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Search Engines as Leeches on the Web (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Tags: search, usability, web-marketing on 2008-04-01 and saved by9 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Summary:
Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors. -
The question is: How can websites devote more of their budgets to keeping customers, rather than simply advertising for new visitors?
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How can websites devote more of their budgets to keeping customers, rather than simply advertising for new visitors? Here are some ideas
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Email newsletters. Getting people to sign up for regular newsletters remains the ultimate way to maintain a relationship.
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Request marketing. Have users tell you what they want, and then alert them when you have it.
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The real goal is to make users come back, and to have them come directly to your site instead of clicking on expensive ads.
How to Write for the Web (Full Paper)
long detailed paper full of tips and suggestions for writing for the web
Tags: usability, web-design, web-writing, writing on 2008-02-26 and saved by6 people -All Annotations (1) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
Microcontent: Headlines and Subject Lines (Alertbox)
Tags: micro-content, usability, web-writing on 2007-12-27 and saved by20 people -All Annotations (4) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines
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Microcontent needs to be pearls of clarity: you get
40-60
characters to explain your macrocontent. Unless the
title or subject make it absolutely clear what the page or email is about,
users will never open it. -
Because of these differences, the headline text has to stand on its
own and make sense when the rest of the content is not available. -
Guidelines for Microcontent
- Clearly explain what the article (or email) is about in terms that
relate to the user. Microcontent should be an ultra-short abstract of its
associated macrocontent. - Written in plain language: no puns, no "cute" or
"clever" headlines. - No teasers that try to entice people to click to find
out what the story is about.
- Clearly explain what the article (or email) is about in terms that
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Skip leading articles like "the" and "a" in email subjects and page titles (but
do include them in headlines that are embedded within a page) -
Make the first word an important, information-carrying
one. Results in better position in
alphabetized lists and facilitates scanning. For example, start with
the name of the company, person, or concept discussed in an article. -
Do not make all page titles start with the same word: they will be hard
to differentiate when scanning a list. Move common markers toward the end
of the line.
Home Page Design Guidelines (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Tags: guidelines, homepage, usability, webdev on 2007-12-26 and saved by9 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability
Summary:
A company's homepage is its face to the world and the starting point for most user visits. Improving your homepage multiplies the entire website's business value, so following key guidelines for homepage usability is well worth the investment. -
Homepages are the most valuable real estate in the world.
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Make the Site's Purpose Clear: Explain Who You Are and What You Do
1. Include a One-Sentence Tagline
Start the page with a tagline that summarizes what the site or company does, especially if you're new or less than famous. -
2. Write a Window Title with Good Visibility in Search Engines and Bookmark Lists
Begin the TITLE tag with the company name, followed by a brief description of the site. -
3. Group all Corporate Information in One Distinct Area
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Help Users Find What They Need
4. Emphasize the Site's Top High-Priority Tasks
Your homepage should offer users a clear starting point for the main one to four tasks they'll undertake when visiting your site. -
5. Include a Search Input Box
Search is an important part of any big website. When users want to search, they typically scan the homepage looking for "the little box where I can type," so your search should be a box. -
Reveal Site Content
6. Show Examples of Real Site Content
Don't just describe what lies beneath the homepage. Specifics beat abstractions, and you have good stuff. Show some of your best or most recent content. -
7. Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword
Users scan down the page, trying to find the area that will serve their current goal. Links are the action items on a homepage, and when you start each link with a relevant word, you make it easier for scanning eyes to differentiate it from other links on the page. -
8. Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features
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Use Visual Design to Enhance, not Define, Interaction Design
9. Don't Over-Format Critical Content, Such as Navigation Areas
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10. Use Meaningful Graphics
Don't just decorate the page with stock art.
Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill? (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Tags: text, usability, web-writing on 2007-12-26 and saved by4 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Summary:
Introductory text on Web pages is usually too long, so users skip it. But short intros can increase usability by explaining the remaining content's purpose.
The introductory paragraph(s) found at the top of many Web pages is what I call blah-blah text: a block of words that users typically skip when they arrive at a page. Instead, their eyes go directly to more actionable content, such as product features, bulleted lists, or hypertext links.
