Lessons in Web Design - www.followthefrog.com

In a recent post, Seth Godin posted a reader submission, 'worst commercial website of all time', and asks his readers for other offenders. I have to admit, the site linked to is a contender for that title. Take a moment to visit www.followthefrog.com.

Pretty bad, isn't it.

What's unfortunate, is, for but a single line of code, this site goes from being your typical commercial website to being 'all time worst'.

The problem is that the site is set to match whatever the width of your monitor may be, but fails to do the same for the height. If you're viewing the site with a screen resolution of 600x400, the site looks fine. I'm sure the owners of the site are confounded with every complaint they recieve.

How many times do you suppose they end up saying, "I'm looking at it right now, and it's fine!"

However view the site on anything higher than the 600x400 resolution and the text becomes too small or stretched to be even remotely legible. Which is sad. Because one or two lines of code - if that - would have been enough to avoid the problem.

Visit www.followthefrog.com/loader.swf and you'll see the site as it was intended to be viewed.

So what's the moral of the story?
I could sum this up as an argument against the use of Flash as your sole design tool for the web.

This could be an object lesson in the importance of double checking your work before going live. For want of a line of code this site would have been acceptable.

But I think this makes a much tastier story if the lesson learned is that we must try to view our business the way our customer sees it, not simply the way we do.

Collaborators and Rebels

The Halton Peel Communications Association had a wonderful guest speaker last Wednesday, Dave Howlett. Dave presented on the art of presenting, and it was excellent.

Donna Papacosta's already blogged about Dave's excellent tip on saying 'thanks'. So I'll talk about something else I found to be of interest from his talk.

Almost right at the beginning of his presentation, Dave told us that of an hour long presentation, the typical audience retains only one minutes worth of information.

Of course, my initial reaction to that was to pay double attention to what Dave had to say. I certainly wasn't going to be a 'typical' audience. As a result I believe I can recall pretty well every point of Dave's presentation.

By challenging his audience, Dave turned each and every audience member into a willing collaborator in ensuring that his talk was remembered long after.

It was a simple little throw-away tip that could have fit anywhere in his presentation, but by placing it up front, Dave got his collaborators.

This got me thinking about the hundred little ways we turn our customers into collaborators or, conversely, how we may unintentionally turn them into rebels, fighting our efforts without conscious cause or reason.

"Can I help you?"

It's likely the most oft repeated phrase in retail, and likely the most ineffective. I don't know about you, but my instant reaction is to say "No thanks" - even if I actually did need assistance. What's more, I'm more likely to depart the store shortly after being asked that.

I'm a competent guy. I can figure out what I want. I don't need some flunky teeny-bopper to help me. I can help myself. Uh oh - they're watching me. They're waiting for me to buy something. I was just looking but they obviously really want me to buy something. Maybe I should just go. That's it. I'm getting out of dodge.

During Christmas shopping, I overheard an exchange with a clerk who on some level understands that 'can I help you' will turn his customers into rebels. There was a middle-aged couple staring at a row of televisions with a blank expression. They clearly were looking to buy but were confounded by the choices.

"Is this a replacement for your old set or will this be a second set for the house?", is how the clerk approached. Damn, he was slick.

Turned out it was a replacement. Their old set was 13 years old and they decided to give each other a new TV for Christmas. The clerk then related a brief tale about his grandmother who managed to hang on to her old set for over 20 years but finally replaced it when the on/off knob fell off was lost. "Anyways, my name's Phil," he told them, "I've got to go help out in the back for a few minutes, but will be right back. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

He then went away for a few minutes, during which another employee blankly asked them 'can I help you' to which the answer was 'no.' But after a few minutes the couple actually sought out Phil and began asking some questions. I didn't stick around to see if he made the sale, but I have no doubt that he did. I also have no doubt that Phil is doing heads and tails above any of the other clerks. Because Phil's customers are all willing collaborators, helping him to close the sale. The other clerk's customers are all rebels, fighting the sale at each twist and turn.

So what about you? Are your customers collaborators or rebels?

Specialize or Generalize - what to do with a blog?

I've been debating with myself as to what to do with the blog.

That the blog will be more fully integrated with the site as a whole is pretty well a given. However, considering the variety of subjects I wish to address, should I branch out into multiple blogs or would a single blog with suitable category divisions suffice?

In favour of multiple blogs is the search engine perspective. As there would be a tighter cohesion of the topics discussed and the keywords for inbound links, each of the multiple blogs would likely rank higher for their respective topics than a single blog covering a wide range of issues.

However, multiple blogs may be too unweildy, confusing, and ultimately dilute the overall brand. When topics cross-over, as they no doubt will, just how is that to be handled?

A single blog has the advantage of simplicity and uniformity. Simplicity in design, simplicity in execution. A one-stop shop for all the writings, information and discussion.

But do I risk limiting the audience by the wider focus? If someone is reading for my discussion on issues of public relations, will they become bored if I start discussing web page design? Will someone who begins reading because of a discussion on the technical details of RSS be willing to stick around if I move on to discussing the role of a corporate communicator in relation to the board?

I feel there's a great intersection of many of these topics, but will the readers feel the same?

And back and forth I debate with myself.

A domain of its own

While my webcomics were the impetus to starting this website, it occurs to me that they are one of the aspects of the site that do not meet my intended goals.

It's time to begin separating my hobby content from my professional services content. As such - I've registered www.tragicladtheatre.com.

For now, the domain redirects to the current location of the comics, but upon the redesign, the comics will end up on a separate site of their own.

It would seem my redesign would have me building two sites, not one.

Website Redesign - my field

So one of the goals is to establish myself as expert in my field, Which begs the question, what's my field?

From a business perspective, what I should do is apply a laser-like focus. Pick a service. Pick a specific industry where that service can be put to use. Become the leader in that niche.

It's the most effective way to establish your business, and would likely be what I'd advise others to do. Business-wise, it's the right way to go.

Professionally, however, I find that the variety of disciplines add to one another. My skills in any one area are improved from what I've learned from an entirely different discipline. My web work is better informed from my grounding in print and marketing. My communications skills are better informed by knowing what is possible and how the technology can be utilized.

I think my clients benefit as well, as not focusing gives me a fresh view of their specific problems. I'm able to come in looking at the forest rather than the individual trees.

But on a Personal level, I love the variety. One of the joys of this job is being able to skip between doing a spot illustration to drafting some copy to building code. The job is always a challenge and never routine because you never know where the next project will bring you.

The challenge with the website redesign is to clearly communicate what I have to offer a client without my multiple offerings diluting one another.