Bad web design techniques that HTML5 is bringing back – June
1. Load screen:
Its been a long time since we saw these all over flash websites. I dont think one single person in the world likes these things. Best practice would be to remove or shrink the large files so there isn’t a need for the load screen. But sometimes egos get in the way and the owner or design wants the full HD version.
2. Hiding the menu:
The “hip” new thing to do is to hide your main menu (navigation) into a little box or maybe an arrow. The user then needs to click this arrow for the menu to pop out. Sure its more clean and simple but it forces your user to search for the menu. Tip, the less clicks they need to take to find what they want the better.
3. Animated intros:
No one wants to sit through a 2 minute long animation. It might look cool but does it really get ears on the phone or does it just slow down your customer?
4. Mystery icons:
Using icons to represent a word or phrases is really really hard! Most of the time it just doesn’t work – especially across different cultures and languages. Worse still are thoes icons that flip or animate to show a word, these wont work on a mobile as you cant hover a mouse over them. Tip, dont make your users think.
5. Pop ups:
These nasty things get around pop up blockers because technically they dont open a new page they just execute from within that page in a lightbox effect. They are intrusive and quite often very hard to get rid of – especially on a mobile.
Summary
- Don’t use technology for the sake of it.
- The user experience should be top priority.
- Owners and even the designers need to leave their egos at home.
Ask for the sale – 3 tips for better calls to action
Unless you are a massive business dont expect customers to line up for your services/products purely based on your merits. Ask for the sale!
A call to action is simply this: State the problem your potential customers have, tell them your solution, tell them what to do.
Example: Is your website under preforming? Use our proven SEO to bring in new customers. Call now.
1. Set up an experiment. Set a start date and record your Analytics (stats for your chosen pages). Now put a few call to actions on these pages of your site and leave them for a month. Did your conversions increase? Did your bounce or exit rate decrease? Rinse and repeat.
2. Try this across all of your media including Facebook, Twitter, Print material and even phone conversations.
3. Don’t repeat your call to actions, it looks spammy and too salesy. Mix it up and test what works.
The most important document on the internet
Twenty years ago CERN gave up their right to make a profit on their product – the internet. The internet would have been a very different creature had this not happened.
“CERN relinquishes all intellectual property to this code, both source and binary form and permission is granted for anyone to use, duplicate, modify and redistribute it.”
This amazing step has lead to the internet begin created from the ground up. Read more here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/05/01/180255276/the-single-most-valuable-document-in-the-history-of-the-world-wide-web
Questions and Answers
Q: How long does it take google to update my website?
A: Generally six weeks. Its a cycle so depending on what day it is you might find google pops in tomorrow or next week. But whenever it is you can generally predict that it will pop back through in six weeks time.
Just for Fun
Sculptures in modern day clothes