The worst kind of blah-blah has no function; it's pure filler — platitudes, such as "Welcome to our site, we hope you will find our new and improved design helpful."
Kill the welcome mat and cut to the chase. -
Intro text has a valid role in that it helps set the context for content and thus answer the question: What's the page about?
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A brief introduction can help users better understand the rest of the page. Even if they skip it initially, they might return later if it doesn't look intimidatingly long and dense. If you keep it short, a bit of blah might actually work. So, prune your initial draft of marketese and focus on answering two questions:
- What? (What will users find on this page — i.e., what's its function?)
- Why? (Why should they care — i.e., what's in it for them?)
- What? (What will users find on this page — i.e., what's its function?)
Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster (Alertbox)
Tags: google, usability on 2007-12-26 and saved by6 people -All Annotations (0) -About
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Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster
Summary:
The easier it is to find places with good information, the less time users will spend visiting any individual website. This is one of many conclusions that follow from analyzing how people optimize their behavior in online information systems. -
Information Scent: Predicting a Path's Success
Information foraging's most famous concept is information scent: users estimate a given hunt's likely success from the spoor: assessing whether their path exhibits cues related to the desired outcome. Informavores will keep clicking as long as they sense (to mix metaphors) that they're "getting warmer" -- the scent must keep getting stronger and stronger, or people give up. Progress must seem rapid enough to be worth the predicted effort required to reach the destination. -
The most obvious design lesson from information scent is to ensure that links and category descriptions explicitly describe what users will find at the destination.
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Don't use made-up words or your own slogans as navigation options, since they don't have the scent of the sought-after item. Plain language also works best for search engine visibility: searching provides a literal match between the words in the user's mind and the words on your site.
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The patch-leaving model thus predicts that visits will become ever shorter. Google and always-on connections have changed the most fruitful design strategy to one with three components:- Support short visits; be a snack
- Encourage users to return; use mechanisms such as newsletters as a reminder
- Emphasize search engine visibility and other ways of increasing frequent visits by addressing users' immediate needs
- Support short visits; be a snack
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The most important concept is simply that of cost-benefit analysis for navigation, where users have to make tradeoffs based on two questions:
- What gain can I expect from a specific information nugget (such as a Web page)?
- What is the likely cost to discover and consume that information? (Cost is typically measured in time and effort, though it could include a monetary component in a micropayment system.)
- What gain can I expect from a specific information nugget (such as a Web page)?
Passive Voice Is Redeemed For Web Headings (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Tags: blog-writing, grammar, seo, usability, web-writing on 2007-12-25 and saved by10 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Summary:
Active voice is best for most Web content, but using passive voice can let you front-load important keywords in headings, blurbs, and lead sentences. This enhances scannability and thus SEO effectiveness. -
When structuring a sentence, active voice ("Actor does X to Object") is usually better than passive voice ("Object has X done to it by Actor") because it more directly represents the action. As a result, readers don't have to jump through as many cognitive hoops when trying to understand what's going on.
For the same reason, it's usually better to write a positive statement ("do X") than a negative statement ("avoid Y"), and it's almost always horrible to use double negatives ("avoid not doing X"). Again, the simpler the translation between the text and the user's mental model, the easier the writing is to understand. -
Usability increases when users need fewer mental transformations to convert a sentence into actionable understanding.
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Users scan Web content in an F-pattern, and often read only the first 2 words of a paragraph. What are the first two words of my draft deck? "Yahoo Finance" — which has zero information scent for article's target audience.
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Given that users often read only a couple of words from each text element, you should reduce duplication of salient keywords.- Don't use the same initial keywords in your headline and summary. You have 4 words to make your point, so use 4 different words.
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Avoid repeating any headline words in the summary, except for the most important one or two keywords. You can repeat these halfway through the summary to reinforce them for people who scanned past them in the headline.
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Words are usually the main moneymakers on a website. Selecting the first 2 words for your page titles is probably the highest-impact ROI-boosting design decision you make in a Web project. Front-loading important keywords trumps most other design considerations.
Information Pollution (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Tags: information-pollution, usability, web-writing on 2007-12-25 and saved by4 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Information Pollution
Summary:
Excessive word count and worthless details are making it harder for people to extract useful information. The more you say, the more people tune out your message. -
Studies of content usability typically find that removing half of a website's words will double the amount of information that users actually get.
