When designing a web site, you are never sure how it appears to all people. This is because people use different browsers, resolutions, computers and connection speeds to the Internet. Your site may look good with your browser, but absolutely horrendous in other browsers. This is why you should test the usability of your site, before you expose it to the world.
[2002-11-21] Peer Review of Ruthie's Music
First Impression: Nice but it has an unfinished feel to it, it is as if the designers hit a deadline and just published the site as is.
[2002-11-19] Web Site Redesign - from Stagnation to Rejuvenation
When surfing the Web these days, you often come across web sites that suffer from stagnation - they look old, obsolete or appear to have been designed by an amateur. Your web site needs continuous improvement to capture and engage your visitor's attention. If not, they can easily click away to your competitor's site. 5 steps to prevent web site stagnation 1. Define a clear purpose - when visitors arrive at your site, they should immediately know what your site is all about. You should introduce this in your first paragraph. A graphic may help to supplement your explanation.
[2002-11-18] IMMUTABLE LAWS OF EFFECTIVE NAVIGATION
The first immutable law of effective navigation: It's gotta be readily available. Visitors should not have to hunt for your navigation or wonder where to find it. If you've done your job right, it will be right there when they are ready for it. The struggle in creating good navigation is to figure out what type of navigation the visitor is going to need, when he is going to need it, and where the most effective placement will be.
[2002-11-18] WHY CHOOSING FORM OVER FUNCTION KILLS YOUR SITE
Never put form over function. Why? Because it's crucial that visitors actually be able to USE your site. Everything you do must be designed to be as easy for the visitor to understand as possible. Everything should be functional first. If you put form before function, you sacrifice your visitor's best interest for your own preferences. By definition, putting form over function means you sacrifice function--you make it harder to perform whatever task is supposed to be performed. You give up ease of use or simplicity in order to make it look nicer. Basically, you wind up with a lot of icing and no cake.
[2002-11-13] Spam-Proofing Your Website
Almost every website operator wants search engine spiders to visit. After all, search engines are the best source of free traffic on the web. In the event that you don't want them to visit, they are easily kept at bay with a properly formatted "robots.txt" file.
[2002-11-13] Design Web Site Around Affiliate Programs
When starting a Web business, most people choose a topic for their Web site and then look for products and affiliate programs related to that topic. In this article, I suggest searching for a group of related affiliate programs first, then designing your Web site around those programs.
[2002-11-08] Blog Design: Show Some Restraint
When it comes to envisioning your Blog’s design, starting from scratch with only a blank screen beaming unknown radiation into your retinas can have the unwanted effect of holding you back. Sometimes in order to move forward, you need to show some restraint. Setting parameters for yourself in advance can help you create a bold, useful blog or an artfully designed journal with text that escapes into your mind from within the confines of a gracefully constructed simplicity.
[2002-11-05] Search Engines Dropped You? Robin Nobles to the Rescue!
Clint: I was showing on the very first page in ALL MAJOR SE's for a specific most commonly used search phrase for computer hardware. On some SE's, the very FIRST hit on a page. Mind you, this is even listed before the huge multi-million dollar computer hardware websites! I just have a small privately owned business, so you can understand how important this was to me. To *MAINTAIN* this standing, logic would dictate you resubmit every few weeks or so.
