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	<title>Captain Daves Superb Domains &#187; Website Design</title>
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	<description>Domain Buying, Leasing, Parking, and Selling</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:12:55 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Is Your Website Mobile Ready?</title>
		<link>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/is-your-website-mobile-ready.html</link>
		<comments>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/is-your-website-mobile-ready.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:23:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Domain Expert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/is-your-website-mobile-ready.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you noticed the amount of mobile devices that are hitting the market everyday? Think about this then, how many mobile devices do you think are in each household? Nearly every member of a household owns or uses a mobile device to access their online accounts such as yahoo, google, and msn. It don&#8217;t stop [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Have you noticed the amount of mobile devices that are hitting the market everyday?  Think about this then, how many mobile devices do you think are in each household?  Nearly every member of a household owns or uses a mobile device to access their online accounts such as yahoo, google, and msn.  It don&#8217;t stop there though they use them to do just about everything your desktop computer does.  So we ask you.  Is your website Mobile Ready?</p>
<p>There are a number of forms of making your site mobile ready.  The question is this.  How simple do you want it to be when you decide to go mobile?  So lets look at different ways to gain  mobile presents on the internet.</p>
<p>1.  You can build a mobile website that is dedicated to mobile devices only.  If you add to and take away from your site as we do on a daily basis this might not be an option.  This format will leave you limited to what you can add to it and the size of your pictures will have to adhere to that format as well.  This will work if your site is kept small.  It&#8217;s not recommended for larger sites.</p>
<p>
2.  Use a service that allows you to build a mobile ready website from their user control panels.  Just like above your limited to size of your site based on their user agreements or policy.  They also include a link back on your site back to them which is ok, but not our style.  Some of them can be hosted with them or you can download the site you built and host it on your own hosting accounts.  Another point to make is with the services you no longer have to have a hosting account to have a mobile ready website.</p>
<p>3.  Download and install mobile ready website scripts.  This method does require you to have a hosting account to use.  There are only a few scripts that automate this process for you.  We have downloaded them and tried them and they just seem to be missing vital things that make a site jump out at your visitor.  They are more text based as most all mobile ready websites are.  Some of them haven&#8217;t been updated sense they were released and that makes it hard to keep mobile website going when the programmer quit supporting the script.</p>
<p>4. Plugins are the better option for those you have massive website full of content.  In this case we use wordpress and a plugin that creates a mobile ready version of our website and displays it for those who come to our website through a mobile device.  The best part about this is it detects if someone comes to our site from a PC or Mobile Device and then gives them the version of our site for their device automaticly.  Why is this the way to go simple we don&#8217;t have to have two different website formats on the same server or on two different domains.  This works well because you don&#8217;t need to display your site information twice its all done for you one time.  When we post a new page or post on our site its there for mobile user right then.</p>
<p>So which ever way you decide to go if you build it, use a service, script, or by a plugin for a cms or blog.  If your website isn&#8217;t mobile ready you should consider making it mobile ready as soon as possible.  This is the fastest growing source of accessing the internet in history.  Choose wisely what you will do but as a hint we tried all of them and the plugins came out on top every time.</p>
<p><a href='http://www.affiliategoldrush.net' target='_blank'>Affiliate Gold Rush</a></p>
<p><a href='http://73671hr1x7qmxuaj-j32icy4f3.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=RMTRAFFIC' target='_blank'>Traffic without SEO</a></p>
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		<title>How To Have Social Media Marketing Penetration</title>
		<link>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/how-to-have-social-media-marketing-penetration.html</link>
