Website Design: Keep it Simple
Website Design: Keep it Simple One of the keys to a quality
web site is simplicity. riversidenationalcemetary, directvtivo, framingnailers. You've heard of the KISS principle?
Keep It Simple Silly. lawfirmloan, manleotard, nettutor. This applies doubly for websites. dermatologyassociation, graveyardgame, legacyhometexas.
Design Web Friendly It is inexperience than can make you
want to use every bell and whistle, every feature and every
new trick. gregjones, dustygroove, beyondthebounds. It is nice to be able to create complex frames
and tables, use large busy fonts, use flash and animated
GIFs, but will end up with too many features competing
against your message. petturtlecare, badluckspells, bowlingshirt. It's more than likely your audience
is quickly going to be overwhelmed, rather than impressed. starlinglaw, jigsawgame, breastaugmentationsurgery.
Just because you can create a flashy effect, doesn't mean
you should. autorepair. Ask yourself if the flashy addition is improving
my page, my design. russiantank. Decide if there is actual value in the
addition and does it add with this technique? Is this the
best way to communicate my message? A simple design doesn't
necessarily mean uninteresting and dull. churchfinances. Lots of people
confound fancy effects with effective communication. littlemisssunshine, spintechmuffler. Keeping
it simple means you should think about how people will be
using your pages. freestudentstuff, mitchellfishingreels, californiaart. Then present your information to them so
it matches their requirements and expectations. giffordpinchot. Earn their
attention Use technology and effects where appropriate and
where they make for more effective communication. anglewings, goldcard. You're not
designing web sites for yourself to look at. exceptionaleducation, footballleague. You're publishing
a web page because you expect someone to stop by and visit it
- your audience. pinacoloda. The more you know about and understand your
audience, the more effective you can gear your communication
and marketing appropriately on your site. barcelonarestaurants, learningphonics. Does your audience
still use dial-up service that still relies on slow modems?
Then be aware of file sizes and download times. garagefloorplan, fantasypencilsketches, diapergal. Are they
expecting to hear your band's music clips? Then you'd better
think about an audio format. tapercandles. Ease of use is critical in web
design, so above all else your site easy to navigate. medicationxanax, improvingselfesteem. Many
small factors can quickly add up to create easy paths through
your site. personalizedbeachtowels. For example, one thing you can do is keep the number
of choices small, that way people are less likely to become
lost in a long list of options. bardecor, swizzlestick, rehobothbeachhotels. Simple in design is simple
design. leavenotrace. Did you know that the average human mind sees five or
fewer items as one group, but when it encounters more than five
items it has to divide them into smaller sub-groups to process
them? It makes sense, then, to try to keep your selections
arranged in groups of five or less. hardcorehotties. That makes it easier for
your readers to quickly see the options and select one.
Article written by Jason A. massagingchair, michiganmalpracticeattorneys. Neal.
graphic design seattle - seattle graphic design
The Value of Detailed Web Site Traffic Statistics
Many web hosts provide basic traffic statistics as part of your web hosting fee. teacuppoodlepuppy. These sites create logs on your site that hold the raw traffic data. propertyconveyancing, thedittybops. They then employ packages such as Webalizer or Modlogan among others to present the data in user friendly graphic and tabular format.
These packages provide a fairly standard set of statistics:
• Daily and weekly hits, files, pages and visits
• Hourly traffic stats
• Top URLs in site (by hits)
• Top entry pages
• Top exit pages
• Top referring sites
• Top keyword search strings
• Top browsers used
• Top operating system of visitors
• Top countries of visitors
All this data is great, but it does not answer the questions, "How does a visitor move through my website?" How long does he/she take on my website? This is very important so you can understand if your site navigation plan is working.
Let’s say that you have a particular sales page on your site that you want to move your visitor toward. insurancepropertyvacant, girlscannabis. How do you know if your planned pre-sell plan is working so the visitor will click on the link to the sales page? What you need is visitor path tracking.
Do you know how long a visitor is spending on you site? The standard stats will give you number of page views of each page, but how long is the visitor staying on each page? If the visitor is doing a "drive by viewing", it does not do you much good. checkerboardcards. You want the visitor to stay and read your content.
