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ISSUE #5
Date: Jan 29 1999 06:20:15 GMT
From: WebWord.com Usability Newsletter <WebWord-owner@listbot.com>
Subject: WebWord.com Newsletter #5
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WebWord.com Newsletter
"Usability & the Internet"
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List Owner
John S. Rhodes
John@WebWord.com
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January 28, 1999 Newsletter #5
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Table of Contents
1. Year 2000 Problem (Y2K)
2. LinkAlarm Is A Hit
3. Failure of Submission Tools
4. Failure of Search Engines
5. Comparison Shopping: mySimon?
6. Recommended E-commerce Book
7. WebWord.com Friends Page
8. How Stuff Works
9. Usability Snapshots
10. Read An Old Article
11. Pass On The WebWord.com Newsletter
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ITEM #1
The Year 2000 (Y2K) Problem
I found an excellent Y2K resource for you. If you are
concerned about how Y2K will impact your life, from your
computer to your money to your house, this will give
you some answers.
<http://www.zdnet.com/zdy2k/concerns_new.html>
And another one, a bit gloomy, but good
"The Year 2000 Problem: An Introduction for the
Lay Person"
<http://www.miamionthenet.com/y2k.htm>
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ITEM #2
LinkAlarm is a hit!
Over 20% of the visitors from WebWord.com sign up
for the 2-month FREE LinkAlarm link test drive.
Several people have wrote to tell me that they
absolutely love the service.
If you have a Web site and you are concerned about
broken links then this is something you might
want to consider. For more information read the interview
I did with LinkAlarm, Inc. CEO, Mr. George Bray
<http://webword.com/interviews/bray.html>
Want to take the free test drive? I am, and I love it.
<http://www.linkalarm.com/testdrive/?967516844>
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ITEM #3
The Failure of Submission Tools
If you use Web site submission services you are
generally wasting your money. For some people with
limited amounts of time, this might be your only
way to get your sites to the search engines. However,
if your Web presence is important to you, then you
ought to submit your site by hand.
Why?
1. It is relatively easy. Most portals and search
engines have a link on their main page for this
purpose. Also, submitting can be as easy as entering
your URL (i.e., your site address, such as "WebWord.com").
Do it by hand, it isn't too hard.
2. You only really need to hit the major engines
since that is where 90% of the Internet traffic is
going. Submit your site to Yahoo (very, very important),
Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Altavista, and WebCrawler
and you'll be getting the most payback for your
time and energy.
Need more help with search engines? I'd often visit here:
<http://www.SearchEngineWatch.com/>.
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ITEM #4
The Failure of Search Engines
Search engines are used by every user that I know.
You would expect that search engine sites would
concentrate on the usability of their sites and
the search algorithms. However, as we all know,
search engines fail. You can't find anything, or
it takes you very long time to get what you want.
Why?
1. Search engines care about marketing too much. They
get little or no money from folks searching, so they
try to sell you 10,000,000 good and services.
Usability is thrown out the window.
2. The interface is horrible, and the search algorithms
are manipulated by people submitting their sites.
3. People don't understand Boolean searching and the
search engine sites don't provide the right kind
of help.
My favorite search engine right now is Google. I can
usually find what I want in a few minutes. The interface
is quite simple and it has a fun feel. It's usually very
fast. <http://google.com>
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ITEM #5
Comparison Shopping: mySimon?
<http://www.mysimon.com/>
mySimon is a simple Web site designed to let you do
comparison shopping for all kinds of things: computers,
books, clothing, electronics, music, food, etc. If you
wanted to do a "meta-search" for these things, this is
the type of service you'd like to use.
However...
The interface is simple, but it is impossible to tell
what they offer. There is no search mechanism on the
first page, so you can't start comparing. It generally
takes 3 or more clicks to get to anything worth using.
Overall: Simple, easy to look at, but it fails to
provide its core service easily enough. It makes me
sad that such a simple (and fast) site fails.
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ITEM #6
A Recommended E-commerce Book
'Electronic Commerce: A Manager's Guide'
Here's what author Ravi Kalakota has to say:
"I am not going to urge you to read the book. That is
something you have to decide. I however would like to
point out that this book is the outcome of four years
of research into what makes electronic commerce the
next step for business computing. I elaborated very
carefully what are the management issues that need to
be addressed. One theme that pervades the book is that
electronic commerce is not about technology but is about
technology supported strategic action. Pick up the book
if you get a chance and read it."
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201880679/wedwordcom
Looks like a winner.
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ITEM #7
New Addition To The WebWord.com Friends Page.
WebKnowHow.Net <http://webknowhow.net> is a web
development
directory with over 1000 resources such as tutorials,
articles, books, scripts, FAQ's, etc. Topics include CGI,
HTML, Perl, Java, Design, and much more.
HostReview.com <http://hostreview.com> is a web
hosting
directory where users can search for hundreds of web hosts
according to the price and features they want.
Thanks for adding WebWord.com to your sites David!
Join the growing ranks of WebWord.com Friends, and get
*your* site promoted for free! Get the details.
<http://webword.com/friends.html>
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ITEM #8
How Stuff Works
<http://www.howstuffworks.com/>
Want to know how your VCR works? Want to find out how
radar works? How about airplanes? Want to find out how
modems work? Want to learn how just about *anything*
works? Take a look at "How Stuff Works"!
In relation to content, this one of the best Web sites
I've seen. It is clear, and does not use confusing jargon.
And, the pages load fast (usually). An all-around excellent
site.
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ITEM #9
Usability Snapshots
1. Here's a *great* URL. Easy to remember, easy to spell.
<http://www.computerizedsolutions.com/>
* Weakness? It is a bandwidth killer; needs text links.
(Last I checked, the site was still under construction).
2. Here's a well designed and good looking site.
<http://www.onepointzero.com/>
* Weaknesses? Starts on a news page; font might be too
small for folks with high-resolution monitors
3. Very interesting Web site. Excellent use of a metaphor!
<http://www.tinderbox.co.za/>
* Weakness? What do they actually do? The TITLE tag needs
some help too.
4. This site has a very unique look and feel. The HTML and
JavaScript code for the site are...interesting.
<http://parallaxstudios.com/>
* Weakness? Difficult to spell URL; easy to misunderstand.
(Probably not much can be done about it, it is the name
of the business.)
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ITEM #10
Read An Old Article Or Interview
There are many old Moving WebWord articles available. I'll
bet that you haven't read them all. There are also several
expert interviews for you. Time to catch up on your reading.
Moving WebWord Articles
<http://webword.com/moving>
WebWord.com Expert Interviews
<http://webword.com/interviews/>
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ITEM #11
Pass It On, Or Recommend It
As usual I am requesting that you pass this newsletter
on to a friend or colleague. Share the wealth!
You can also use a simple recommendation page that I have
set up for you. <http://webword.com/cgi-bin/birdcast.cgi>
Thanks for your support!
------- End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #5 --------
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