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Building a better website - design article South Africa
Web design that works |
If you want customers to buy from your store or retain
your services, you have to treat them well. Many
companies, Internet proprietors included, forget that
cardinal rule and neglect the needs of their most
valuable online asset--the visitor. Most importantly,
make your Website serve customers--not the other way
around, because your closest competitor is just a mouse
click away.
* Don't put surfers to work. You wouldn't send customers
out of your store to get special equipment just to shop
your aisles, so "don't ask Web visitors to change
browsers or download and install extra software or `plug
ins'.
* Don't rely on visitors using the latest software and
hardware. Your Website should be accessible to the
lowest common denominator in Web browsing. "Most people
aren't changing browsers just because there's a newer
version". That doesn't mean you can't add high-tech
touches where appropriate, but they should not be
integral to experiencing your site (unless you sell
multimedia or similarly audible and visible products and
services).
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* Avoid writing pages with any
coding language later than HTML
version 3.2 if possible. Be equally
careful when incorporating Java into
your site: some browsers are unable
to handle it, and many people with
Java-compatible browsers disable it
and JavaScript for security reasons.
Frames, invisible separators that
determine the layout of a Web page,
are not visible to all browsers.
Tables are a similar tool that can
do many of the layout jobs frames
do, but with cleaner and more widely
accepted code.
If your site depends on forms,
provide instructions for printing,
faxing or mailing an order page,
plus a phone number for those timid
about ordering over the Net.
* Don't skimp on testing. Thousands
of companies go live every day with
Websites that testing could have
improved. Get a group of individuals
who can "beta test" your site from
different systems and evaluate your
site for speed, navigation and
usability. Have them complete the
entire shopping experience and get
feedback on key questions such as:
* Was it easy to navigate?
* What were the problems?
* Would they buy from this site and,
if not, what were their concerns?
* Consider videotaping several of
the testers as they explore your
site. Discuss what they were looking
for and how quickly they found it,
if at all. Test from different
hardware/software platforms,
browsers, modern speeds and monitor
resolutions. Everything should look
good at 640 by 480 resolution. Users
should never have to scroll
horizontally. There's plenty of
vertical scrolling to keep people
occupied. Finally, test for dead
hyperlinks--visitors should never
get "file not found" messages or
"broken image link" icons.
* Don't make your site look
amateurish. Avoid unprofessional
touches such as signs saying
"Welcome to My-Free Inc.," "Under
Construction," hot link text that
says "click here," and sounds that
jolt visitors' nerves. Professional
sites should avoid making hot links
of everything possible--especially
when the links lead to other sites.
Don't "trade links" with sites
unless you get a measurable benefit
from doing so. For instance, links
to sites that offer complimentary
goods or reference materials make
sense because they enhance your
visitors' appreciation of your site
and products. Remember, you want
visitors to return to your site, and
avoiding these mistakes will make
them more likely to do so. |
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