Fundamentals of Good Web DesignWritten by Ric Shreves
There are no objective standards for Web design, but that’s a shame. While novel and inventive interface design is to be encouraged, bottom line for most sites is usability. When design starts to intrude on usefulness, decisions is easy – make it easy for user. Without delving heavily into programming nuts and bolts of design implementation, we offer following modest proposals: 1. Use Consistent Navigation Give users consistent navigation throughout site. The importance of this simple point can’t be overstated, as newbies invariably get lost. Moreover, you should try to accommodate users with old systems and users with disabilities. Some users disable java, and others use text only browsers, so provide text only nav buttons to accommodate all users (or provide an alternate site).2. Provide a Site Map Just plain common courtesy, if you ask me. When I am in a hurry, last thing I want to do is dig through a hierarchical Web site structure to search for something that I know exists on site. 3. Provide a Contacts Page You would be amazed at how many companies have ZERO contact information on their Web sites. Moreover, a generic e-mail link is NOT sufficient; you need to give people addresses, phone numbers, etc. In order for Web to deliver on its promise, it must be used to increase transparency of organizations. 4. Listen to Users Give your users a method for providing feedback. It’s true, people rarely use feedback option, but its also true they really hate it when they are not given option. The usability of your feedback system is a key when problems strike; a good system eases tensions and a bad system escalates tensions dramatically. (Do we need to point out that timely response to feedback forms is also a necessity?) 5. Build an Intuitive Interface The Ideal Interface must meet two criteria: (1) Newbies must be confronted with an easy-to-learn consistent system while, (2) Experienced users should be able to navigate site quickly – design should not impede or interfere navigation by an experienced user who is familiar with site.
| | Importance of Having Your Own Domain NameWritten by Sumantra Roy.
A question that I frequently hear is "Do I really need to have my own domain name?" The one word answer is "YES.". If you put up your site with some of free web hosting services, only company who benefits is web hosting company. The last person who benefits is you. There are a number of reasons why having your own domain name is a must: 1) When you have your own domain name, address of your web site will be of form http://www.yoursite.com. On other hand, if you put up your site on one of free servers, address of your web site will be something like http://www.somefreewebsite.com/yoursite/. Which of these two sounds more professional? Which of these two is smaller and is hence easier to remember? I leave you to make judgement. 2) The only way to make money online is to build up credibility among your customers. Having your own domain name is first step in doing that. Your customers will feel more comfortable buying whatever it is that you are selling if you have your own domain name. It makes your customers feel that they are dealing with a large, established company, rather than with some fly by night operator. 3) When you have your domain name, you can have multiple email aliases of form alias@yoursite.com. This allows you to assign different email aliases to different functions, all of them pointing to your actual email address. Hence, for example, for questions related to products and services that you sell, you can have an email address like sales@yoursite.com. For questions related to newsletter that you publish, you can have an email address like editor@yoursite.com. For comments/suggestions about your web site, you can direct your customers to feedback@yoursite.com or webmaster@yoursite.com. Having different email addresses for different functions not only makes it easier for you to filter your email using your email client program (Eudora Pro, Pegasus Mail, Outlook Express etc.), but also gives your customers impression that yours is a large, established company with whom it is safe to do business.
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