WebWord.com Newsletter Issue #29

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ISSUE #29
5-Sept-99
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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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September 5, 1999                   Newsletter #29
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Table of Contents

1. When The Title Ain't Good: How PC Magazine Failed
2. Online Dictionaries
3. weblogs
4. Banner Ads Suck, Ease of Use Rules
5. Nielsen//Netratings
6. An Image that Worked
7. What Can You Find at WebWord.com?


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ITEM #1

A new WebWord.com article is now online:
<http://webword.com/moving/pcmag.html>

When The Title Ain't Good: How PC Magazine Failed

I'm generally an easygoing fellow. Some things get me
angry though. When I see a usability problem I'll talk
and talk and talk about it. I often don't write up my
complaints because it doesn't do much good. Instead, I 
try to write summaries or guides. Things that will help
people. This week, I'm going to complain. I'm going to
rant about something so small, you'll wonder why I am
bothering. I am doing this because, guess what, the small
things matter. The small usability problems are the ones
that get ignored and overlooked. Well, that is silly.
A usability problem is a usability problem is a usability
problem. The problem I describe is about an article 
heading in PC Magazine that made me mad. I related the
problem to web usability, in case you are wondering. 
There are lessons to be learned. But the point I want to 
make here, in this newsletter, is that the small usability
problems are worth your attention. Find them, and crush 
them.


If you want to have the answers, read the interview at:
<http://webword.com/moving/pcmag.html>


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ITEM #2

Online Dictionaries

You want to spell things right. With computer terms, this 
can be a difficult chore. I have searched the web for you.
Here is a list of several useful online dictionaries: 

Webopedia
http://www.pcwebopaedia.com/

TechEncyclopedia
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/

whatis
http://www.whatis.com/

Jargon Scout
http://tbtf.com/jargon-scout.html

Merriam-Webster
http://www.m-w.com/

Free Online Dictionary of Computing
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html

PC Hardware and Data Communications Terms
http://www.ora.com/reference/dictionary/tsearch.cgi

Ken's Dictionary of Computer Standards 
http://www.charm.net/~kmarsh/dict.html

UGeek Technical Glossary 
http://www.ugeek.com/glossary/glossary_search.htm


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ITEM #3

weblogs

If you are looking for online diaries, tips, interesting
news, or strange stuff, I suggest that you take some time
to visit some weblogs. There are many smart (and dumb)
people out there that are taking the time to tell you 
about all kinds of things. The WebWord.com home page is 
is done in weblog fashion now. You can go to the 
WebWord.com home page <http://webword.com> and get 
usability news as I find it. Weblogs help you get the 
scoop on interesting news before the regular news channels 
find it. Indeed, many regular news channels depend on 
weblogs for news that is hard to find. Where can you find
out more?

Here is a list of excellent weblogs:

1) slashdot.org <http://slashdot.org>
2) Tomalak's Realm <http://tomalak.org>
3) peterme.com <http://peterme.com>
4) eatonweb 'blog' <http://eatonweb.com/weblog/>
5) ResearchBuzz <http://www.researchbuzz.com/weblog/>
6) geeknews.net <http://geeknews.net/>
7) Scripting News <http://www.scripting.com/>
8) WebWord.com <http://webword.com>  ;-)

Need more? I suggest that you visit the eatonweb weblog 
portal <http://eatonweb.com/weblog/portal.shtml>. If you 
do stop by, please tell Brigitte I said hello. 'Bloggers 
*love* to know that they are getting press! Thanks.


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ITEM #4

Banner Ads Suck, Ease of Use Rules

"A report released this year by IT research firm 
Forrester Research, sheds some interesting light on what 
does and does not work in driving consumer traffic to 
websites. Companies mistakenly think the tactics they use 
most are also the most effective. Banner advertisements, 
for example, are the most common form of online marketing. 
But they rank near the bottom in effectiveness." 

What works?
* Search engines 
* Email messages
* Links from other websites
* Word of mouth

What drives repeat visits?
* High quality content
* Ease-of-use
* Quick download
* Updated frequently

  (Sounds like usability, don't you think?)

Here's the full story if you want the details:
<http://www.clipwebzine.com/article.cfm?storyid=163>


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ITEM #5

Nielsen//Netratings

Looking for statistics of web usage? What about "reach"?
Want to know what banners are being used most? Check out
the Nielsen//Netratings to get your fix.

<http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/hot_off.htm>

Here's what you can see for free...

TOP TEN PROPERTIES
  weekly top ten properties
  monthly top ten properties

TOP TEN BANNERS
  weekly top ten banners
  monthly top ten banners

TOP TEN ADVERTISERS
  weekly top ten advertisers
  monthly top ten advertisers

WEB USAGE DATA
  weekly web usage data
  monthly web usage data


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ITEM #6

An Image that Worked

It is pretty rare to go to a web site and see a graphic
that matches the text content. In general, the image is
meant for branding, or it is there to add spice to the 
page. This is fine, but from a usability perspective, it
makes sense to use graphics to augment the content. The
graphic should add value to the page, or it should be
removed. It takes too long to load most pages, so why
bloat them more with images that don't help users. 

I decided to point you to the first web page I found that
had a graphic that worked well with the text content. It
was hard! It took me 6 minutes and 17 web pages to get
to a site that I felt had a graphic that was useful. The
graphic and page I found could have loaded a bit faster, 
which is no surprise. And, the image could have been 
smaller. Nevertheless, the image fit the text content very
well, and gave me a great sense of what the story was
about. 

If you're curious, here is the page:
<http://www.parascope.com/ds/mkultra0.htm>

You should be able to see why I think this is an excellent
graphic, particularly if you know anything about LSD, MAD
Magazine, Spy-vs-Spy, and so on. However, even without
all of this background knowledge, you get a feeling for
what the story is about. Now, think about your images. 
Are they useful? What value do they add? Are they just
slowing your pages down? Are they helping you brand your
site? How do you know that your images are worthwhile?
Have you tested them with users? And so on...


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ITEM #7

What Can You Find at WebWord.com?

Articles (Moving WebWord)
<http://webword.com/moving/>

Expert Interviews 
<http://webword.com/interviews/> 

Recommended Books
<http://webword.com/books/booksindex.html>

Newsletter Archive
<http://webword.com/archive>

Usability Reports 
<http://webword.com/reports>

Recommended Web Sites
<http://webword.com/hotsites.html>

Free Stuff
<http://webword.com/freestuff.html>

Friends
<http://webword.com/friends.html>


---- End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #29 ------

(c)1998-99 by John S. Rhodes. All rights reserved.
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