Using Space: Making the Most of How Your Website Is Displayed
Do you look at your website, and think: I could add this cool widget on the side, or how can I use that footer? Have you considered how your website appears on a mobile device? Making the most of the site may mean considering all of the space viewed on the screen.
We have a problem when it comes to web design. On the one hand, you want a new user to move through your site to their goal in the hope that this will benefit you. This means that we do not want them to think about the architecture. On the other hand, when we create for the lowest common denominator, we produce an environment that does not engage the user. To engage the user helps them to buy into the site, I feel. You may remember from a writing class a statement declaring do not write down to your audience; you will loose them. Of course then they taught you to write in a style which fit with the standard style. Unfortunately, my love of structurally complex sentences was not proper in this style. Not writing down meant word choice rather than structure. Going back to the idea of architecture, we can use the idea of a house as a good metaphor for a website.
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Guiding Consumers to Their Goal
Consumers want to be informed, but they also want to obtain their goal easily. How do you create a website which allows exploration while permitting a quick transaction?
I have a situation. I want to buy a product that is intangible, and I want to go through the process quickly; however, like many consumers, I want to know that I am getting something good. This could be any service product, but I am thinking a long the lines of electricity service, a website hosting provider, or a social community site. In each of those cases, I receive a service, but I do not really interact with it. They are services which are in the background of my life. I was specificly looking at the sites of various electrical service providers when I realized that one site appealed to me because its design allowed me quick access with three basic buttons.
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Designing Your Website for When It Will Be Used
The look of your website could effect user involvement, but so can the sound of your website. Consider when the website will be used to make decisions about design.
When I began my first website, I did not consider ease of use, nor did I think much about when people might be looking at my site. I wanted to get information up on the site; I wanted the information to be impressive; and I wanted the information to lead to a conversion. I kept working on improvements which I thought would help to this end. When I began a second site, I became more concerned with how to make the site a success through posting frequency and other factors. With both of these sites, I did not pay much attention to the user, or when they would be viewing the site, and how that could effect their interaction with the site.
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