A fairly important usability tip for web design is to make sure you include all the important details to support your content. A couple examples would be to make sure table columns have labeled headings, and all graph data is labeled.This may seem to be an incredibly obvious tip,  but even the big boys make these kind of mistakes.

Example of Not Double Checking

Here is an example of Yahoo not labeling the comic on the page specifically designed to show it. Additionally, though it is not seen in the screenshot, the title of the page does not reflect the comic name either. Not one clue to the name of this comic.

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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.

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Please excuse my blog, or other blogs. Not all websites are built the same, and the advice to limit text on the home page may not apply to you. In most cases though, limiting prose text on the home page is good advice, and this can even be applied to a blog.

Websites need tag lines or introduction messages. It helps the new visitors out immensely. What new visitors don’t need is a huge paragraph or two on the home page, explaining the website. Leave that for an about us page.

Imagine eBay with Prose Text

Using eBay as an example, you can see why using too much, or in eBay’s case, any unnecessary text would be a complete waste of time.

Here is a screenshot of their home page now:

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What are heading tags? How can you get one for free? Well, heading tags are always free, but for your users, they are seen as one of the most valuable parts of your website design.

Heading tags inform users about page organization, structure, and help classify content. They give clues to what is to follow in the paragraph below. They enhance skimming, and most importantly, they help your visitors to complete the desired task quickly.

A Heading Example

Heading tags should be used as often as possible. A perfect example is to how I just used it in this paragraph. Before reading this paragraph readers know it’s an example of how heading tags work. It’s a basic example. Go crazy with heading tags, and treat them as if they were free.

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It’s 2010! Do you know what your footer says? It’s a well documented fact that many users don’t make it down to the footer of a website. That fact is just as true for website owners looking at their own website footers. Maybe they see it, they just don’t read it.

It’s just another thing to check in the endless list of website maintenance. What is a common trouble maker once a year? The copyright date.

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Recently, I’ve become a little turned off by some more popular blogs that are becoming primarily filled with guest authors content, and wondered how others felt about blogs and reading guest posts.

If you read blogs on a regular basis, I would love your vote on this poll:

[polldaddy poll="2478477"]

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Just do it! How many websites have been built like that? Most of them? With nearly an infinite amount of ideas to have a website, and the thousands upon thousands of webmasters out there, expecting all websites to be built the same way would be foolish.

For those of you that run a small business, and have no time for the technical details, I imagine/know many of you are pressed to say just do it. When it comes to your website though, you better know some basics.

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WordPress users. Are you using WordPress version 2.9, and find your schedule posts are not working? Well it’s time for yet another upgrade, version 2.9.1. This latest updated is pretty limited in changes, but it was necessary. Schedule posts are a big deal for many of us, and depending on your server, the last update may have been driving you crazy. It’s always a good idea to keep up to date on your software anyhow.

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Still brainstorming for this years blog posts, I knew I still had to come up with something for the first business day of the year. I decided to write about the most important thing I can stress, site wide CONSISTENCY.

If You Want a Great Website

If you want a great website, you need consistency. The site needs to be consistent in format, usage, and even in your sites code. Your code is where it all  starts, and slop on the server side reflects the same on the user side. Here are a few tips to keep your site consistent throughout.

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Is it 2010 yet? I already posted this years top content, but here is the top content on BWI for the month of December. Time to hit the reset button. Current status of popular posts can always be found here: Popular Posts.

Top 20 Posts and Pages for December 2009

1. Web Usability and Design Analysis – Save 30% – For the next two weeks, now until Dec. 18th, 2009, I will be running a promotion on my Web Usability and Design Analysis. Now on sale for just $19.95. (1,741 views)
2. Twitter Toolbar (1,401 views)
3. Tweetmeme Doubling My Twitter Traffic – So far, My Twitter traffic has more than doubled since I added the Tweetmeme plugin on my blog. (1,386 views)
4. Good Luck Bing! Search Engine Giants Will Be a Thing of the Past – The battle for search traffic is not between Google and Bing. It’s between them and all other websites, and I believe the search engines will go down. (1,299 views)
5. Digital Point Forum Down – Before you join the Digital Point Forum, READ THIS. Don’t worry, it’s good stuff. (1,296 views)

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