Transcript Website Design: Best Practices Handout

Know why you are on the Web?
Reasons Why People Shop the Web…
Easy to place an order
Large selection of products
Cheaper prices
Faster service and delivery
Detailed and clear product information
No Sales pressure
Easy payment procedure
Reference: http://www.useit.com
Factors driving repeat visits to a Web Site
High Quality
Ease of use
Minimal download time
Updated often
Reference: Forrester Survey
Elements to consider…
Home page
Navigation
Bandwidth
Browser compatibility
User Interface
Color palette
Frames
Accessibility
Where am I?
Where have I been?
Where can I go?
Where is the home page?
Where is the home “home” page?
3 clicks
and you’re out!
Download time…
1 – 2 seconds
< 13 seconds
> 20 seconds
GONE!!
Decrease download time by…..
Designing for 56k modem
Keeping page sizes < 75k
Applying the KISS rule
“Remove graphic; increase traffic.
It’s that simple.”
Reference: Dr. Jakob Nielsen; Web Usability Speciality; http://www.useit.com
NETSCAPE
EXPLORER
NETSCAPE
EXPLORER
Browser Testing –
Netscape
Explorer
Foxfire
Mozilla
Opera
AOL
Web TV
Lynx
How are your customers
accessing your site?
Desktop
Laptop
Hand-held
Web TV
How are your customers
accessing your site?
PC
Mac
Color Considerations….
 Artistic
 Cultural
 Sales
 Technical
Black – United States & Europe
White – China & Japan
Yellow – Egypt & Burma
Purple – Thailand
Blue – Iran
Red – South Africa
Frames . . .
 Browsers don’t like them
 Printers don’t like them
 Search engines don’t like them
 People/customers don’t like them
FRAMES
How’s this for readability?
Recommendations . . .
 Good background/text contrast
 Avoid patterned backgrounds
 Easy to read fonts
 Make words count
 Short paragraphs
 Bulleted lists
serif
sans-serif
For Example . . .
– The visually impaired use special readers that read only text.
– Blinking text can trigger seizures in some visitors.
– Poor color choices may render text unreadable to color blind
visitors.
– Mouse-dependent site navigation can be difficult for visitors
with physical limitations.
– Information contained in sound clips is inaccessible to
hearing-impaired visitors.
www.w3.org/WAI
www.cast.org/bobby
The key is consumer confidence…
Fun and easy to navigate sites
Pages that appear professional
Clear and accurate product information
Real time answers
Good prices and clear representation of
all charges
The key is consumer confidence…
Payment options
Secure transactions
Easy to use return or exchange policy
Quick processing time and delivery
Shopper privacy
The Bottom Line . . .
 Getting customers to come to your site,
 Getting customers to make a purchase
once they get to your site, and
 Getting customers to return to your site and
purchase again, again, and again!
Resource
Designing Web Usability
The Practice of Simplicity
by
Jakob Nielsen
www.useit.com
Resource
Web Pages That Suck
Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design
by
V. Flanders & M. Willis
www.webpagesthatsuck.com
Resource
Don’t Make Me Think!
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by
Steve Krug
www.sensible.com
Resource
Business to Consumer
E-Commerce:
Selling on the Internet
Beth Duncan, Ph.d
Small Business Specialist
Mississippi State University Extension Service
[email protected]
Connie Hancock
Extension Educator
University of NE Rural Initiative
[email protected]