Handling Negative Feedback on Blogs

Despite blogs’ potential for creating valuable online communities, many communicators are still uneasy with the blog format. Communicators worry about the possibility of readers posting negative comments and feedback on the company blog. Angry customers leaving stories of poor experiences for all to see or employees submitting bitter public complaints are nightmare scenarios for most communicators. So how should we respond to negative feedback on corporate blogs? The process begins with shifting our perspective to see the risks as opportunities.

Drennan, Scott. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Blogging

Hats Off to Your Own Web Business

Sahil Parikh built and runs his web app DeskAway a world away in Mumbai, India. In this article he shares some of the things he’s learned and hats he’s worn while creating his successful and profitable web app business.

Parikh, Sahil. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Management>Web Design>E Commerce

Helping Web Customers Sniff Out a Deal

In Jared Spool's presentation, 'Scent of a Web Site' to the Washington DC Chapter of UPA (September 18, 2002), Spool used scent as an analogy to attract customers to the goods or services they desire online. A predator locates prey by following a scent trail. If the predator loses the scent trail, it returns to the location where the trail was strong, and tries again. Spool reports seeing a similar behavior with people looking for content on very large Web sites. Spool introduced two new vocabulary words that I plan to use. Gallery pages are used on very large Web sites to aggregate content pages. Store pages are used to aggregate gallery pages. The home page connects to stores; effective home pages also connect to galleries and content as well. These concepts aren't necessary for Web sites of one to twenty or so pages. They are essential for very large Web sites, such as Amazon or Microsoft Network, with pages numbering in the millions.

Bine, Katharyn. Usability Interface (2002). Articles>Web Design>Usability

"Here, Just Stick this Document on the Web": Planning Usable Web Documents  

Drawn by the lure of being 'on the Web' and wanting a quick Web presence, corporate clients increasingly ask information developers to take an existing paper document and 'just stick it on the Web.' This request may arise without considering whether the Web is appropriate, whether the document can or will be used in this medium, or whether the target audience even has Web access! If you’re the information developer asked to turn existing information into a Web document, take comfort: your careful analysis and preparation can make the result a usable Web site, not just an information dump.

Collins, William L., Elinor L. Knodel and Michael V. Mahoney. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Information Design>Web Design

Heuristic Evaluations vs. Usability Testing

How many of the usability problems identified in a heuristic evaluation are true usability problems? Several years ago, I published an article suggesting that many of the 'problems' identified by heuristic evaluators were not problems at all (Bailey, Allan and Raiello, 1992). Even so, many of us have continued to waste time and go to the expense of fixing many usability problems that were not problems. Recently, three research papers were published that provided some insights into the validity of heuristic evaluations (Catani and Biers, 1998; Rooden, et.al., 1999; Stanton and Stevenage, 1998). The articles discussed usability testing in three totally different domains with very similar results.

Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2002). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Hiding Behind the User

At a time when the customer service culture has penetrated every level of business, and businesspeople fret endlessly over issues such as customer loyalty, companies are extremely susceptible to worries that they are, without even knowing it, turning customers away.

Eliot, Ben. Spiked Online (2002). Articles>Web Design>Usability

Hierarchies in Online Information: Balancing Depth and Breadth  

Hart explains how understanding hierarchies--the order in which information is grouped--can help you choose an appropriate balance between the depth and breadth of your online information.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2007). Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Online

Review: High Performance Web Sites

Implement these techniques and your sites will be faster. They won't be just a little zippier--we're talking orders of magnitude here.

Pennell, Matthew. Digital Web Magazine (2007). Articles>Reviews>Web Design

The History of Weblogs

Weblogs are often-updated sites that point to articles elsewhere on the web, often with comments, and to on-site articles.

Winer, Dave. Weblogs.com (2003). Articles>Web Design>History>Blogging

Home Stayers And Trench Diggers

This paper offers some observations on the ways 9 to 12 year children search for information on websites and how this may differ from the search behaviour of adults.

