Came across this post and just felt like shouting “no duh!” Derek Halpern is blogging about the impact images have on conversion rates. After years of having tug of war conversation with traditional marketers that want to slap the DM creative into an email or webpage, this post is going to be a great tool…
Category: Usability
Thoughts on International Domains and Usability
I responded to a question on Linked about the use of domains. Here is the original question: I am about to start an internet marketing campaign in Canada for a product that I am importing from the USA. Their website (example) is http://www.CoolProduct.com, my question is: do I promote http://www.CoolProduct.ca, or http://www.CoolProductCanada.com, in my marketing?…
Why Voicemail Sucks!
checking my voice mail is as annoying as calling my cable company’s 800 support number.
Amazon.com “remodel” ux of the navigation bar
Read a cool review on Amazon.com’s new remodel of their navigation bar via the [Iai-Members] email. Jay Fienberg points out a nice improvement on the amazon.com logo home page link — a simple idea that anyone can implement on their own website. Amazon has a new top of the page navigation that has, imo, some…
Second Life IA Summit Redux: Session Two
It’s going to be my first time attending a Second Life event. I already checked into Second Life, and “teleported” to IAI’s Info Architecture island to check things out. Next in the IA Summit Redux series is Peter Morville’s “Information Architecture 3.0.” Peter will deliver a 60 minute version of his preconference workshop tomorrow —…
Tarquini : Blasting the Myth of the Fold
This was an interesting article for me as I come from a Journalism background. This article is a must read if you are involved in web layout design. It deals with the classic battle to place all the “good stuff” above the fold, which usually results in a crammed and cluttered layout. Stop worrying about…
Conversation by Design
Found a real cool slide over at SlideShare.net on blogging and user experience. Its titled, “Creating an effective and unique blog experience.” Check it out. https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=48984&doc=conversation-by-design-15335 I was really struck by his statement on slide 25 & 26: “Stop calling yourself a blogger. Bloggers are one-dimensional. People aren’t.” So true. As technology changes right under…
In The Mail: Communicating Design
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=josuesierra-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0321392353&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr I just ordered my own copy of Communicating Design, by Dan Brown. I’m trying to strengthen my skills in Usability and Information Architecture, and this book sounds like its just the thing for me. Christian Crumlish published a review in Extra! Extra!, his company’s blog: I probably learned the most from his discussion of…
Blog Discovery: Olga How, Creative Thinker
This is a new blog I discovered today–Olga How, Creative Thinker. I haven’t started to dig in, but the first page had some interesting thoughts on usability and human interaction. Olga is an Information Architect and Usability Consultant. For 10 years Olga has worked in the Web industry including public sites, Intranets, Extranets, interactive television,…
How Wal-Mart sells CDs
Bradley Werner has an article over at iMedia Connection titled “The Wal-Mart Model for Video Advertising,” but what caught my attention was a section where he writes about how Wal Mart sells CDs. Recently, a colleague was telling me how a few years ago, Wal-Mart installed machines in all their music departments that allowed customers…
Larry Chase’s 9 Best Practices for Publishing an Email Newsletter
I found this while doing research for tonight’s LI presentation. I took out two of them that I didn’t think where relevant to non-profits or political organizations, but Chase’s summary really does give an overview of things to watch for when developing your email publishing. Here is the inside track on what to pay attention…
Web Development and Usability: Sweating the small stuff
Interesting blog post over at Silas Notes. Blogger Rhea quotes Jakob Nielsen, who said: “Of course, it’s important to get the big things right, or you won’t have any users. But getting the small things right enhances usability and fosters user comfort.†I’ll ad to that. From personal experience, there are a few other important…