Comments on: Improving the usability of your website http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/03/27/improving-the-usability-of-your-website/ A blog about our thoughts on entrepreneurship, teamwork, our services, the Web and anything we find interesting. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:27:46 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Kip Hughes http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/03/27/improving-the-usability-of-your-website/comment-page-1/#comment-47492 Kip Hughes Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:33:58 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/03/27/improving-the-usability-of-your-website/#comment-47492 RE: If you’re interested in learning more, there’s a lot out there but I’d suggest starting with (and referring to often) this site. "this site" is a link to http://www.usability.gov/. I would suggest using a more descriptive link text. "this site" is almost as bad as "click here." RE: If you’re interested in learning more, there’s a lot out there but I’d suggest starting with (and referring to often) this site.

“this site” is a link to http://www.usability.gov/. I would suggest using a more descriptive link text. “this site” is almost as bad as “click here.”

]]> By: Martin Kelley http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/03/27/improving-the-usability-of-your-website/comment-page-1/#comment-46975 Martin Kelley Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:30:23 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/03/27/improving-the-usability-of-your-website/#comment-46975 Most of my web design work has been in the nonprofit world and I constantly have to try to remind decision-makers of point #1. Over and over I gently suggest that they are not their website's target audience. When I'm not successful we end up with a navigation that reflects the nonprofit's organizational structure rather than the search needs of visitors. At one place I was able to create a kind of shadow site where I pulled pieces from across programs and organized them according to visitor-oriented themes. I doubt it will surprise anyone here that this became one of the most visited sections of the site. Past tense: an inattentive subsequent webmaster took it down (natch). I think these dynamics are one reason that Wikipedia articles are often more useful to the casual visitor (the bulk of visitors) than official websites. Most of my web design work has been in the nonprofit world and I constantly have to try to remind decision-makers of point #1. Over and over I gently suggest that they are not their website’s target audience.

When I’m not successful we end up with a navigation that reflects the nonprofit’s organizational structure rather than the search needs of visitors. At one place I was able to create a kind of shadow site where I pulled pieces from across programs and organized them according to visitor-oriented themes. I doubt it will surprise anyone here that this became one of the most visited sections of the site. Past tense: an inattentive subsequent webmaster took it down (natch).

I think these dynamics are one reason that Wikipedia articles are often more useful to the casual visitor (the bulk of visitors) than official websites.

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