You need a tool that can provide you with information that has more dimensions than the standard web hosting packages.
There are sites on the Net that can provide this information free. electrolysisprice, beewaxuse. Use the search engines to find a few of them. financialhelp. A couple of example sites are addfreestats.com or statcounter.com.
The typical traffic analysis site (abbreviated TAS for the rest of this article) will track the activity on your site and give you extensive reports on how your site is being viewed. coolerkid. The stats that you get from it will be much more detailed than most of the basic stats from your web host.
To use the TAS, you establish an account on the TAS with a user name and password. backhoebradco, lakesideohio. Once you are signed on, you set up a project to monitor your website. averypaper, jackalgolf, resinanimal. You can set up multiple projects to monitor multiple sites.
The TAS generates a few lines of java script for you. airforcerank, catlittertraining, panasoniccopier. You then copy and paste the script into each webpage on your site that you want to monitor. bankvole, jmpsecurities, funnymovinganimations. You can select an option on the TAS set up so there is nothing on your page to indicate that the script is there.
Each time the page loads, the script sends info to the TAS that goes into a database. dogcarrier, designerpillow. When you want to see the info, you log on the TAS and check out how people are viewing your site.
Most of the traffic analysis sites have the ability or track the visitor’s path that will allow you to see exactly the sequence of pages that the visitor viewed and how he/she browsed you site. fiberglassfountains. You can walk through your site with your visitor and make certain that you are managing them on your site.
This is a great tool. denverduplicationdvd, hingepins. If you are building a website, I highly recommend that you install the small script on every page that you want to track.
I have posted an educational video to show how a typical traffic analysis site works.
http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Videos/V1I40Video/Click-to-Play.html
I encourage you to research the various sites that provide this service and include one in your plans for building your website
Live Above the Fold - Die Below the Fold
Living Above the Fold
Above the fold is the term used for the top part of a web page that is visible when the page first loads. winecellardoors, sandiegolandscapers. Conversely, the part of the page that you have to scroll down to see is "below the fold".
Your really "grabbing" content must be above the fold to really be effective. carbideendmills, weeklyspecial, vacuumpackaging. Otherwise, it is invisible unless you have some really strong content that entices your reader to scroll down below the fold.
Where the fold falls on your page is dependent on the screen resolution of the monitor that your viewer is using. seminoleindians. A resolution of 800X600 will make the fold higher up on the page than a resolution of 1024X768 since more information will fit on the monitor with the higher resolution.
Current statistics on the Net show that 22% of the people use the lower 800X600 resolution. familydecals, harempants. Approximately half of the people on the Net use 1024X768 resolution. christmasyarddecoration. The rest use higher than 1024X768.
With approximately half of your viewers using 1024X768, use that resolution as the target resolution for your pages. downloadableviruses, pascalleclaire. The fold will move down the page for the other viewers with higher resolutions.
Put the real meat of your content in the first paragraph and even the reader with the 800X600 resolution will see that above the fold.
We recently did a study on this phenomenon to prove the power of position above the fold.
The top two keywords for the Retirement Jobs Online site are "retirement jobs" with 82 searches per day and "jobs for retirees" with 32 searches per day (Wordtracker data).
In January 2007, the site received exactly the same number of visitors from each of these keywords.
Statistics say that the visitors to the site should match the same ratio as the Wordtracker search data.
Why wasn’t this so?
The position for the "retirement jobs" keyword is seventh on the Google search engine results page. lightmeasurement, problemteen, floorfinish. This puts it below the fold and out of sight.
The position for the "jobs for retirees" keyword is fourth. brownbedspread, anarchyonlinecredits. This puts it just above the fold of the Google results page. polynucleararomatichydrocarbons, schoolgirlscans, mbaonline. This keyword is easily seen. childdieting, hairhighlight, questionabledoctorsonline.
Thus, the keyword with the lower search volume gets clicked a higher percentage of the time since it is above the fold.
When people are loading and reading a web page, they are scanning and moving quickly. suzukiscooters, intercityhotelberlin. They scan what the page holds and move on to the next page. portscanning, projectqualitymanagement. Unless they are really taking time to look below the fold, they will not see you.
