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Category: Design

Don’t use the phrase “Coming soon”

Monday, August 15, 2011 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Sound Advice, Usability

In this audio post I explain why you shouldn’t use the phrase “coming soon” in lieu of real content and what you can do instead.

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Why I don’t use the Structure module

Monday, June 6, 2011 Filed under Design
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There seems to be a lot of debate within the ExpressionEngine community about whether to use the Structure module by Travis Schmeisser and Jack McDade.  Some believe that it makes content management simpler for end-users because it organizes content in the control panel in a list of nested pages.  I’ve built some sites using Structure and concluded that it’s not for me.  This post explains why.

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Spice up your content with attention-getters

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications

I have an account with Groupon, a site that’s gaining traction in the online deals market.  Everyday there’s a new deal from a local store or service provider.  I subscribe to their RSS feed so that I get notified of the deals regularly, and I noticed something they’ve started adding to the feed that has nothing to do with the deal of the day: Trivia. 

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Your website is your brand online: Take it seriously

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Usability
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Imagine walking into a restaurant.  Inside, the building is clearly falling apart.  The wallpaper is peeling off the walls, electrical wiring is exposed, there’s dust everywhere.  You point this out to the manager, and the manager responds, “Oh, that?...Well…I’m in the food business, not construction, so ignore all that.  Just sit down and order, and you’ll see how great we are!”

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Don’t worry about minimizing clicks

Thursday, October 28, 2010 Filed under Design, Sound Advice, Usability
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Organizing content intuitively is more important than having all content accessible from the top level of navigation. I explain why in this audio post.

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Redesigning your website? Survey your audience first.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Non-Profit, Sound Advice, Usability

Don’t forget to take advantage of social networking when undergoing a website redesign.  Your audience would probably love to tell you what they think!

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Bad dog!: Web mistakes encountered in the pet industry

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Usability

We recently got a puppy.  In the course of doing this research about training and whatnot, I was amazed at how many Web design and usability no-nos I encountered on pet-related sites.  I’ll explore some of them in this post.

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Tell your visitors how donations help

Thursday, June 10, 2010 Filed under Design, Marketing & Communications, Non-Profit, Sound Advice

Having a big Donate Now button is not enough to compel your visitors to donate.  In this Sound Advice clip I give some tips on what more you can do.

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Don’t use “quick links”

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Filed under Design, Usability

If the purpose of your quick links menu is to help visitors to find pages that they are likely to be searching for, then what is your primary navigation for?

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Less is more

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Filed under Design, Usability

You might think that the more you explain how to do something on your website, the easier it is for you users to do it.  Usually, the opposite is true.

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