Latest Blog Posts

Your Website’s Call-to-Action is Its Central Purpose

September 9, 2009

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Say a new visitor to your website finds you through a search engine. They’re impressed with your content, which was written to get their attention. They like your professional design, which establishes that you’re a trustworthy brand. So then what? Give them a call-to-action and tell them what they should do, that’s what!

Lower Literacy Users and Your Website’s Usability

August 31, 2009

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We all know that different types of people use and read websites differently. Most of the time when you think of who the target audience is, the answers are in broad demographic categories: gender, age, people who have an interest in this particular topic, etc. Add to that category higher vs. lower literacy users.

What to Ask When Designing for a Target Audience

August 12, 2009

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When people first come to me to design a website for them, one of the first things I ask them is who their target audience is. Knowing who a website’s visitors are (or will be) is crucial for designers to know, because it helps us make all of the design decisions that will ultimately comprise [...]

4 Special Usability Concerns of Dark Websites

August 6, 2009

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Dark websites seem to be growing in popularity lately. If done properly, they can convey a sense of elegance, sophistication, sleekness, and/or professionalism. But in order to create a great dark website, web designers need to pay attention to some special usability concerns that come with the unique territory.

Flash Banners: Content and Design Considerations

July 7, 2009

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Flash banners can be a great addition to a website and can be a great way to convey important information in a visually attractive manner. In order to make them as effective as possible, there are some important content and design considerations that should be kept in mind when creating the banner.

Top 10 Public Transportation Websites

June 16, 2009

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I was in the Washington, DC area this past weekend and was looking up where the public rail stations are located. I was so impressed with the Metro’s website that I became curious about what other major cities’ public transit websites looked like.

10 Tips for Improving Your Titles and Sub-Headers

June 9, 2009

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As web content writers, we work hard on what we write and hope that people read every word of it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen that way. Most people tend to scan content on a website rather than read it, which is why it’s so important to use effective titles and sub-headers on your website.

Tips to Make Your Hosted Search Tool More Usable

May 28, 2009

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Hosted search engines allow you to easily incorporate a search function onto your website. Almost all of them give you some form code to put on your website, but you don’t have to use that code as they give it to you – you can customize it in order to improve its usability.

Ways to Create Breadcrumbs in WordPress

April 29, 2009

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WordPress doesn’t have a default way of creating breadcrumbs, so when you’re designing a website in it, you have to include them on your own, either by adding some code to your theme’s files or by using a plugin. Here are some ways to create breadcrumbs in WordPress for you to consider.

9 Ways to Make Your Links More Effective

April 16, 2009

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Links are one of the most fundamental building blocks of successful content on your website, yet many people create them – knowingly or unknowingly – in ways that decrease their effectiveness. Here are some tips that you can use when writing links within your content that can help improve their overall usability.