		<comments>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/how-to-have-social-media-marketing-penetration.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:40:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Domain Expert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/how-to-have-social-media-marketing-penetration.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well as it seems that despite company selling budgets on hold or in a very state of ambiguity, businesses are scrambling over social media, making an attempt to figure out how to spice up sales and keep the shoppers they have. SEO is an on-line promoting tactic that’s been saw for well over ten years [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well as it seems that despite company selling budgets on hold or in a very state of ambiguity, businesses are scrambling over social media, making an attempt to figure out how to spice up sales and keep the shoppers they have.  SEO is an on-line promoting tactic that’s been saw for well over ten years and is still earning its stripes in the selling mix. On their own, SEO and social media efforts provide firms enticing opportunities for reaching new customers, that is how many marketers implement them.</p>
<p>Once you study shifts in consumer info discovery, consumption and sharing, there’s no arguing with the intersection of search and also the social web.  Searchers expect to not only find what they’re looking for on search engines, but to interact with the results, whether or not it’s through commenting, voting or sharing. Thus, social media affects SEO in various ways, creating opportunities for marketers. For a drop by drop guide on making a Scial Media and SEO Roadmap, have a look at this recent article from Mashable. Below could be a partial exceprt: From a marketing standpoint, you&#8217;ll be able to examine the advantages of SEO and social media two totally different ways:</p>
<p>1st, implementing a Social Media Promoting program without optimizing content is leaving money on the table. Useful social content (blog, video, images, audio) that cannot be discovered via search could be a lost opportunity to succeed in an audience that&#8217;s looking. For instance, the popular blog regarding student loans and faculty financing from Wells Fargo identifies 29 keywords in its Keyword Meta Tag and doesn’t rank in Google’s first page for 26 of them. Those that do rank are variations of the blog’s name.</p>
<p>While there is a generous quantity of cross linking within posts, a basic blog template Optimization effort leveraging keywords and other minor changes could improve search traffic for this web site substantially – while not <a href='http://seosport.com/' target='_blank'>web designers</a> any compromise in content quality or user experience. Social interactions and media sharing amongst social network participants produce the kind of content that may improve a brand’s visibility within search results through profiles, videos, blog posts, or other media. A good example is Stormhoek wines’ initial page Google rankings together with blogs, Facebook and Twitter.</p>
<p>On the flip side, implementing SEO programs while not leveraging the content distribution and linking edges of social Web Design participation makes link building for SEO an uphill battle. The nature of the social web encourages participation: sharing, voting, commenting &amp; linking. Fashionable social content gets exposure, traffic and will result in a substantial range of relevant inbound links. For instance, the famous Blendtec iPhone video that as received so much attention on social media sites, has attracted over vi,000 links ensuing in an exceedingly top 10 ranking on Google for the word, “blender”.</p>
<p>Bottom line? Content + Links = Search Engine Success! Throwing keywords at Social Media techniques isn’t quite the same issue as developing and implementing a set up to reach specific goals.   Link drop social media ways can have impact however are difficult to sustain. For long run worth from effort, marketers ought to follow social media best practices as wel as the fundamentals:  </p>
<p>Establish <a href='http://seosport.com/florida-seo/' target='_blank'>florida web site design</a> the precise audience they’re making an attempt to reach – behaviors, preferences for content, sharing, media types, etc Set specific goals and objectives that can be measured Figure out a method get an SEO Quote for reaching those goals with the meant audience Determine that mix of ways will support and execute the game plan Put correct measurement tools in place and establish what events and outcomes to research For a grade by grade guide to making a SEO Social Media Roadmap, try Mashable, “Social Media and SEO: five Essential Steps to Success“.</p>
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		<title>Website Design &#8211; Guidelines For Using Text Correctly</title>
		<link>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/website-design-guidelines-for-using-text-correctly.html</link>
		<comments>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/website-design-guidelines-for-using-text-correctly.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Domain Expert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/website-design-guidelines-for-using-text-correctly.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Of the many different considerations involved with website design, text is one of the most significant, yet it is also one of the most overlooked. You can have the best layout and graphics possible, but if visitors to your website cannot easily read what you have written then they will not stay on your site [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Of the many different considerations involved with website design, text is one of the most significant, yet it is also one of the most overlooked. You can have the best layout and graphics possible, but if visitors to your website cannot easily read what you have written then they will not stay on your site for very long.</p>
<p>Fortunately, getting the text part of your website design correct is not overly difficult. All you need to do is adhere to the guidelines laid out below&#8230;</p>
