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Archive for the ‘Usability’ Category


Text Formatting in a CMS – CSS for Clients

Posted February 23rd, 2010 by Chrisi Reid in Content Management, Usability, Web Design, Website Development

So, you’ve designed and built a visually attractive website, uploaded the client’s content and you’re about to turn it over to the client to maintain themselves. You’ve used the latest in CSS to create a fantastic look and feel for the site, and you intend to add this site to your portfolio as a showpiece. The client is thrilled with how the site looks, and can’t wait to start search engine marketing or pay-per-click campaigns to get the traffic coming in.

Hold on just one moment… how much does your client know about CSS – and how long is the site content going to retain the look and feel they’re so pleased with if they’re not confident with HTML?

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Using the Web to Listen, Learn and Engage

Posted February 23rd, 2010 by Lisa Chirgwin in Miscellaneous, Social Media Marketing, Usability

As web behaviour evolves, online and offline marketing need to evolve with it. The World Wide Web has not only brought everyone closer, it is also bringing about a significant shift in attitudes toward consumers, including the recognition of their value as customers. Brands that recognise this shift, and successfully engage with their customers will win the day.
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January Sales and Poor Landing Pages….

Posted December 30th, 2009 by Lisa Chirgwin in Accessibility, Advertising, Usability

And so the January sales have started, after trawling round shops during Christmas I have decided to look for bargains on-line in the January Sales. Being an avid climber I started looking for the best deals on Climbing Boots and was surprised at the number of website that had very poor landing pages or links to the correct product page.
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Shopping Online for the Holidays

Posted December 7th, 2009 by Chrisi Reid in Fun, Usability

This year I’m trying to make things easier for myself by doing my Christmas shopping online.  It has a lot to recommend it – I don’t have to fight my way through a busy town centre to get to the shops, nor do I have to carry heavy parcels home with me.

But there are things any e-commerce website should do to give its customers the best possible online experience, especially when you’re talking about busy shopping times.
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The Future of the Web: Brief intro to HTML 5

Posted November 27th, 2009 by Neil Stewart in Usability, Web Design, Website Development

Some designers will embrace its arrival, others will simply dismiss its existence but the fact of the matter is that new technology in the web arena is becoming ever more apparent. “It’s too far in the future” some may scream, but either way we have all heard the hype around the next best thing in web development HTML 5.

Although it’s a big leap in what many designers are used to, it is something that all designers must accept will happen in the future. So why not learn the ins and outs of mark up such as HTML 5? Knowing something of this kind will not hinder your progress as a designer, simply give you the upper hand when “d day “ does come around and XHTML is something of the past. (more…)

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CSS 3: New Tools For Web Designers

Posted November 25th, 2009 by Daniel Fielding in Usability, Web Design, Web Standards, Website Development

CSS is used in web design to define the way your pages are presented. It’s a styling language first standardised in 1996 as a way to give designers more power and reduce the complexity of HTML documents. Before its creation, all aspects of page appearance such as colours, sizes, borders and spacing were part of the HTML mark-up. This meant that even simple pages quickly became a large mess of code and the same statements had to be repeated over and over throughout a website.

The idea behind CSS is that it separates the presentational code from the content, so that HTML documents can remain clean and simple with multiple documents all pulling their styles from a single CSS file. This allows pages to be built quicker, with less repetition, and makes any future maintenance or design changes much easier. (more…)

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Writing Text That Sells

Posted November 25th, 2009 by Chrisi Reid in Usability, Website Development

Trying to write the copy for product or service pages can be confusing at times.

You might not always know whether a specific section should be a hard-hitting sales pitch – or simple and direct, something to help your reader navigate through your site. Knowing how to use headlines and body text – and when to ease up on the sales speech – can help you create much more helpful product text.

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Better Typography On The Web

Posted November 13th, 2009 by Daniel Fielding in Accessibility, Flash, Interface Design, Usability, Web Design, Website Development

Websites have always had to make use of a pretty limited set of fonts and while there’s still no perfect solution, there are alternatives appearing all of the time. Well chosen typefaces can bring a design to life and give a designer another tool to make their creation stand out. Of course, it also works the other way, badly chosen fonts can make text difficult to understand and impact the usability of a site.

In this post I’m going to discuss some of the popular techniques used to allow more flexibility with online fonts as well as newer solutions that could be on the horizon (more…)

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Do you have the time?

Posted November 2nd, 2009 by Chrisi Reid in Usability, Website Development

Unlike traditional printed media, most websites are visited by people in a hurry; each individual page has very little time to make an impression on a user. Those users have a specific goal in mind, and little patience for a site that doesn’t make it as easy as possible to achieve it.

When building your site and writing your copy, be aware of the following time scales: (more…)

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Product Pages – Don’t Forget Descriptions

Posted October 22nd, 2009 by Chrisi Reid in Usability, Website Development

Having an online store that can be open all day, every day to take advantage of customers who want to shop from the comfort of their couch can open up new marketing possibilities for many businesses. But when designing that store, it pays to remember that the products must generally sell themselves. As a website developer, you should always ensure that the tools site owners need are available in your site’s product management system. (more…)

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