Adding Zip to Your Site Without Coding

I have been playing around with scripting for about six months now. I would by no means call myself a programmer yet, but I have successfully added many scripts to various Web sites. How did I do it without attending any programming classes or immersing myself with programming books? I used free scripts from Web sites. I have found many Web sites that offer scripts for just about anything you can imagine.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (2000). Design>Web Design>DHTML

Building a Project Site

Managing a Web site project typically does not follow any clearly defined methods or standards of practice. Although there is a lot of 'how to build a site' information out there, very little on how to manage a Web project actually exists. But a project site could be just the answer you are looking for.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (2001). Design>Project Management>Web Design>Workflow

Dealing with Job Loss  

Leonard-Wilkinson suggests how Web designers can cope with the problems of unemployment in a difficult market.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2001). Careers>Unemployment>Web Design

Defining Content for a Web Site

Designing a Web site is an enormous task. The idea of building a Web site is a great one that usually comes from one of the higher-ups in your company. Then, if you are like me, you are given a task defined by the worlds of 'just go ahead and build one.' But how?

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1998). Design>Web Design

Defining Web Site Architecture

What is Web site architecture? It means laying out or grouping any similar areas of a Web site. In a re-design project for my former company, I realized the importance of site architecture and navigation when I contacted the Customer Service departments and discovered that an average of thirty-five calls a day were from the Internet users. Most of those calls were about confusing page layouts and navigation procedures (users did not understand the current navigational system). I determined that by redesigning the site architecture and navigational system, we could reduce the customer service calls by 50%, thus saving the company an estimated $30,000 per year.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1999). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Designing a Help System for a Web Site

When I worked for a large insurance company, my team as tasked with re-designing the customer service area for a external Web site that supports annuities and mutual fund customers. I proposed redesigning the entire site including an actual help system (like with ones you can create with ROBOHELP) to reduce customer service support calls. I was really surprised that everyone thought this was such a novel idea -- I thought it made perfect sense. Then, it hit me -- you don't see a lot of help systems for Web sites.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1999). Design>Web Design>Documentation

Developing a Web Site Prototype

A prototype, both paper and online (and I suggest you build both) is a 'mini' Web site, including content (or content ideas), graphics, multi-media etc., on a smaller scale than the final site. I have found that developing a prototype is a great way to present your ideas to upper management for approval to go 'live.' Also, and more important, an online prototype is an ideal application for user testing to ensure your site's success.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1999). Design>Web Design>Project Management

Diving into the Wonderful World of Web  

When asked for my opinion on how to break into the Web world, I usually tell people to volunteer. I was very lucky when beginning my Web career in the early days of the Internet—my Web sites received a lot of good exposure. But when I jumped into self-employment a few years ago, I had to start all over again: I needed to show potential clients what I could do, not what my Web team could do. So I found a poorly designed Web site and offered to redesign it for free (the Oklahoma Indian Times Web site at www.okit.com). OKIT jumped at the offer (to read more about this, see “The Need for Web Site Navigation” in the June 1999 issue of Intercom). A lot of my friends thought I was crazy doing all that work for free. But I needed to build a Web site from scratch so I could give prospective clients an example of my work. Nothing is more convincing than before and after pictures.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2001). Careers>Portfolios>Web Design

How to Get Higher Search Engine Rankings  

In the early days of the Internet, you did not have to do much to drive traffic to your Web site. Simply listing your site with search engines (and all were free back then) could yield a lot of traffic. When I listed one of my sites with Yahoo!, my site hits increased by 10,000 in just one week. Back then, ranking was more a game of optimizing your TITLE and META tags than anything else. But in response to the mammoth growth of the Internet and abuses of META tags by unscrupulous Web designers, search engine spiders have became more sophisticated: The game now focuses on optimizing Web page content.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Introduction to Interaction Design