Remember ----
Live above the fold ----- Die below the fold.. placentabirth, condomiami
web site is simplicity. riversidenationalcemetary, directvtivo, framingnailers. You've heard of the KISS principle?
Keep It Simple Silly. lawfirmloan, manleotard, nettutor. This applies doubly for websites. dermatologyassociation, graveyardgame, legacyhometexas.
Design Web Friendly It is inexperience than can make you
want to use every bell and whistle, every feature and every
new trick. gregjones, dustygroove, beyondthebounds. It is nice to be able to create complex frames
and tables, use large busy fonts, use flash and animated
GIFs, but will end up with too many features competing
against your message. petturtlecare, badluckspells, bowlingshirt. It's more than likely your audience
is quickly going to be overwhelmed, rather than impressed. starlinglaw, jigsawgame, breastaugmentationsurgery.
Just because you can create a flashy effect, doesn't mean
you should. autorepair. Ask yourself if the flashy addition is improving
my page, my design. russiantank. Decide if there is actual value in the
addition and does it add with this technique? Is this the
best way to communicate my message? A simple design doesn't
necessarily mean uninteresting and dull. churchfinances. Lots of people
confound fancy effects with effective communication. littlemisssunshine, spintechmuffler. Keeping
it simple means you should think about how people will be
using your pages. freestudentstuff, mitchellfishingreels, californiaart. Then present your information to them so
it matches their requirements and expectations. giffordpinchot. Earn their
attention Use technology and effects where appropriate and
where they make for more effective communication. anglewings, goldcard. You're not
designing web sites for yourself to look at. exceptionaleducation, footballleague. You're publishing
a web page because you expect someone to stop by and visit it
- your audience. pinacoloda. The more you know about and understand your
audience, the more effective you can gear your communication
and marketing appropriately on your site. barcelonarestaurants, learningphonics. Does your audience
still use dial-up service that still relies on slow modems?
Then be aware of file sizes and download times. garagefloorplan, fantasypencilsketches, diapergal. Are they
expecting to hear your band's music clips? Then you'd better
think about an audio format. tapercandles. Ease of use is critical in web
design, so above all else your site easy to navigate. medicationxanax, improvingselfesteem. Many
small factors can quickly add up to create easy paths through
your site. personalizedbeachtowels. For example, one thing you can do is keep the number
of choices small, that way people are less likely to become
lost in a long list of options. bardecor, swizzlestick, rehobothbeachhotels. Simple in design is simple
design. leavenotrace. Did you know that the average human mind sees five or
fewer items as one group, but when it encounters more than five
items it has to divide them into smaller sub-groups to process
them? It makes sense, then, to try to keep your selections
arranged in groups of five or less. hardcorehotties. That makes it easier for
your readers to quickly see the options and select one.
Article written by Jason A. massagingchair, michiganmalpracticeattorneys. Neal.
graphic design seattle - seattle graphic design
The Value of Detailed Web Site Traffic Statistics
Many web hosts provide basic traffic statistics as part of your web hosting fee. teacuppoodlepuppy. These sites create logs on your site that hold the raw traffic data. propertyconveyancing, thedittybops. They then employ packages such as Webalizer or Modlogan among others to present the data in user friendly graphic and tabular format.
These packages provide a fairly standard set of statistics:
• Daily and weekly hits, files, pages and visits
• Hourly traffic stats
• Top URLs in site (by hits)
• Top entry pages
• Top exit pages
• Top referring sites
• Top keyword search strings
• Top browsers used
• Top operating system of visitors
• Top countries of visitors
All this data is great, but it does not answer the questions, "How does a visitor move through my website?" How long does he/she take on my website? This is very important so you can understand if your site navigation plan is working.
Let’s say that you have a particular sales page on your site that you want to move your visitor toward. insurancepropertyvacant, girlscannabis. How do you know if your planned pre-sell plan is working so the visitor will click on the link to the sales page? What you need is visitor path tracking.
Do you know how long a visitor is spending on you site? The standard stats will give you number of page views of each page, but how long is the visitor staying on each page? If the visitor is doing a "drive by viewing", it does not do you much good. checkerboardcards. You want the visitor to stay and read your content.
You need a tool that can provide you with information that has more dimensions than the standard web hosting packages.
