Category: Usability
sIFR - SEO Friendly Typography
Posted by mike r on March 11, 2008 at 09:00 AM
As of this post, web designers are limited to using only six web safe fonts. Scalable Inman Flash Replacement, or sIFR, offers designers a Flash based alternative.
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The Eyes Tell It All - Oneupweb's Eye Tracking Survival Guide
Posted by maureen on February 12, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Oneupweb recently began offering an Eye Tracking service that allows us to observe the movements of the human eye, analyze the psychological implications of those movements, and make adjustments to website design, usability and site features accordingly. Download our free Eye Tracking Survival Guide to learn more about it.
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Microsoft Breaks HTML Email in Outlook 2007
Posted by jason on January 29, 2008 at 09:03 AM
Microsoft has decided to use MS Word as a rendering engine for HTML emails. We examine the downfalls of this decision and offer a workaround for one specific issue marketers may experience when creating an email marketing campaign, company newsletter, etc.
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To CMS or not to CMS?
Posted by jason on August 09, 2007 at 11:32 AM
While this posting is not meant to provide a full explanation of the benefits vs. risks associated with implementation of a content management system, it is meant to provide you with a few tidbits of information to get you thinking before you start using a CMS as an overall solution to a website redesign project.
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Unmasking the Decepticon: TransformersMovie.com Battles Usability
Posted by Christopher on June 29, 2007 at 11:11 AM
I've no problem admitting I'm absolutely as geeked as my 14 year old son about the upcoming Transformers movie. Given even the potential of soul-shattering hackery from Michael Bay -- director of, among many other cinematic travesties, Armageddon (who knew directional drilling would one day save the world?) and Pearl Harbor -- seeing a giant Decepticon smash through a bus on the freeway on the big screen is going to be worth the price of any number of admissions. Please, Mr. Bay, for the love of everything holy, no romantic subplots, no schmaltz, no Ben Affleck. But, come on, even...
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Website Wizardry
Posted by on June 27, 2007 at 09:02 AM
Does it matter if a website is well organized and user-friendly when your goal is to sell products or services via Pay-Per-Click ads? Absolutely. The development and success of your PPC campaigns relies, in part, on a website that speaks clearly to the products and services it offers and makes it as easy as possible for your customers to find, buy, subscribe or sign-up (also known as “converting”). Are you a Harry Potter fan? I’m sure most of us have seen at least one of the films in the series. If not, let me set the scene: the boy wizard,...
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Google's Subscription Designation - A Positive User Experience?
Posted by steve on May 22, 2007 at 01:46 PM
There was a quick discussion recently over at Google Groups which mentioned how to take advantage of subscription-only news articles from a search engine standpoint by allowing Google to crawl and index them. Google's recommendation for ensuring content is indexed on subscription sites is to detect whether or not a request for a particular article is coming from one of their bots, then allow the bot to bypass the registration page. This will allow access to the article which, in turn, will give it a chance to rank in Google News. To create a positive user experience, Google also recommends...
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Tools of the Trade: HTML Validator
Posted by on May 21, 2007 at 01:14 PM
Hello, and welcome back to a second installment of our Tools of the Trade series. This time, I'd like to introduce you to one of the older tools in our toolbelt, something that I've been using for several years now. Like my last tool of the trade, HTML Validator is another Firefox extension, this time written by Marc Gueury, and once installed it quietly sits in your statusbar. Let me elucidate: What does this HTML Validator do? Glad you asked! HTML Validator (let's just call it HV for a bit, all those letters are getting a bit repetitive) embeds an...
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Creepy Usability: "Speaking Characters" & the Uncanny Valley Effect
Posted by Christopher on March 23, 2007 at 03:49 PM
This, faithful readers, is merely my opinion; it does not in any way reflect the views of my coworkers or my employer. I mean, I'm right,but they can believe what they want. Speaking characters, the little internet helper faces that "talk" to you and follow your cursor around with their eyes, disturb me. Nauseate me, in a way both physical and existential. Like clowns after midnight, or clowns in general, really, they're horrifying. Their very names, generally something like "Web Buddy" or "Net Pal," evoke loathing. In an effort to present a human face, to allow users to interface with...