<p>- Only make use of fonts that are available on all computers, such as verdana and arial. Though you may not consider these to be the most visually appealing fonts, they are the most practical ones. This is because they are the easiest to read on a computer screen. Another reason is that every computer definitely has these fonts stored on their hard-disk. If you choose a random, fancy font, then many computers will not have it stored, in which case the computer will automatically select another to display your website in, and so you cannot be sure how your website is going to render on other people&#8217;s screens.</p>
<p>- Do not use small font sizes as visitors to your website will click the back button on their web browser straight away. You may have good eyesight but many people do not, and so you have to take the middle ground rather than just making your website for yourself. Using a font size of 11 or 12 is generally recommended for the main body of your website content, with sub-titles and headings being a font size or two larger. Be consistent too, by ensuring that you use the same font sizes for your content, sub-titles and headings throughout every page of your website.</p>
<p>- Limit your written content to roughly 15 words per line. By doing this people will only have to move their eyes to read your content, and not their whole head. This number is based on research and studies that have been carried out which show that 15 words is as far most people&#8217;s field of vision will stretch. Not every line has to be exactly 15 words, as some sentences will a greater or lesser number of small words such as &#8216;a&#8217;, &#8216;to&#8217;, &#8216;and&#8217;, etc., so you just need to use that number as a rough guide.</p>
<p>- The color(s) you choose for your text should sharply contrast to the color(s) you use for your background. Black text on a white background is easiest for people to read, but it is not necessary to limit yourself to that if it does not suit the overall style of your website design. If the background color is light, then make your text black or a dark shade of gray, and if the background color is dark, then use white as the color for your text. Using non black, dark gray or white text hardly ever comes across well, so be extremely careful if you are intent on using a different color for your text.<br />
&#8212;<br />
This article was written by a website design expert who has more than 10 years experience in the industry. He is currently doing <a href='http://kinneymedia.com/website-design' target='_blank'>website design in Chappaqua, Westchester and White Plains</a> and can be contacted at http://kinneymedia.com</p>
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		<title>How To Make A Website</title>
		<link>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/how-to-make-a-website.html</link>
		<comments>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/how-to-make-a-website.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:37:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Domain Expert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/how-to-make-a-website.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How to Make a Website Hi folks, In today&#8217;s online world having a website for your small business is an absolute must. The good news is that it&#8217;s very easy to learn how to create a website . This article will quickly teach you how to create a nice and inexpensive website for your business. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href='http://www.person2persononline.com/Website-Services.html' target='_blank'>How to Make a Website</a></p>
<p>Hi folks,</p>
<p>In today&#8217;s online world having a website for your small business is an absolute must.  The good news is that it&#8217;s very easy to learn how to create a website<br />
. This article will quickly teach you how to create a nice and inexpensive website for your business.</p>
<p>There are many companies that will host your site for you. Some common ones are homestead and Office Live. I prefer homestead for my website as they have over 2,000 free templates to choose from. This lets you make a website that appears very customized and professional for a low price. Homestead&#8217;s basic website package includes 5 pages (which should be perfect for most of you) and it only costs $4.99 a month. Through homestead you can track exactly where consumers are finding you on the web (google, facebook, etc.).  Follow the link at the bottom of this article to view my website. On my website I have a homestead link that will take you to the basic website building<br />
feature of homestead.</p>
<p>First off, you need to get yourself a domain name. I suggest GoDaddy for domain names. Make a free account there and purchase your domain name from GoDaddy. Domain names usually are around $10.00 but that depends on how popular the name is that you&#8217;re looking. Once you have your domain name you are ready to start building your site.</p>