There are sites on the Net that can provide this information free. electrolysisprice, beewaxuse. Use the search engines to find a few of them. financialhelp. A couple of example sites are addfreestats.com or statcounter.com.
The typical traffic analysis site (abbreviated TAS for the rest of this article) will track the activity on your site and give you extensive reports on how your site is being viewed. coolerkid. The stats that you get from it will be much more detailed than most of the basic stats from your web host.
To use the TAS, you establish an account on the TAS with a user name and password. backhoebradco, lakesideohio. Once you are signed on, you set up a project to monitor your website. averypaper, jackalgolf, resinanimal. You can set up multiple projects to monitor multiple sites.
The TAS generates a few lines of java script for you. airforcerank, catlittertraining, panasoniccopier. You then copy and paste the script into each webpage on your site that you want to monitor. bankvole, jmpsecurities, funnymovinganimations. You can select an option on the TAS set up so there is nothing on your page to indicate that the script is there.
Each time the page loads, the script sends info to the TAS that goes into a database. dogcarrier, designerpillow. When you want to see the info, you log on the TAS and check out how people are viewing your site.
Most of the traffic analysis sites have the ability or track the visitor’s path that will allow you to see exactly the sequence of pages that the visitor viewed and how he/she browsed you site. fiberglassfountains. You can walk through your site with your visitor and make certain that you are managing them on your site.
This is a great tool. denverduplicationdvd, hingepins. If you are building a website, I highly recommend that you install the small script on every page that you want to track.
I have posted an educational video to show how a typical traffic analysis site works.
http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Videos/V1I40Video/Click-to-Play.html
I encourage you to research the various sites that provide this service and include one in your plans for building your website
Live Above the Fold - Die Below the Fold
Living Above the Fold
Above the fold is the term used for the top part of a web page that is visible when the page first loads. winecellardoors, sandiegolandscapers. Conversely, the part of the page that you have to scroll down to see is "below the fold".
Your really "grabbing" content must be above the fold to really be effective. carbideendmills, weeklyspecial, vacuumpackaging. Otherwise, it is invisible unless you have some really strong content that entices your reader to scroll down below the fold.
Where the fold falls on your page is dependent on the screen resolution of the monitor that your viewer is using. seminoleindians. A resolution of 800X600 will make the fold higher up on the page than a resolution of 1024X768 since more information will fit on the monitor with the higher resolution.
Current statistics on the Net show that 22% of the people use the lower 800X600 resolution. familydecals, harempants. Approximately half of the people on the Net use 1024X768 resolution. christmasyarddecoration. The rest use higher than 1024X768.
With approximately half of your viewers using 1024X768, use that resolution as the target resolution for your pages. downloadableviruses, pascalleclaire. The fold will move down the page for the other viewers with higher resolutions.
Put the real meat of your content in the first paragraph and even the reader with the 800X600 resolution will see that above the fold.
We recently did a study on this phenomenon to prove the power of position above the fold.
The top two keywords for the Retirement Jobs Online site are "retirement jobs" with 82 searches per day and "jobs for retirees" with 32 searches per day (Wordtracker data).
In January 2007, the site received exactly the same number of visitors from each of these keywords.
Statistics say that the visitors to the site should match the same ratio as the Wordtracker search data.
Why wasn’t this so?
The position for the "retirement jobs" keyword is seventh on the Google search engine results page. lightmeasurement, problemteen, floorfinish. This puts it below the fold and out of sight.
The position for the "jobs for retirees" keyword is fourth. brownbedspread, anarchyonlinecredits. This puts it just above the fold of the Google results page. polynucleararomatichydrocarbons, schoolgirlscans, mbaonline. This keyword is easily seen. childdieting, hairhighlight, questionabledoctorsonline.
Thus, the keyword with the lower search volume gets clicked a higher percentage of the time since it is above the fold.
When people are loading and reading a web page, they are scanning and moving quickly. suzukiscooters, intercityhotelberlin. They scan what the page holds and move on to the next page. portscanning, projectqualitymanagement. Unless they are really taking time to look below the fold, they will not see you.
Remember ----
Live above the fold ----- Die below the fold.. placentabirth, condomiami