Hudson, Roger. Usability.com.au (2002). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search

Review: Hot Text: Web Writing That Works

This book will help you improve any type of written communication, and it's a fun read to boot. The authors know what they're talking about and have the experience to back up their words. Both have spent many years writing for Web audiences. In addition to Web writing, their combined relevant experience includes journalism, technical communication, art, TV and radio, and teaching.

Frick, Geri. TECHWR-L (2004). Articles>Reviews>Web Design>Writing

Review: Hot Text: Web Writing That Works  

When it comes to mentors in technical communication, Jonathan Price is as good as they get. If he were a novelist, I might describe his stuff with words like salty, earthy, and gut-level. What he provides is different from cold theory, and certainly not the same as statistics. It's street-smart. When Price talks, you know he's been there and done that, and you've got him sitting beside you as you work, helping you through the pitfalls, urging you on.

Sullivan, Bill. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Web Design>Writing

How Big is the Difference Between Websites?

The average difference in measured usability between competing websites is 68%. This is smaller than expected, but makes sense given the dynamics of design within individual industries.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>Web Design

How Blogs and Wikis Differ

If you're a professional communicator, chances are good you've already asked yourself whether it's time to start your own blog. But there's another tech question that you probably have not yet asked yourself, and perhaps you should: Is it time to start your own wiki?

Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Blogging>Wikis

How C.R.A.P is Your Site Design?

Eons ago when I was taking the Freshman web design course in college (okay, it was only 4 years ago) I was taught about the acronym of all acronyms, the one by which all other web design acronyms were judged. We learned that good design is based on the C.R.A.P. principles where C.R.A.P. stands for Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity, and when Creative Directors tell you that your design is crap, they’re actually giving you positive reinforcement. Okay, that last part was made up, sorry. “Crappy work” is probably not a term of endearment but rather an indication that your pixels smell.

Rundle, Mike. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Assessment

How FreshDirect Delivered e-Commerce Success

The lessons for FreshDirect's usability success can be applied to many e-commerce businesses.

Seiden, Alan. Usability Professionals Association (2005). Articles>Web Design>Usability>E Commerce

How Good Does Your Web Site Look on Paper?

Paper prototyping is a fast, low-cost method of testing web site designs. It involves creating rough sketches of a web site design and inviting some of your users to take the design for a test drive using their pen, instead of a mouse, to complete important tasks.

Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2004). Articles>Web Design>Usability

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Relinquish Control

How could there be a successful business model in actively sending people away from your site? Seven years and a $75 billion market capitalization later, that question has obviously been answered.

Merholz, Peter. Adaptive Path (2005). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design

How Little Do Users Read?

On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design

How the Web Works

A short essay about what one can and can't discern from webserver log file analysis, which involves a tutorial on how HTTP requests operate.

Analog (2004). Articles>Web Design>Statistics>Log Analysis

How to Build a Better Web Browser

Web browsers are funny things. On the one hand, they’re supposed to be lightweight little programs that just let you view websites, and on the other, they carry the same burdens as operating systems and application suites, trying to provide everything to everyone. Here in this little essay I explain what I know about designing browsers. I’m in the lucky minority of people that have actually designed successful browsers, or parts of them, for any length of time, and with Firefox and Opera in the headlines, and the art of browser design becomes important again, I thought I’d write down some of what I know. Its been years since I was a program manager on the Internet Explorer project, but I’ve maintained interests in the design of navigation and searching systems of all kinds: what follows is a rough summary of what I’ve learned.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Web Browsers

How to Choose and Evaluate a Web Host

Before you find a web host read our guide about finding the perfect one.

Web Host Directory (2003). Articles>Web Design>Hosting

How to Create a Site Where Users Can Actually Find Information: Interview with Thom Haller

Thom Haller, information architect and director of the Center for Plain Language, talks about how to create a site where users can actually find the information they're looking for.

Haller, Thom and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Minimalism

How To Create An E-book and Drive Massive Traffic To Your Site By Giving It Away...

E-books can provide the Internet marketer one of the best promotional tools online. With its vast variety of uses, just one quality e-book development and distribution can produce an on going promotional tool that will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Lowery, Shelley. Nine Yards (2002). Articles>Web Design>eBooks