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Navigating and Reading Web Sites is Hazardous to My Health  

:: Friday, March 26, 2004 ::

Navigating and Reading Web Sites is Hazardous to My Health

I know for a fact that many Web site designs are invented without thought to humans. They're optimized for search engines and buried in the content somewhere is the keyword you searched for it with. But speaking as one of the many users in someone's so-called target market, I can honestly say they didn't use me for their user persona.

I sit in my chair staring into my monitor a lot. My eye doctor has given up on the eye strain lectures. The more he points out I'm slowing going blind, the more I tell him tales about the popularity of teeny tiny fonts and animated ads. Testing sites, as I do, is another health hazard. I have to try and navigate them and figure out how the Web site user is supposed to use the site. (Something that should have been done before putting it on the Internet, but that's another story.) This is when my back starts to act up. Usually I'm scrunched over a homepage with left side navigation that goes on for a few blocks because they didn't think grouping into categories would be "understandable" enough or "the user might not find everything we have to offer."

Or worse, I'm trying to read well-written, interesting copy, but need magnifying glasses or must fiddle with my browser controls so I can see the words. A user oriented Web site means never having to force your visitor/browser/customer to work, think or strain performing any task.

But enough about me.

I think you'll enjoy a professional perspective and I actually have one for you. It's in an article called Don't Forget to Architect the Home Page by David Wertheimer
     "The solution is to stop trying so hard with the home page and start thinking about how the rest of the site works. Functionality and placement become more obvious inside the site. Why not carry those same principles backward, onto the home page?"

Friday Fun:

They sure as heck didn't survey me. Spam-commerce generated $11.7 bln
     "Despite consumer complaints about unsolicited commercial e-mail, the Direct Marketing Association yesterday released a study showing U.S. consumers spent $11.7 billion on products and services advertised in unsolicited messages."

Why yes, dear. Your posts are most certainly placed into your file in the Human Resources Department for review by your manager at any time. It's A Blog World After All
     "Corporate America is jumping onto the blogwagon for many of the same reasons all those journalists, brooding teenagers, and presidential campaigners are already on board. Unlike email and instant messaging, blogs let employees post comments that can be seen by many and mined for information at a later date, and internal blogs aren't overwhelmed by spam. And unlike most corporate intranets, they're a bottoms-up approach to communication."

Farewell to a FAST Friend. AllTheWeb (FAST) search engine is gobbled up by Yahoo!
     "Search results on AlltheWeb are provided by Yahoo!. For fast submission to the Yahoo! Search index via the Overture Site Matchtm program, Click Here. The Partner Site PFI program has been discontinued. Legacy Partner Site PFI customers will continue to receive distribution on the historical AlltheWeb network until their subscriptions expire."

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 3/26/2004 01:24:31 PM

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