Writing for the Web
a list of resources about Research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages.
Tags: list, reference, research, usability, web-design, web-writing, writing on 2007-12-25 and saved by47 people -All Annotations (1) -About
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Reading on the Web (Alertbox)
Tags: credibility, usability, user-experience, web-writing on 2007-12-25 and saved by46 people -All Annotations (3) -About
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How Users Read on the Web
They don't.
People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. -
As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using- highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
- meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
- bulleted lists
- one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
- the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
- half the word count (or less) than conventional writing
- highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
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We found that credibility is important for Web users, since it is unclear who is behind information on the Web and whether a page can be trusted. Credibility can be increased by high-quality graphics, good writing, and use of outbound hypertext links. Links to other sites show that the authors have done their homework and are not afraid to let readers visit other sites.
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promotional language imposes a cognitive burden on users who have to spend resources on filtering out the hyperbole to get at the facts.
Writing Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace (Alertbox)
Tags: blog-writing, usability, web-writing, writing on 2007-12-25 and saved by5 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Journalists have long adhered to the inverse approach: start the article by
telling the reader the conclusion ("After long debate, the Assembly voted to
increase state taxes by 10 percent"), follow by the most important supporting
information, and end by giving the background. This style is known as the
inverted pyramid for the simple reason that it turns the traditional
pyramid style around. Inverted-pyramid writing is useful for newspapers
because readers can stop at any time and will still get the most important
parts of the article. -
On the Web, the inverted pyramid becomes even more important since we know
from several user studies that users don't scroll,(*) so they will very
frequently be left to read only the top part of an article.
Writing for the Web (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Tags: blog-writing, usability, web-writing on 2007-12-25 and saved by5 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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Hypertext Structure
Make text short without sacrificing depth of content by splitting the information up into multiple nodes connected by hypertext links. Each page can be brief and yet the full hyperspace can contain much more information than would be feasible in a printed article. Long and detailed background information can be relegated to secondary pages; similarly, information of interest to a minority of readers can be made available through a link without penalizing those readers who don't want it. -
split the information into coherent chunks that each focus on a certain topic.
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Each hypertext page should be written according to the
"inverse pyramid" principle and start with a short conclusion so that users can get the gist of the page even if they don't read all of it.
Blog Usability: Top 10 Weblog Design Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
excellent tips on blog writing and design
Tags: blogging, tutorial, usability, writing on 2007-12-24 and saved by83 people -All Annotations (4) -About
more fromwww.useit.com
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That said, the basic rationale for "about us" translates directly into the need for an "about me" page on a weblog: users want to know who they're dealing with.
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2. No Author Photo
Even weblogs that provide author bios often omit the author photo. A photo is important for two reasons:- It offers a more personable impression of the author. You enhance your credibility by the simple fact that you're not trying to hide. Also, users relate more easily to somebody they've seen.
- It connects the virtual and physical worlds. People who've met you before will recognize your photo, and people who've read your site will recognize you when you meet in person
- It offers a more personable impression of the author. You enhance your credibility by the simple fact that you're not trying to hide. Also, users relate more easily to somebody they've seen.
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Your posting's title is microcontent and you should treat it as a writing project in its own right. On a value-per-word basis, headline writing is the most important writing you do.
Descriptive headlines are especially important for representing your weblog in search engines, newsfeeds (RSS), and other external environments. In those contexts, users often see only the headline and use it to determine whether to click into the full posting. -
4. Links Don't Say Where They Go
Many weblog authors seem to think it's cool to write link anchors like: "some people think" or "there's more here and here."
Remember one of the basics of the Web: Life is too short to click on an unknown. Tell people where they're going and what they'll find at the other end of the link.
Generally, you should provide predictive information in either the anchor text itself or the immediately surrounding words. You can also use link titles for supplementary information that doesn't fit with your content. -
Highlight a few evergreens in your navigation system and link directly to them.
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Also, remember to link to your past pieces in newer postings. Don't assume that readers have been with you from the beginning; give them background and context in case they want to read more about your ideas.