I recently ran into a fellow STC member, Jennifer Square, in the elevator of a large company where I am contracting. We didn't have much time to catch up, so Jennifer e-mailed me later. Her e-mail signature contained an intriguing new job title: interaction designer. I had heard of interaction design but had never known anyone who actually did the work. I wondered what disciplines it encompassed. Was it just something that all good Web designers did anyway, unconsciously? How did it differ from information architecture? Did I do this in my job without realizing it? Was it something I could list on my résumé? In this column, I will define interaction design by comparing it to information architecture, a related field.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (2003). Careers>Web Design>Interaction Design

Introduction to Interaction Design  

This column explores trends in Web design, describes techniques, and offers advice on how to design successful and valuable Web sites.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2003). Articles>Web Design>Interactive

Marketing Your Web Business  

Leonard-Wilkinson presents several ideas for marketing Web businesses to appropriate audiences.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2002). Careers>Consulting>Web Design

The Mentor Advantage  

There are many advantages to having mentors: They can teach you new skills, impart their knowledge, and help you increase your self-confidence. Having a mentor, or several of them, can help on all fronts. In fact, in a 2000 survey by The Creative Group, 94 percent of executives polled said having a mentor is important for professionals just beginning their careers.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2003). Careers>Mentoring

A Mentoring Program for Web Designers  

Creating a mentoring program for technical writers requires quite a bit of coordination.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2001). Careers>Collaboration>Mentoring

The Need for Web Site Navigation

I know that a Web site with good navigation will put you closer to your goals than one without. The article that follows may give you ideas for adding navigation to your own site.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1999). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Redesigning a Web Site

Why do you redesign a Web site? There are many reasons. A lot of companies want to update their look every year. Others redesign sites to solve specific problems -- they may realize that after a time, that they are not getting any traffic and finally call someone to get their opinion as to why. Sites are redesigned to correct specific problems in navigation, professional image, or ease to use.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1999). Design>Web Design>Redesign

Register Your Site for Free  

Since the failure of banner advertising as a revenue source, the search engine and directory industry has changed drastically. Most search engines now require payment to include sites in their databases. But there are still a lot of search engines that allow you to register your site for free.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2003). Design>Web Design>Search

The "Right" Keywords  

Last fall, one of the people I mentor, Andrew White, e-mailed me, asking how to get his site ranking higher on Google. He is the webmaster for a church Web site and was not happy that another church site with the same name outranked his site. I looked over his keywords and site text: He did not have very strong keywords. His primary keyword phrase was the name of his church. I wondered about this: How many people search for the name of a church? If you want your efforts at search engine optimization (SEO) to bear fruit, be it an organic campaign, a paid sponsorship, or Google Adwords, you must choose the keywords that your target audience is using to find your site or product. Otherwise all your efforts are in vain.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

The "Right" Keywords

Since finding the right keywords is the most important step in any SEO endeavor, it is imperative that you find the ones your target audience is using.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (2004). Articles>Web Design>HTML>Marketing

The Scoop on Search Engines  

Leonard-Wilkinson describes how Web site designers can take advantage of the features of search engines to advertise their sites.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search

Search Engine Optimization: Designing a Search-Friendly Site  

In this article, the third in a series, Leonard-Wilkinson offers tips on how to make Web sites friendly to search engines.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search

Search Engine Optimization: Keywords That Work  

Leonard-Wilkinson demonstrates search engine optimization, a process for making Web sites attractive to search engines.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search

Search Engine Optimization: Making the Most of META Tags  

Leonard-Wilkinson offers advice on how to write effective TTLE- and META-tag descriptions.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search

Search Engine Optimization: Register Your Site for Free

This article is the fourth in a series on search engine optimization, a business marketing strategy that manipulates Internet search engines.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Selling Yourself as an Interaction Designer  

Interaction design incorporates a lot of skills from other disciplines, such as technical writing and information architecture. This article discusses the unique areas of interaction design with which technical communicators may not be familiar. Expanding your skills in these areas will help you sell yourself as an interaction designer.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. and Jennifer B. Square. Intercom (2004). Careers>Freelance>Interaction Design