Next month at Stanford’s Publishing on the Web
Conference, we’ll be giving a talk titled “10 Mistakes Web Sites Still Make—And
How to Fix Them.”
At the conference we’ll go into lots of details, show
before-and-after screenshots, and answer participants’ questions. As an
appetizer, we offer this brief rundown of four of the 10 mistakes—in increasing
order of importance.
#4: Squandered Vertical Space
Oversized elements hog the top of the page,
pushing what’s most important “below the fold,” where it is invisible unless
users scroll down. Here’s the scary news: An awful lot of site visitors simply
do not scroll down.
Solution: Keep logos, banner graphics, display copy, and
other top-of-page elements shallow. Don’t waste vertical space on
non-informational “theme art” and low-value text blocks such as “Welcome!”
messages.
#3: Unconventional Navigation
“Creative” schemes that stray from Web
conventions force users to learn—or guess at—the new rules. Many will give up
quickly; others won’t bother to try.
Solution: Avoid barnyard maps, orbiting planets, and
other such “concept navigation.” Use familiar formats such as text within
tabs or buttons, and place the nav at the top or left side of the page. Make
sure text links are recognizable as “clickable” by using a single, unique color
and, to eliminate all doubt, underline the link. Resist the urge to invent
Flash-driven widgets to perform tasks such as scrolling and linking, for which
there are straightforward and well-known routines.
#2: Un-Webified Text
Long columns of dense, grey, unformatted text
are hard to digest and painful to read on computer screens—just the opposite of
what impatient, mission-oriented scanners are looking for.
Solution: Shorten all print-derived text drastically.
Carve long pieces into bite-sized sections labeled with clear headings, and
provide top-of-page “document navigation” to the sections. Help scanners grab
information at a glance by highlighting key text with bullets, bold type, and
links. And put the bottom-line information at the top. (See an example
of how to rework a text article for the Web.)
#1: The Dump
The site looks and acts like a magazine that’s
been dumped on to the Web—a serious mismatch of message and medium.
Solution: Rather than aping the print publication’s setup
using categories such as “cover story,” “volume and number,” and
magazine-specific departments, organize the site around the Web audience’s
areas of interest. Rewrite “clever” headlines and decks in a more
straightforward style.
Above all, a magazine Web site needs to make the leap
from inert print content to interactive tools and experiences. By carving up,
indexing, and feeding its print-based content into databases, a site can offer
useful related material, custom Web feeds and alerts, flexible browsing and
searching of archives, personalized presentation of pages, and “power tools”
such as recipe finders and product selectors.
For more advice on good usability, see the Resources on our company site.
