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Can You See Me Now? Web Site Usability Is a Font Size Away  

:: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 ::

Can You See Me Now? Web Site Usability Is a Font Size Away

Much is written about what web site usability is. Sometimes what makes a web site usable is simply a matter of designing pages people can see.

I often am given a web site to test that is obviously done with great care and thought by a dedicated and talented web design team. Therefore, it always amazes me that the only major problem I find is that I can't read the content. It's not that I'm picky.

I have eyesight problems that have played a large part in my life. First it was "pussycat" glasses in the second grade. Then it was realizing later that the John Lennon round frame style looked terrible on my face. Once, at a party when I was 24 years old, I removed my glasses to clean them and the whole room suddenly became quiet. A woman broke the silence and blurted out, "My gawd Kim. Do you have any idea how pretty you are?" I was quite embarressed and said I had no idea what I looked like. I grew up seeing myself as a blurred reflection.

She took my picture so that I could see what I looked like. I cried. It wasn't quite the same thing as a blind person suddenly seeing for the first time, but it was still a vital life changing event for me. Soon afterwards, I found a doctor who could correct my eyes with contacts. I've worn them ever since. The second biggest thrill was the first time I bought sunglasses and wore them. I was 25 years old and honey, I looked GOOOOODDDDD!

Anyway, all this has led to a greater awareness and compassion for people with eyesight troubles and their struggles to see web pages. I decided to share my thoughts in Fonts. Please, have a heart. Enlarge them.

Sure. We can mess with our browser preferences. But when I see teeny tiny font sizes with no contrast, I know the web builder(s) can see when they wake up in the morning and have never seen a busy seaside beach of blankets and umbrellas the way I do.

Tag Me

If you've ever wanted to know what goes into the making of a tag line, now's your chance. Cre8asiteForums has opened the gates and asked forum members to help create a new tagline. It's become quite an education! A Tagline for the Forums? has so many great suggestions and the thought processes, pros and cons of choices and the reasons for taglines are all in there too.

I Suggested the Round Table

One of the few times somebody listens to me, ha ha. The new layout for the search engine coverage blog, Search Engine RoundTable has been launched. I had the idea of King Arthur's famous round table for an image. I also want to live in a castle, but that's another story.

Usability Mentionables

The secret of managing a successful website by Gerry McGovern

     "On a day-to-day basis, a web team can get caught up in the pressure of keeping a website running. Getting out and talking to those visitors who read the website can seem like a luxury. It is not a luxury. It is a necessity if you want your website to work well."

(BRAVO! Kim jumps up and down, clapping and looking very silly.)


Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 1 By Bryan Eisenberg

     "Visit your own site as if you knew exactly what you wanted to buy (start with a search engine query, if you like). Start clicking. Ask a colleague to count your clicks. How many does it take to complete your purchase or inquiry? The number is your minimum-clicks-to-buy metric. This works only because of two inherent assumptions: you know precisely what you want (your brain already performed the specific-to-general categorizing) and the retailer implemented that path in top-down categorization.

What about people who shop without knowing precisely what they want?"

I want Bryan's autograph someday.

Brands, Value, Usability, People

     ""Branding is psychological warfare at ground zero, the individual level. It is about satisfying people, not markets. It is about building value one customer at a time, and understanding customers one at a time."

I can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in a pan. I can write in my blog and create my own brand. I am Woman.

W.O.M.A.N.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 4/21/2004 09:21:58 AM

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