<p>Your website can be as simple or complicated as you&#8217;d like. For most small businesses a simple 5 page website for $4.99/month is perfect. If you&#8217;re using homestead, then download their site builder program for many more tools. The program is free. With this program your website will be up and running in minutes. You can also change anything on the site any time of day with the program. Once you have the program downloaded you can begin to name your pages and add the text to them. You can change colors, add videos, play music etc. Play around for a bit and get it looking good. Once it&#8217;s what you&#8217;re looking for click the &#8220;publish all&#8221; button and your website will be ready to go. Homestead has a form to fill out with your domain name to get it all set up. They will give you &#8220;nameserves&#8221; that you need to place in the nameservers box on GoDaddy. Once this is done your website will be up and running online. Homestead has many different products but the one I described above is the one that is cheapest and best for small businesses. Follow the link below to my website where you can find a link to this exact homestead product. Just click the homestead banner to go to this product. I hope this information was helpful! http://www.person2persononline.com/Website-Services.html<br />
<a href='http://www.person2persononline.com/Website-Services.html' target='_blank'>Homestead Product</a><br />
Thanks for reading! </p>
<p>Mac Struthers</p>
<p>
Get helpful knowledge about <a href='http://www.freetrafficsystem.com' target='_blank'>internet marketing</a> &#8211;   go through this web page. The time has come when proper info is really within your reach, use this chance.</p>
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		<title>Does My Venture Call For A Website?</title>
		<link>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/does-my-venture-call-for-a-website.html</link>
		<comments>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/does-my-venture-call-for-a-website.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:07:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Domain Expert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/does-my-venture-call-for-a-website.html</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Scores of business owners wonder whether a website can assist them. My reply is yes! Practically every business can be assisted by an online presence. These days, people have a total fascination with reference to researching what it going on and who they are dealing with. And all of this research is completed on the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Scores of business owners wonder whether a website can assist them. My reply is yes! Practically every business can be assisted by an online presence.</p>
<p>These days, people have a total fascination with reference to researching what it going on and who they are dealing with. And all of this research is completed on the internet. This supreme fascination is uncovering information is, of course, pushed by offerings such as Twitter and Facebook, which encourage their users to share their movements and thoughts on a regular basis. This proliferation of available information has developed a culture of reading and almost obsessing about what other people are doing.</p>
<p>So, how can this help the average business? Obviously, for those with a product to sell they can advertise the product and make it obtainable to purchase online. Retailers can even drop their high-priced shop fronts and just sell from a more cost efficient unit somewhere, using the website as their customer facing product.</p>
<p>But for many small shops this is unreasonable. They might still have hundreds of product lines and loading and maintaining these on a regular basis can be a nightmare. For these, a small brochure website that gives an overview of the business would be enough to gratify people’s wish for for more information. Add to this a Twitter feed and a link to a Facbook page and you are giving your customers plenty of reason to visit your website and be involved.</p>
<p>Brochure style websites are especially fashionable at the moment as they can introduce customers to the services around. Not every website can offer the full purchase information and not every business is right to a full all singing all dancing website that sells the produce online. I have dealt with a variety of people who just need a brochure website. One superior case in point of this is home insurance. All of the big websites will provide quote tools that will give visitors the quotes automatically online. But there are also big name insurance providers who will just receive the visitor’s contact details and then call them back for a quote later on. For the small insurance borker, this is a absolutely acceptable way of getting online quickly and cheaply and benefit from the effects of the internet.</p>
<p>It is not just people who have a product to sell that can benefit directly from having a website. A new customer has a belief that he wants to get known to manufacturers. His plan from the website is that it may get noticed by a few people and get them talking. He hopes that by generating interest in his theory people will get to know about the advantages and maybe some of the big manufacturers might take up the thought, which is the result of his lifetime’s work!</p>
<p>For many businesses there are the possbilities of in fact building more from your business by getting an online website sorted. By then mentioning the website in marketing etc, regulars get to know about the site. If you then give them a reason to visit the website, some people will come along and could just increase your bottom line. By giving discount codes and vouchers on the website or by providing details of the latest special offers and new products on the website, then these people have a reason to visit your website.</p>
<p>Merge these efforts with extra techniques such as the major social networking sites of Twitter and Facebook and you can haul in visitors. New services such as utube can also help a up to date business draw in new and existing business for an increase in success.</p>
