The Benefits of Validating HTML

Feb 182010
 

Yesterday I wrote about the benefits a website visitor experience when a site has been done with valid HTML. Now it’s time for the benefits for the person or persons building the website.

Personal Benefits of Validating HTML

It’s the case of hear me now, believe me later. As I mentioned in the first post of this series, many are very defensive about not validating. The only reason I can guess why is because it just means more work, and they have never tried.

I have two things to say about that. First, it’s easier than you think, and second, once you get in the habit, you won’t see it as extra work. Below are the reasons why.

Continue reading »

Why Validating HTML is Important to the User

Feb 172010
 

If you are learning to build websites, or have been already, know that learning how to validate your HTML could be one of the best things you could do. My next post will be about its benefit for website owners and developers, but today it’s about the user.

They Didn’t Even Notice You Validated

Most web users don’t even know if a website has valid HTML or not. Is there a reason for them to? Not really. They just want the site to work. Do you think visitors notice when your site doesn’t work, appears messed up in their browser, or takes forever to load?

Taking the time to use W3C’s method to validate your HTML is an important step to take when building a website because it can have a huge impact on your users. Continue reading »

Use Screenshots within Articles to Improve Comprehension

Jan 132010
 

Online content often refers to other online content, especially in a blog like this. Linking to other sites, videos, or photos is how we share our interests. In my case, I often refer to other content as an example on what to do or not do. However, two things need to be considered when we do this: user action and reader comprehension. Continue reading »

Evil Auto Loading Flash Videos

Nov 102009
 

Music, videos, script, and anything that has to do something after page load is a burden on users. When is enough enough? When people started figuring out how to add music to websites it took off like crazy. Then people figured out that users might already be listening to music, heard lots of complaints about it, and they stopped. At least most of them.

Well now there is a new technology, and it’s called video. Want proof that history often repeats itself? Just look around for websites that automatically load video now. The numbers are insane, and apparently these people have no clue, or have completely forgotten the lesson learned from adding auto loading music. Users don’t want auto playing extras! Continue reading »

Mouse Work and Navigation

Nov 202008
 

You might guess by the title of this post that it is about using your mouse and navigation. It is, but really, it’s about barfing on your customer. I didn’t think barf in a title was a very good idea. I was in sales a long time, and barfing on your customer simply meant, you overloaded them with too many things to consider. The same thing happens all of the time to websites, and it can get to the point that it can even confuse the person in charge of the site.

igeneric

With permission from the site owner, I have been allowed to use iGeneric as an example. Their site is not quite ready yet. They are still in the process of uploading thousands of scripts to their site, and some final layout testing. IGeneric is going to be a large UK Software Directory. It will also include a large PHP web scripts directory. They will have premium and free scripts, and will have something for most types of programming scripts besides PHP.

So what is up with their site, and what does barfing on a customer have to do with it?

twomenusNavigation

First you need to look at their navigation from the home page. With close inspection you will notice that they have two main menus. This could easily be reduced to just one. With some closer inspection, here are some examples.

  • Menu #1 has Login link, though right underneath to the right is a login form. This menu is only availbable on the home page so they could delete that.
  • Menu #1 User Panel link takes you to a login page so this could be eliminated until at least the user has logged in.
  • Menu #2 has a logout link though I am not logged in.
  • Menu #2 has a Categories link though all the categories are listed right below.
  • Non popular items like “Support” are already listed in the footer menu, and could be deleted.

Adding a little more finesse those two menus could easily be condensed to just one. It will create less confusion to the visitors, and will also bring their premium content, the scripts, closer to the top making it easier for visitors to find. One menu, less confusion, the customers shirt will now remain clean.

Mouse Work

The final thing is the mouse work. First let me ask you this. Would you rather click ten times to find something with your mouse, or would you rather click five times, and scroll five times to find the same thing? Just clicking ten times is faster, and studies have found that just clicking is what most people would rather do. So in the case of this site, creating sub-categories might be the way to go. Their category listing is pretty huge, and knowing how people often categorize things (not how we expect it), it may be difficult to find what you are looking for. Having more broad categories can at least eliminate some obvious choices. It will also eliminate the dreaded scroll. So in this case, a little reorganizing and adding some sub-categories could drastically improve user performance.

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