WebWord.com Newsletter Issue #50

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ISSUE #50
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                WebWord.com Newsletter
           "Technology. Humans. Experience"
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                 Newsletter Editor
                   John S. Rhodes 
                     John@webword.com
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October 1, 2000                     Newsletter #50
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Table of Contents

1. Welcome and Thank You
2. Flash Usability Challenge
3. New Stuff at WebWord.com  
4. Upcoming Usability Conferences 
5. The Wireless Customer Experience
6. What Do You Really Think of Banner Ads?
7. Can You Believe What You Read?

        
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ITEM #1

Welcome and Thank You

Since the last issue, several hundred people have 
subscribed to the WebWord Usability Newsletter. There
are now over 3,000 subscribers. Wow!

Thank you for spending time at WebWord.com and thank
you for sharing your thoughts with me. I've exchanged
hundreds of emails with WebWord.com readers, and it
has been very exciting. Your voice counts and your
feedback is important.

On that note, welcome to the 50th issue of the 
WebWord Usability Newsletter. Enjoy!


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ITEM #2

Flash Usability Challenge

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I recently
ran a contest that challenged people to provide me
with an example of a profitable company that used
Flash to drive its web site. The prize was $50. 

Here are the details of the contest rules:
>> http://www.webword.com/flashusability.html

Here is a page presenting several entries:
>> http://www.webword.com/flashusability2.html

Here is a page of reader comments:
>> http://www.webword.com/flashusability3.html

And, here are my final thoughts on the contest:
>> http://www.webword.com/flashusability4.html

I've been sent many emails about this, both positive
and negative. I think I have heard it all. However,
if you want to send me some new comments, or if you
want to flame me, you can use this email address:
>> mailto:flash_john@webword.com


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ITEM #3

New Stuff at WebWord.com  (Self Promotion)

WebWord.com Services
  We recently posted a listing of the services we 
  offer as well as our standard pricing. Even if you 
  don't want to hire us, this is useful information
  regarding the cost of usability. We position
  ourselves as being fast, flexible and affordable. 
  >> http://www.webword.com/services/index.html

In case you want don't want to visit the page, here
is a snapshot of our services and pricing:

Full Usability Test: $14,000-$20,000
Discount Usability Testing: $4,000-$7,500
Heuristic Evaluation: $2,500-$3,000
Competitive Analysis: $2,000-$6,000
Conceptual Prototyping: $2,500-$9,000
Strategic Web Analysis: $2,500-$4,000
User Profiling: $4,500-$8,000
Marketing Review: $2,000-$6,500


WebWord.com Store 
  The WebWord.com Store is a place for you to buy
  WebWord mugs, t-shirts, and mousepads. We make no
  profit from sales. (I love the 15 ounce mugs.)
  >> http://www.cafepress.com/webword/


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ITEM #4

WebWord.com is endorsing two conferences put on by
the Institute for International Research:

(1) Web Site Usability Tools and Techniques

  "IIR's December 2000 Web Site Usability Tools and 
  Techniques conference will concentrate on the 
  usability techniques that you can incorporate
  throughout your site's design and development 
  process to optimize the user experience. Web 
  usability practitioners from leading sites and 
  companies, such as Expedia.com, Razorfish, IBM, 
  Merrill Lynch and WebCriteria, Inc., are contributing 
  their expertise. Keynote speaker is Jared Spool 
  from Interface Engineering, and the Extensive 
  Workshop will be conducted by the Usability Group."

  December 4 - 5, 2000 
  Swissotel
  Atlanta, GA 

  >> http://www.iir-ny.com/conference.cfm?EventID=M1240&


(2) Web Site Enhancement Program

  "Taking place December 4-5, 2000, IIR's Web Site 
  Enhancement program will focus on strategies for 
  redesigning and revamping your website.  Through a
  series of high level presentations and case studies 
  the program will help you benchmark your own strategy 
  for reworking your site.  The event will feature 
  case studies from, among others, Compaq Computer 
  Corporation presenting on the Creation of Sting's 
  Brand New Day Tour Sponsorship Website, Victoria's 
  Secret presenting on Maximizing the Internet as a 
  Viable Distribution Channel and the development of 
  the Cannes 2000 webcast."  