<p>For the majority of businesses, a website is essential!</p>
<p>If you would like to know more about getting online, then call into our <a href='http://www.janric.co.uk/blog/' target='_blank'>marketing blog</a>. It is full of practical information plus marketing advice.</p>
<p>Written by Keith Lunt, owner of janric.co.uk for <a href='http://www.janric.co.uk' target='_blank'>website design Merseyside</a>.</p>
<p>Fetch vital tips about the topic of <a href='http://www.freetrafficsystem.com' target='_blank'>one way links</a> &#8211; please make sure to go through this web site. The times have come when proper info is truly within your reach, use this chance.</p>
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		<title>Your Website Design Sucks Because… Users Can’t Find Crap!</title>
		<link>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/your-website-design-sucks-because%e2%80%a6-users-can%e2%80%99t-find-crap.html</link>
		<comments>http://cdsdomains.com/website_design/your-website-design-sucks-because%e2%80%a6-users-can%e2%80%99t-find-crap.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:05:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Domain Expert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website design]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I know ayh! A great title to start of another year of C2.0 Web Design Blog! : -) To kick off the new year in Web Design, I thought it would be best to go through a couple of my tell-tale signs that can help you gauge if and when your website’s design sucks. Obviously, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I know ayh! A great title to start of another year of C2.0 Web Design Blog! : -)</p>
<p>To kick off the new year in Web Design, I thought it would be best to go through a couple of my tell-tale signs that can help you gauge if and when your website’s design sucks. Obviously, “Website design” in this concept does not only include the graphical elements of the page, but of course the Information architecture, usability, accessibility, etc. So without further ado– Let’s get going with round one of “Your website design sucks because…” with Your website design sucks because users can’t find crap!<br />
1. What the heck are you thinking?!</p>
<p>Whether or not you are running a corporate information site or a 15,000 page e-Commerce store- your content should be easy to find! The biggest problem is people think that you ALWAYS need a search box. Search on a website comes in many flavours, and sure; a search box would be awesome- as long as the results are easy to understand and filter to the right place. Having said that, not all great websites have search boxes or website search for that matter – but most if not all of them [great websites, that is] make the user experience worthwhile by making their content easy to find. Here are a few tips:</p>
<p>    * If you are running a blog, make sure there is at least a way for the user to find an archive of all your content. After all, one of the main calling-cards, if you like – of a blog, is the fact that it is a chronological listing of posts or entries. Other important elements that help users searching for content is Tags and Categories. Try to make sure your posts only belong to one parent category. I.e. Not “Sydney Web Design” AND “Web Design” — after all, 99% of the time, one of the two (or more) categories makes the most sense. Tags help users by allowing to search for other posts which they might find interesting based on a common interest; i.e. Usability.</p>
<p>    * If you are running a website; other than a web log , make sure that there is a common, geographical structure to your pages. I.e. there should always be the same header and footer on all pages – including any side-navigation or side elements. Doing this makes sure that users learn where things are and helps elevate any problems in looking for things all over your website.</p>
<p>2. Some conventional wisdom</p>
<p>Most webmasters and/or designers usually get search from a UI point of view under control. I mean come on! It’s basically three elements– A label “search for:”, a text box, usually pre-filled with “type query here” or something of the sort, and finally a “go/search/find” submit button… Easy, right? Wrong! Whilst the front-end features of site search are seen as simple, most websites/intranets (even the big players) crash and burn on the search results page.<br />
3. A case study in Search Usability: Australia Post</p>
<p>Ahh, good old Australia Post! I love the fact that they deliver to anywhere in the world and the prices are not too bad — and I haven’t had anything major get lost whilst sending out *so far*. However, one thing that drives me insane about Australia Post is their website; http://www.austpost.com.au — not only is this website in need of a “major” overhaul. Let’s start with the essentials of this particular topic; Search.</p>
<p>The search on AustPost is located at: http://search.auspost.com.au. Nothing wrong with that so far- In fact, it’s smart to have search on either a sub-domain or a sub-folder at search.domain.com or domain.com/search. Moving right along. Oh wait! That domain does not work (Under Construction!!) unless you append the following to it: “/cse/auspost/” making the FULL-URI http://search.auspost.com.au/cse/auspost/ – Tsk, tsk AP!</p>
<p>If you type “test” in the search box and click the search button of the main page you get diverted to a search results page; which is okay so far– However, the diverted results page is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT website (in terms of overall look and feel). Check it out for yourself.<br />
