The ever so practical Jakob Nielsen gives his list of Top 10 Web Design Mistakes.
They’re so easy to overcome, yet so often overlooked. In my opinion, at least six of these mistakes are easily fixed with a good blog or simply good content management software.
1. Bad Search
2. PDF Files for Online Reading
3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links
4. Non-Scannable Text
5. Fixed Font Size
6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility
7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement
8. Violating Design Conventions
9. Opening New Browser Windows
10. Not Answering Users’ Questions
Concerning #1 and #6, here’s an example from my personal experience. Dentyne-isms are the cute “parables” on the back of Dentyne gum packages. Type “dentyne-isms” into a Google search. The top two links are to this blog. Dentyne’s website doesn’t even show up in the search results.
Apparently people really like these dentyne-isms. Right now, the post that comes up in the search results has over 50 comments. It’s one of the top search terms bringing people to my blog.
Read the rest of Jakob’s Top 10 Web Design Mistakes. His details are worth the few minutes of reading.
I’m guilty of at least 4 of those… and there’s probably some others I’m violating unknowingly. I was surprised at how many bloggers blatently ignore these simple concepts. Although, retrospectively, it shouldn’t have surprised me.
#1 is something most websites need to work on – it’s about on-site search, not web search. It is ignored or neglected by a great many websites. Users consider it very important because navigation fails them too often. We extensively data mine our site search results to be sure we’re delivering good results. (But then, we have 6,000 pages for users to navigate).
#2 I have some qualified disagreement with. Certainly, I *hate* PDF files as a user, if I’m not told that a link is a pdf. In addition, any content I provide in PDF form, I tend to provide in HTML as well. The PDF is for downloading and printing. And users like them if our top downloads log is correct. PDF has its place — as a supplement to content. But if you provide it, provide it both in HTML and PDF if possible. PDF is not the enemy of good usability. Incorrectly used PDF is.
#3 – yup. I tend to leave links in simple blue underline. Users always know what they are and if they have visited.
#4…if you go long copy, you have to break it up, make it easily scannable. Writing in the inverted pyramid style is a great idea, but I don’t always do it.
#5… I plead guilty. Have some issues that make it difficult for us to change things, but we’ll get there at re-design. We used absolute positioning, but that means if someone changes font sizes, it is a mess. On my list to clean up.
#6…I’m a fanatic about page titles (and most other good organic SEO practices). What’s great is good search tactics often merge with good usability practices.
#7 – I don’t see too many people doing that. A little bit, sometimes.
#8 is basically telling us “don’t get cute; don’t reinvent the wheel.” Had a client once who rejected 3 designs from me for his website template. He wanted something “absolutely unique” (his words). I told him I could do “absolutely effective” but unique was not a goal in and of itself. Users know what to expect. Give it to them, even if it’s the 7 billionth two column, left side navigation site launched this week.
#9; Guilty. I don’t think this is that big of a deal. I do it sometimes.
#10: Yeah. People come to websites for information and you have to give it to them. We have priced, ecommerce items that sell for up to $32,000. We don’t necessarily expect them to be bought through that channel, but the price is a qualifier that creates the start of the selling process. We do so much pricing that our salespeople are often nervous about it, but it’s always paid off.
PS: Nice win, eh?
SS
Thanks for your comments guys.
Scott, thanks for sharing from your experiential knowledge. Regarding #7, I think many information sites like news sites and technical write-ups tend to violate this. Web sites where the content isn’t the product don’t tend to have this issue.
#8 – A lot of our competing ad agencies violate this one. They feel as though the have to be innovative, but end up throwing usability out the window. As Jakob would say, they use “mystery meat” navigation a lot.
Going back to #2. He is specifically railing against PDFs for ONLINE reading. Offline reading, as you indicate is your intent, is a good use of PDFs.
PS: Very nice win. Nearly gave it up in the end, though. It made for an exciting game (insider scoop: Independence bowl between Alabama and Oklahoma State – my alma mater as well as Scott’s)