link.
Users abandon site search like no other page on your site. Click -> Site Search -> Umm, buh bye. 90% of all site search functions are complete-total-unconditional failures. Only super huge ecomm sites, and dynamic content sites where search engines fear to tread can get away with it. If you must have it on a stock site, use Google with a Google site search function and the branded page on Google in a frame. Let the user think they found it at Google.
6- Show Examples of Real Site Content
Nice idea - very difficult in the real world where space, size, and speed are a bigger concern.
7- Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword
The original search engine optimizer ;-)
8- Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features
Tough to do.
9- Don't Over-Format Critical Content, Such as Navigation Areas
I've always been a minimalist.
10- Use Meaningful Graphics
Aside from the logo - what else is there ;-) I'm not all that fond of gapping big graphics. They take to long to download. However, I'm very fond of graphis that speak to a story. I've experimented with this aspect a great deal, and find 1 graphic or picture per story, really gives it an identity that users can relate too. It helps define the page and the user to remember that they read it there.
On #4, Emphasize the Site's Top High-Priority Tasks I think Nielson like to pick a number and hold to it-- the titles to some of his best columns start "Top ten reasons/mistakes...". It may be arbitrary to a point, but he knows how to design and designing means choosing priorities and emphasizing essentials. His bottom line rests on the assumption people use a site to accomplish something purposeful rather than to waste time.
On #8. Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features, I think he's talking about an archive page of old features so returning visitors can easily find features they accessed in the past. The usability of this construct depends on the type of site, though, and the volume of new features presented.
NeoN said;
"I am not sure you can always get the professional photo of the company president. I mean, so professional that can be used in the design. And even if such exists, I bet nice model girl will have moch more impact than man in age, which is manager or president. "
....I've found that using an image of an actual employee has been successful in the past. It's about putting Trust first. It gives the web site a sense of reality. We had one site where every month we did a sort of "cover shot" of employees and customers on the front page - after a short while it became very popular with both groups. Was also a nice way of saying "good job" to the employees in question. Unfortunately the person that was taking those pics moved on, and we had to drop it.
I don't worry about a super-professional image of the person in question, either. You can do a LOT with Photoshop...fuzz out the background, level the colors, etc. etc., and let's face it, in the end it's all 72 dpi anyway... Besides, you and I notice the difference in quality, but the average folk just don't. It's hard to realize & remember that when you're steeped in it everyday.