Australia Post Search Box &#8211; Main Page</p>
<p>Australia Post Search Box &#8211; Main Page</p>
<p>All good so far… Let’s see what happens when we get diverted to the ‘actual’ search page.<br />
Australia Post Search Results Page &#8211; Search.austpost.com.au</p>
<p>Australia Post Search Results Page &#8211; Search.austpost.com.au</p>
<p>Oops! Something went completely wrong. Did I, as the user kill the site? Or is it meant to be a completely different site followed by a completely different user experience? [Both valid questions you don't need a visitor to your website, especially your search page asking!].</p>
<p>As Homer Simpson would say in a time of crisis; Doh! Different Logo, Different colour scheme, Different tab system, Different IA… Well, at least the logo is generally in the same place as before. Granted, I don’t know the reasoning behind this– Maybe they are in the process of moving sites across to a newer(?) design – but nonetheless, I think being a government corporation, this is pretty bad usability!<br />
Anyway, let’s move right along… As if that first problem wasn’t bad enough, let’s see the search results form. Below is a screenshot of the “general” search form. By general search form I’m referring to the non-advanced variety!<br />
Search Results Box</p>
<p>Search Results Box</p>
<p>Wow, okay — where to start, where to start. Let’s rattle off some of the issues with this search box/form.</p>
<p>   1. Why have a “Show search options &gt;&gt;” as well as “‘Advanced Search”. That is not only confusing, but a waste of visual space/real estate. Why not make general search easy to use with no extra-ordinary features, and leave advanced search for those people that need to dig deeper into the data mine. Ahhh, I slowly started to realise why, and you will see why soon!</p>
<p>   2. See the “Select All” and “Clear All” check boxes? They only select/deselect one option — and that is the “Australia Post Website” check box. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AUSTPOST DESIGNERS/DEVELOPERS!!! Give me three good reasons why this is necessary on this page (in its current format) and I will stop using Facebook for a month… Okay, a week! <img src='http://cdsdomains.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  Not only is this stupid from a usability/IA point of view, but it’s NOT needed here. Why?, you ask?</p>
<p>         1. When you actually decide to click on “Search” you really DON’T end up having a choice in the matter, because the “Australia Post Website” check box is auto-ticked when the page has reloaded with the search results! Oh Oh!</p>
<p>         2. It’s a waste of a control to begin with! The same thing could be easily achieved with one button which toggles through the selections. I.e. starts off as “Select all options” then changes to “De-select all options” upon click… However…</p>
<p>         3. There is NO need for the control at all since there is NO other option/area to search from. I.e. If there was “Australia Post Website” and “Australia Post PO Box Search”, etc., then it would make sense — however, there is no other option!</p>
<p>   3. The “Exact Phrase” check box control is USELESS in all formats of the word! In theory, the “Exact phrase” should let you search for the term “test” instead of the term test. What this ultimately means is that in reality, “Exact Phrase” should only find the search query if it exists EXACTLY in that format, and not part of other words, or as part of a phrase, etc. The only problem with this is that selecting “Exact Phrase” does NOT change the result set; in essence, returning the SAME number of results as well as in the same order! Yay for happy searching — Not!</p>
<p>   4. Clicking “Show search options &gt;&gt;” reveals two fields/controls which are apparently meant to help the user whilst searching but not be enough to warrant the name “Advanced Search”. When you click this link, two new fields pop down; a) Format, and b) Modified. Fair enough, you say. They are letting the user choose what type of file format to search; i.e. PDF, Word, etc. as well as the ‘age’ of the document(s) in question or when they were last updated. So what’s the problem here? Let’s take a peek!<br />
      Search Results &#8211; Modified drop-down</p>
<p>      Search Results &#8211; Modified drop-down</p>
<p>      Wow! That’s probably the best word to describe this drop-down. Sure, Australia Post must feel great giving thier users so many options to choose from, but on what planet would you be from if you need THAT many options in sorting last modified periods? Surely, a) “Anytime”, b) Past 24 hours, c) Past week, d) Past month, and e) Past year – would suffice? No? Granularity of options is something worth your time as an Information architect or Website designer/developer investing in! The more options you give the user that they don’t necessarily need or will never use, the more they have to think. The experience should not make them think! Just give them results, and quick!</p>
<p>   5. Don’t even get me started on the “Advanced Search” link! Let’s just say that it’s a little more advanced than what an “advanced search” needs to be. So much so that a PhD in Comp. Science would definitely help! I mean for Pete’s sake, there is a field called “Custom query” which lets you, quote “Create a query using search operators (and, or, not, near, quotes and parenthesis) and system fields.” unquote! WHAT THA?!?! Sure, I may get it, hell you might even get it as a developer or designer, but your average Joe who might need just that little bit more input into his or her search would most likely freak out! Take it off PLEASE! I’m not searching the CIA Central Repository here, people!</p>
