Warmest Greetings,

:: Thursday, September 25, 2003 ::

This is too hot to hide underneath your Internet rug. Eolas v. Microsoft - What is it about?

"Q. What changes will there be to browsers and other Web software?

A. Microsoft have indicated to W3C that they plan to make near-term changes to their Internet Explorer browser software, and that these changes may affect a large number of existing Web pages. W3C does not yet have any indication of what action, if any, other vendors of Web tools might take. In the longer term, should the court decision be upheld in its current form, some vendors have suggested that other action might be required."

It's interesting how more and more companies with websites are interested in making them usable. One of the ways I learn how people use websites is by studying the research of others who have paid mucho bucks for major testing. It's helpful to learn from the mistakes others make, as well as what works well for them (Amazon's dedicated to their customers comes to mind here.)

You might glean insights from a study done for Bank of America's website >>> Bank of America Web site tops usability survey

"The study also found that banks miss out on online cross-selling opportunities. Customers felt banks should provide them with customised recommendations, but Vividence says several of the largest banks performed the worst at generating customers' interest in additional offers.

Vividence also stressed that banks should ensure that existing technology meets customers needs. The research found that users on average experience a problem on a site almost every two minutes. Common problems include difficulty accessing customer service and unclear instructions for online bill payment."

Every two minutes!

Only in America can 50 million people ask for something and be overruled by one person >>> (and I'm not just talking about the War our President jumped into against many of our wishes). Telemarketers Get Their Way

Feeling Fazzled? - This meta search engine is pretty cool. I typed in "usability and search engines" and my website, Cre8pc.com, came in #6. But even better, it displays how my website ranks in Alta Vista, Lycos, Teoma, Yahoo!, MSN and Netscape for that search term. That was a nice surprise, both the tool and Cre8pc's high rank in other engines!

Material for your "Back when I was your age!" speech >>> Crazy Fads

Still another usability study that included search engine optimization results. (This is what we do at Site-Report.com by the way, only most likely for a fraction of the cost of studies that make the news. )

The article, called Usability experts say Ontario political websites fall short of US standards caught that "The review also said that the sites are difficult to find and navigate. Finding the sites using search engines is difficult and none of the sites' pages appear to be optimized for search engine rankings. The PC site in particular may not be fully indexed because of some unfriendly search-engine aspects of its design."

I know Kalena's going to love seeing that! (PS - She and hubby have learned they're expecting a boy! Being the mother of both a boy and a girl, I can vouch that both genders will try your patience and give back your love a thousand times more than you can ever imagine.)

Here's a new search engine with a golden goal >>> Gold-Pages.net offers "listings of internet merchants, retailers, financial agents, vendors, banks, debit cards and a wide assortment of retail businesses which all accept e-gold and other popular e-currencies as payment for goods and services."

If you want me to study your website and offer constructive feedback with suggestions, I'm here to help. Best of all, I have more time! One of my biggest contracts has expired and I'm available for projects big or small. I can help you alone, or you hire me as part of the bigger team at Site-Report.com The gem here is that if you need help implementing anything we might suggest, we have a large team of designers, programmers and marketers at the ready.

Wise Words:

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." Mahatma Gandhi (Source: Ma'at Foundation

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 9/25/2003 10:27:03 AM

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