The Diablog - it’s Diabloglical™

Worst of the Web

30 June 2010

It’s back: our “Worst of the Web” rant. I can’t exactly say it’s back by popular demand, but I can say it’s back because the web continues to annoy me.

This is not a top ten list. It’s just a few random topics. More will come. If I didn’t mention one that really annoys you, share it with me, and I’ll share it with the world.

Click here? You can’t make me.

Before you make another button that says, “Click here”, please take a moment to think, “Is there something else I could say here that makes this button easier to understand or more useful for my audience?” Really. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Buy one of these things.
• Please contact me.
• This article is cool.
• Give me the details.
• I want to participate.
• Rock my world.

Please - say something meaningful. “Click here” was a bad idea the first time it was used. Every subsequent usage has moved Homo sapiens closer to Lemmus lemmus. Make it stop!

Don’t autofill a form with the wrong information.

Interactive forms are some of the dullest content on anyone’s website. We all know this, but some web developers haven’t fully accepted this as inevitable. They continue to try to find new ways to confuse users with the rules they apply to interactive forms. The worst is when they neglect to put something like “Select one” as the default entry on a dropdown menu.

Here’s an example of bad dropdown autofill that recently got the best of one of my business partners, Brett Barron. He completed the ship-to form on an ecommerce website. It didn’t like one of his answers, so it made him complete the form again, only the second time around, the “State” field changed from what he had chosen back to the first item on the list, which was “Alabama”. When he re-submitted the form, it validated that all fields were completed correctly, and they shipped his order to Dallas, Alabama.

Save cleverness for the meaningful message on your website. Make the interactive forms easy to use and difficult to break - and nothing more.

Don’t open a window. It’s hot outside.

This one amazes me because I can’t get my head around why anyone would do this. Some websites seem to randomly mix up nav functionality so that some buttons move the site visitor to a new page and other buttons open a new browser window. There is no upside to this practice. The user experience is awful, and it’s harmful to the site owner’s business. Here’s why: you click on a nav button (opens a new window), you look, then you close the window, you click on another button (doesn’t open a new window), you look, then you close the window. Now the site is gone. Lost. You may have Googled for the site and read through a page or two of search results to find the site. Are you going to go through all that again? Not likely.

It’s so easy to lose track of windows when the UI logic is inconsistent, it’s almost inevitable that you will close every window that pertains to the site. I’m so annoyed when that happens, I don’t go back, even if I know the URL.

When Dialogs Professional Services works with customers to plan information architecture, we help steer the project away from choices that may annoy site visitors. Ask us to walk through your site with you. We promise we won’t be annoying.

The man who sells spoons for a living eats his soup with a fork (part 2 of 2).

25 June 2010

As I have mentioned before, we work with a lot of different creative agencies who offer internet-based services. Some limit their offering to web design only. Others are more focused in internet marketing. Some are full-service interactive agencies including design and implementation plus life-of-site services like SEO, online advertising, and marketing.

Your agency’s website is the perfect showcase for how you make websites that work. Here are a couple approaches to avoid:

• We want our site to be all Flash. I’m sure you’ve heard about the Steve Jobs interview with D8 where he said, “Flash looks like a technology that had its day but is really waning ….” Apple’s assessment of Flash’s declining importance is why the iPhone and now the iPad do not support Flash. With that kind of visionary guidance available, why do so many creative agencies still build their websites in Flash? The only answer I ever get to that question is, “It looks cool.” Well, let’s look at it another way. If you built townhomes for a living, would you build a single-family house as your model home? Of course not. Your customers want to see an example of what they are interested in buying. An agency’s website is a great place to show prospects an example of the work you would do for them. They want to know that you can provide content management, that sites you build can yield high SEO points, that your sites can integrate with email delivery systems including unique URLs/landing pages for each email recipient, etc. Most businesses don’t need a website that looks cool. They need a website with a polished look that also delivers customers. Your own website is the best place to show prospects that you understand their needs.

• Our site needs to be simple because we don’t have time to update content. Like yesterday's point about minimal copy, this point is also Google-related. Google prefers a site that has new content every time the Google spiders re-index it. You (and everyone else, including your prospects) needs a website with meaningful copy on a lot of pages. As many pages as you can conceive of. With a good CMS system, updating content can have very little impact on your internal resources.

If you are thinking about overhauling your agency’s website, pattern your work after the interactive work you want to sell.

Talk to us before you start to rework your website. Let us show you how working with our process in Dialogs can make your life easier.

The man who sells spoons for a living eats his soup with a fork (part 1 of 2).

24 June 2010

As I have mentioned before, we work with a lot of different creative agencies who offer internet-based services. Some limit their offering to web design only. Others are more focused in internet marketing. Some are full-service interactive agencies including design and implementation plus life-of-site services like SEO, online advertising, and marketing.

When an agency partner determines it’s time to overhaul their own website, we often get invited to participate in the project. I am amazed at how often the process breaks down when a creative agency is working a project for themselves.

Here are some ways I have seen creative agencies treat their internal projects differently than client work:

• Creative comes first. If you’ve read our process white paper, you know how important it is to fully understand the purpose, content, and functionality of a website before the designer starts even noodling on look and feel. Even some agencies that follow our process for their clients have derailed the process when working for themselves. We’ll get the call that the agency wants to move their site into Dialogs and they want us to look at their ideas. Then they send us layouts. We ask for the architecture map, but they don’t have one. We ask for the discovery documentation, but they don’t have any. We do discovery and architecture for every project (large or small) because it is the best way to ensure that the site includes everything that’s needed, doesn’t include stuff that’s not needed, and connects to various outside resources as needed. Most importantly, clear documentation of discovery and architecture makes the creative and implementation segments of the project more efficient (wasted time = wasted dollars) and more effective (all work is on target). When it comes time to redo your website, trust the process.

• We don’t want copy, just eye-popping visuals. This idea can be stated another way (even though most people who tell me this don’t know it): “I don’t need Google to succeed.” Here’s the wakeup call - you do need Google to succeed. Google doesn’t have eyes that pop. Google likes words. Only words. When you include a visual in your site, make sure you add alt text so Google can index words that describe the visual. I’ve been told things like, “I don’t need Google to send people to my website - I do that.” and “All I need the website to do is give out our phone number.” That’s not how the web works. The only people you send to your website are people you know. Most of the people who visit a successful website are people the site owner doesn’t know. That’s what makes them successful. Plus, as I mentioned in the previous point, your prospects know they need Google to succeed, so they will be more likely to hire a firm who demonstrates Google-friendly practices.

If you are thinking about overhauling your agency’s website, keep in mind that you are your most important client.

Talk to us before you start to rework your website. Let us show you how working with our process in Dialogs can make your life easier.