<p>3. In conclusion…</p>
<p>Okay, so I must admit at this point in time that I’m getting a little bit more critical and more importantly a touch “harsher” in my blogging and reviews — but I think it’s important to look at problems like these that normal web browsers would AND DO encounter on a day-to-day basis surfing the Interweb! So hopefully you have picked up a few pointers from this blog post that will help you with your upcoming search page design/re-design. Remember, these are above all just some ideas of what not to do, but the field is huge! Make sure you get people with limited Internet experience to trial all software you create (if possible!) but more importantly, keep in mind some of these ideas for next time and I’m sure your users will thank you!</p>
<p>Thanks for comin’ back guys. Please leave your comments or critisisms below – and be sure to Subscribe to the RSS feed so you can keep up-to-date on all the latest goss and posts from Elastique Web Design Blog. Till next time, Cheb.</p>
<p>Visit our website for more information <a href='http://www.dzino.com.au' target='_blank'>website design</a></p>
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		<title>Fresh  Photoshop Web Layout Tutorials.</title>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:04:46 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Website Design]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Useful Tips for Effective Web Design Listed below are some useful and rather important tips for designing a professional and high quality web site: *Neat and Easy Navigation: Navigation of links on your site plays a big role in determining the stickiness of your site (how long your visitor stays and explores your site). Ask [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Useful Tips for Effective <a href='http://www.dzino.com.au/website/-basic-website.html' target='_blank'>Web Design</a></p>
<p>Listed below are some useful and rather important tips for designing a professional and high quality web site:</p>
<p>*Neat and Easy Navigation: Navigation of links on your site plays a big role in determining the stickiness of your site (how long your visitor stays and explores your site). Ask yourself this, What do visitors do as soon as they open your site? They would probably read the content of the present page and then look around to find any other page that interests them. Read our article on Web site Navigation Tips.</p>
<p>
*Clean <a href='http://www.dzino.com.au/website/planning-website.html' target='_blank'>Layout Design</a>: A clean layout that uses a lot of white space enhances a site&#8217;s looks. Try to keep the focus on your content, use dreamweaver templates for this. Use fonts that will be available on all computers to prevent your site looking messed up.</p>
<p>* Program using pure CSS: The world is moving away from table based websites to pure CSS websites because it offers accessibility, reusability and considerably reduces file size apart from giving greater control over the look of your website. The single most important skill you can learn today to become a quality web designer is CSS programming! Even if you are not an expert at CSS you can learn to use the following simple CSS Styles Effects to enhance your website:</p>
<p>1. Cool Text Effects using CSS Styles: Text Links Rollover, Text Case Setting, Text Spacing, Line-through Effect.</p>
<p>2. Bullets in HTML or Deamweaver: Using CSS Styles with bullets (shapes, decimal, roman-numerals, images, etc.)</p>
<p>3. Links without Underline: Use CSS Styles to display links without the appearance of the underline.</p>
<p>*Optimum Load Time: Make sure your load time is low. For this you must:</p>
<p>Minimize Graphics, Flash and scripts: They hugely increase your file size.</p>
<p>Optimize your HTML &amp; script code: Make sure that your site doesn&#8217;t have any unwanted tags or unused scripts.</p>
<p>Use Server Side Include (SSI) files where ever possible. SSI files once called from the web server reside in its cache so on subsequent requests they load faster.</p>
<p>
* Website Layout for all Screen Resolutions: A site that is easy-to-use always encourages visitors to stay and read your content. For site with long pages of content this is very crucial as the amount of scrolling required is reduced. Suppose your site doesn&#8217;t look good for a particular resolution it is very probable that the visitor will close the browser window feeling that the web page is not for their viewing. Designing stretch layouts that fit any screen resolution ensures that you know all your visitors see a visually appealing and professional site.<br />
      Read our article Designing for all Screen Resolutions for more.</p>
<p>*Ensure Web site scalability: Make sure your code and design is scalable. As technology advances and configuration of computers &amp; their monitors keep increasing and varying it is impossible to test your site in all screen sizes and platforms.</p>
<p>*Cross Browser Compatible: Make sure you check your site for Internet Explorer 5+, Mozilla Firefox 1+, Opera 7+, Safari 3+ and Netscape Navigator 6+ as they constitute 95% of the worlds browsers.</p>
<p>Find out useful information about the topic of <a href='http://www.freetrafficsystem.com' target='_blank'>one way links</a> &#8211; please make sure to read the site. The time has come when concise information is truly only one click away, use this chance.</p>
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