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CSS Table Tutorial
Posted by on February 13, 2007 at 02:50 PM
How to get the most out of your table design Recently I was presented with the challenge of creating a chart for an article I was converting to html. Normally, I would use CSS div tags to format the table data, but with dozens of cells and rows facing me I chose to find a more efficient way. By using background images for the header and left section of the chart, I am able to control the look and feel of the table represented in the original print document. From this point I built three graphics to use as the...
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Keep Your Holiday Shoppers Shopping
Posted by keirsun on November 06, 2006 at 11:01 AM
Since the holiday shopping season now starts in October (thanks a lot Target!) I guess it's past-time to offer some advice to online retailers. And with eMarketer predicting online sale to increase more than 20% from last year, we better get a move on. As eMarketer points out, experienced online shoppers choosing to spend more money at their favorite internet retailer are driving the increase in online sales. Makes sense to me. After all, if a first-time customer is WOWed by your level of service, chances are good they will come back for more. With that tidbit of info in...
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YouTube Needs Google
Posted by on October 10, 2006 at 01:53 PM
Bandwagon here I come. We had a family computer outing recently when my husband discovered YouTube. “Hey honey, have you seen this!” (Of course, I had.) The three of us sat patiently while downloading several funny animal videos. Our favorite, by far, is a clip from America’s Funniest Videos. It’s a cat montage put to classical music. Dozens of cats fly across the screen, in mishap after mishap. We must have watched that very clip a dozen times. Not because it is that funny. No, because in our search to find different clips, we kept getting this same one. So...
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Straight Up Site of Interest - A/V Usability
Posted by keirsun on October 06, 2006 at 04:21 PM
It's time once again to rotate the tires and go for a spin in the Straight Up Site of Interest. This monthly post focuses on forward-thinking internet technologies and the websites that drive them. After taking in the view, you'll have another answer to this very important question: "How can I market my website?" This month's topic: Audio & Video File Usability Straight Up Site of Interest: veotag In Their Own Words: "veotag is an exciting new service that lets you display clickable text, called 'veotags,' within an audio or video file." First Impression: If you host audio or video...
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Website Usability - You Can't Get There From Here
Posted by on September 20, 2006 at 02:58 PM
As a member of the Search Marketing team at Oneupweb, one topic that often comes up is website usability and its effect on positive return on investment. Usability can encompass many different facets. How easy is it to navigate through the website? Are search engine crawlers able to successfully find and index site pages? What paths do you want customers to take through the site? How up-to-date is content? Some of these questions seem very obvious, but it is amazing how many sites miss out on conversions because they lack a few things that could make them so much more...
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Designer's Block? Try Crop Circles
Posted by on August 29, 2006 at 12:41 PM
As a designer I am often looking around the web for design inspiration. I've always been interested in artists like Andy Goldsworthy and Christo who use natural elements or the landscape in making their art. Designers are always borrowing their inspiration from one place or another and recently I've come across something I've never considered before. Crop circles. To me, many crop circles look like candidates for a unique logo design. The shapes are interesting, work well compositionally and all you need to do is move the circles around a bit, add some gradients, slap your catchy business name on...
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Monk Finds the First Clue to Subdomains
Posted by keirsun on July 20, 2006 at 05:01 PM
My wife's a fan of Monk, the TV show. And sometimes I can't resist watching Tony Shalhoub nervously, yet elegantly fumble his way through a mystery. But it was something other than Monk's eccentricities that caught my eye recently. During one of USA's frequent commercial breaks, a promo played touting the webisodes, blogs, trivia games, etc. found on the Monk interactive website. But I wasn't enticed until I noticed the web address: monk.usanetwork.com I pointed at the screen, "Hey, look at that! A subdomain, on national television!" In a strange, monkish way I was pleasantly surprised. Now, don't get me...
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10 Questions Every Webmaster Should Ask Their CMS Developer
Posted by sarah on July 07, 2006 at 01:26 PM
Before Oneupweb, I worked at an online children's store. One of my many duties there (my desk was always covered in toys) was to manage our store's migration to an entirely new e-commerce platform. The first thing I had to do was select our new e-commerce provider. Simple, right? Not quite. We're talking about a major investment. I embarked on a massive research project that spanned almost an entire year, comparing solutions as I evaluated everything from order fulfillment to inventory control to the subject at hand: Content Management Systems. If you're considering migrating to a new CMS platform, here...