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6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
A timeline is rarely the best information architecture, yet it's the default way to navigate weblogs. Most weblog software provides a way to categorize postings so users can easily get a list of all postings on a certain topic. Do use categorization, but avoid the common mistake of tagging a posting with almost all of your categories. Be selective. Decide on a few places where a posting most belongs. -
8. Mixing Topics
If you publish on many different topics, you're less likely to attract a loyal audience of high-value users. -
10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously.
::HorsePigCow:: marketing uncommon » Case Study: Data Onramps
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Building more ways for your customers to access your app is better than building more things to do in your app…especially early on. If you want to increase adoption the right way, make accessing your app as easy as possible.
A great list of social bookmarking sites (with pagerank) at 3spots blog
Tags: collaboration, comparison, del.icio.us, digg, links, list, pr, reference, research, review, sharing, social, social-bookmarking, socialnews, tagging, tool, usability, web2.0 on 2007-03-27 and saved by82 people -All Annotations (9) -About
more from3spots.blogspot.com
Creating Passionate Users: Featuritis vs. the Happy User Peak
Tags: about:usermanuals, about:writing, design, interactivity, marketing, usability, userinterface on 2007-03-13 and saved by11 people -All Annotations (2) -About
more fromheadrush.typepad.com
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Featuritis vs. the Happy User Peak

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Most of you here know that Don Norman talked about this forever in the classic The Design of Everyday Things, but why didn't the designers and manufacturers listen?
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Ten years ago, if you'd told me I'd one day need a manual to use my car radio, that would have been inconceivable. All I want to do is find a frickin' radio station!
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* Software that keeps adding feature upon feature until the simple things you used to do are no longer simple, and the whole thing feels overwhelming.
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* Technical books that try to be "complete" but don't provide the focus and filtering and weighting the reader was hoping for.
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This seems to happen most when the publisher/editor/author didn't want to commit with both feet to being a learning book vs. a reference book, and tried to do both. When I see marketing copy for a learning book that says, "And you'll refer to it again and again after you finish..." or, "You'll want to keep it close even when you're done." red flags start flying. Reference books are for referring to (like the wonderful Nutshell series). Learning books are for reading once, maybe with some extra review, and a refresh if you don't use what you learned right away, but that's about it.
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So again, why does this happen so often?
Our guess is fear.
Fear of being perceived as having fewer features than your competitors. Fear that you won't be viewed as complete. Fear that people are making purchase decisions off of a checklist, and that he who has the most features wins (or at the least, that he who has the fewest features definitely loses). Fear of losing key clients who say, "If you don't add THIS... I'll have to go elsewhere."
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Screw 'em. We believe that those providing the products and services that give the most "I Rule" experiences, without tipping too far over the Happy User Peak, will be the most successful. (Obviously there are a ton of exceptions, and yes of course I'm overgeneralizing.)
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What if instead of adding new features, a company concentrated on making the service or product much easier to use? Or making it much easier to access the advanced features it already has, but that few can master?
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In a lot of markets, it's gotten so bad out there that simply being usable is enough to make a product truly remarkable.
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Give users what they actually want, not what they say they want. And whatever you do, don't give them new features just because your competitors have them!
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Our readers put their trust in us to work hard at finding and focusing on what really matters, and brutally cutting the cognitive overload that comes with the rest, and we try not to let them down.
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Be brave. And besides, continuing to pile on new features eventually leads to an endless downhill slide toward poor usability and maintenance. A negative spiral of incremental improvements. Fighting and clawing for market share by competing solely on features is an unhealthy, unsustainable, and unfun way to live.
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Be the "I Rule" product, not the "This thing I bought does everything, but I suck!" product.
And I'll be your happy user : )
Posted by Kathy Sierra on June 12, 2005 | Permalink -
* Stereos (or other consumer electronics and appliances) that use "modal" controls so that you cannot obviously figure out how to make it do the most BASIC FRICKIN' THINGS ; (
A design and usability blog: Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)
Tags: blog, blogging, design, example, usability on 2007-03-08 and saved by60 people -All Annotations (0) -About
more fromwww.37signals.com
Notation: * = Private bookmark and comment|… = Clipping [?] | … = Public highlight [?]
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