  December 4-5, 2000 
  The Fairmont Hotel
  San Francisco, CA 

  >> http://www.iir-ny.com/conference.cfm?EventID=m1243&


You might be interested in the Nielsen Norman Group 
World Tour. Here's their announcement:

  "The NN/g User Experience offers attendees an 
  opportunity to learn from and interact with the 
  world's leading authorities on web usability and 
  user interaction. These 3-day seminars are offered 
  in 12 cities around the world. Affiliates can earn 
  a generous percentage of the registration fees when 
  potential attendees actually register online for 
  one or more sessions in a city. Registrants pay 
  between $680-$2000 to attend the main event and/or 
  choose between 8 tutorials on web design & writing, 
  usability testing, e-commerce & marketing, usable 
  forms and more." 

  >> http://webword.com/nntour.html
  
  (Disclaimer: I am using an affiliate link which 
  means I get a kickback if you attend this tour.)


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ITEM #5

The Wireless Customer Experience

Creative Good has put together a white paper on the
wireless customer experience. Mark Hurst of Creative 
Good provided this summary of the report: 

  "...success in wireless is not primarily about 
  technology, or investors, or strategic partnerships. 
  Success in wireless is based primarily on a good 
  customer experience." 

Get the free report here:

>> http://www.creativegood.com/wireless/


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ITEM #6

What Do You Really Think of Banner Ads?

I have had several random thoughts in the last few
days about banner advertisements and I would like to
talk to you about them.

(1) Are banner ads evil or are they just useless? Do 
you hate banner ads completely or do you just dislike 
them because they are distracting and annoying? How 
anti-usability are banner ads? 

(2) If WebWord.com had banners, would you visit less
often? Would you think less of WebWord as a news 
source or company?

(3) Here's something interesting. If I paid you $.01
each and every day that you visited WebWord.com but 
you had to see a banner ad, would you think it was a 
good deal? Would you rather earn money and see a 
banner ad or would you rather just see the content?

(4) What ideas do you have for generating money from
good content?

    What do you think?
    >> mailto:banners@webword.com


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ITEM #7

Can You Believe What You Read?

I just recently found out that the Orange County 
Register (ocregister.com) was hacked. Attrition.org 
has some information on the attack here:

>> http://attrition.org/mirror/attrition/2000/09/29/www.ocregister.com/

I mention this because, as Attrition points out, this
is the first Subversion of Information (SoI) attack on
record. This was not a "good" attack in that the 
defacement was not well done. However, what if it was 
well done? 

How do you know that your news is true? Bits are 
easily pushed around and information is very 
malleable. Will strict security and encryption need 
to be used to verify news authenticity? 

What is the best way to know that something is true
on the web? How do you if someone is tampering with
your network pipe or your software? The answers are
not entirely clear but there are some things you can
do for your company and yourself. Learn as much as 
you can!

Here are some links for you:

  Windows IT Security
  >> http://www.ntsecurity.net/

  Planet IT Security Center
  >> http://www.planetit.com/techcenters/security

  10 Tips For Protecting Online Companies 
  >> http://planetit.com/pavilions/docs/security/features/PIT20000620S0031

  Intranet Design Magazine: Security
  >> http://idm.internet.com/security/

  Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice
  >> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/chaptr14.asp

  The World Wide Web Security FAQ (W3C)
  >> http://www.w3.org/Security/Faq/www-security-faq.html

  EPIC Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools
  >> http://www.epic.org/privacy/tools.html

  Easy ways to protect your privacy as a consumer
  >> http://home3.americanexpress.com/corp/consumerinfo/protecting.asp

  The International PGP Home Page
  >> http://www.pgpi.org/

  Personal Firewalls / Intrusion Detection Systems
  >> http://www.securityportal.com/cover/coverstory20000717.html

  Firewalls Mailing List
  >> http://www.lists.gnac.net/firewalls/

  Firewalls FAQ
  >> http://www.landfield.com/faqs/firewalls-faq/
  
  Detecting Hackers
  >> http://www.fusionsource.com/knowledge/hack_detect.html


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ITEM #7
    
What Can You Find at WebWord.com?


WebWord.com Services
<http://webword.com/services/index.html>

WebWord.com Store
<http://www.cafepress.com/webword/>

Job Bank
<http://www.webword.com/services/job_bank.html>

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>

Weblog Archive
<http://www.webword.com/weblog>

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

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

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


---- End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #50 ------



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