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Trend-spotting: The New Face of the Web
Posted by mike on June 29, 2006 at 11:55 AM
Web 2.0 is the new black, rounded corners are the new complimentary accessory, drop shadows are a part of the status quo, and you'd better not wear a bevel before Labor Day.
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Be Ugly. Make Millions!
Posted by on June 02, 2006 at 10:17 AM
Recently I've been hearing a lot of talk about ugly website design. Some members of the online marketing and design communities are claiming that ugly design outperforms attractive design. Let's explore why good design is always better than ugly.
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Moving Your Website? Tell Clients Where You're Going Before the Big Move
Posted by keirsun on May 01, 2006 at 04:15 PM
Can you believe it? My favorite candy store up-and-moved on me. I stroll up the sidewalk, anxious for a fresh pack of Cherryheads, and there it is - a tasteless, black & white "We've Moved" sign. I was just here last week and don't remember the store owner, "Jelly Belly" Barbara (as she's known to frequent customers), saying anything about moving. Nor did I see any signs to warn regulars of the upcoming move. What gives? If you operated a brick and mortar business and were planning to move, wouldn't you start letting your customers know ahead of time that...
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Usability and the Retail Website
Posted by admin on April 20, 2006 at 10:06 AM
The ability to shop without leaving the comfort of your home – what a wonderful time to be alive! With more and more businesses starting websites, optimizing websites, and advertising websites it’s like having the world at your finger tips. Literally. Shopping has never been easier, or at least that’s what would be expected. The problem is that so many businesses drop the ball when it comes to website usability, that shoppers who go to a site to shop often feel one or more of the following: frustration, annoyance, distress, anxiety, disappointment, irritation, vexation, etc. Working with paid search campaigns...
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Website Usability Eclipses SE Rumor Mill
Posted by Christopher on April 10, 2006 at 11:02 AM
I'm guessing that, were Nostradamus to write a book called Predicting for Idiots, one of his first guidelines to a budding prophet would be "keep it vague, young apprentice." The oracle, generally, only kinda tells the future. The second you predict something concrete, you've let your mouth write a check that your butt might find itself selling CDs to cover. So, when you read predictions about which search engine is going to fail, which one's going to take over the world, which one you should care about, which one you shouldn't, which algorithm hates complete sentences, which one favors endless...
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Calling All Conversions
Posted by steve on March 15, 2006 at 04:11 PM
Well it's that time again - time to renew my cell phone contract. Should I keep the same provider? They don't necessarily have the best coverage. Then again, that can work to my advantage when I don't really feel like talking: "Oh no, I'm losing you." What about minutes? I could probably use more of them. Oh, and how about one of those cool camera phones? Imagine the fun I could have. I figured the best way to find what I was looking for was not to waste a whole afternoon going from store to store, but instead research online...
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King Loser: My Life on Dial Up
Posted by Christopher on March 13, 2006 at 09:24 AM
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project's Report on Rural Broadband Internet Use, only 24% of rural Americans have high-speed Internet at home. That's a whole mess of potential customers who maybe are trying to access your site, then giving up, going to one that's maybe a little less "flashy" but that will actually load.
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Website Usability - Is Your Site a Boy Band?
Posted by dave on March 07, 2006 at 03:47 PM
Born out of the imagination of managers and producers and assembled like a dysfunctional puzzle, the boy band is a marketing phenomenon designed with one specific goal in mind. Captivate and mesmerize the young "teenybopper" crowd. The boy band is so focused on achieving this goal through the use of smooth harmonies and infectious dance moves that everything else is secondary. In addition to a limited market appeal, the shelf life of these factory manufactured bands is invariably short. After their song hits the airwaves, there is a limited timeframe in which they can be successfully marketed to the "teenyboppers"...
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Web Usability: Why Do We Overlook the Obvious?
Posted by chip on December 09, 2005 at 04:58 PM
As the holiday season grows closer, and my shopping intensifies, I can't help but notice how many online retailers don't seem to be paying attention to the usability of their sites. With the time, money and effort put in to establishing yourself in the online marketplace, it doesn't make any sense to drive customers away from your site. Whether it is poor design, confusing navigation or any of the other annoyances that can drive potential customers away; not focusing on the user's experience within your site is going to cost money and undermine your overall marketing efforts. There are a...
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