Misconceptions About Teenage Visitors

The stereotypical teenager is a myth, according to Jakob Neilsen's latest Alertbox.

According to his research, teenagers in general are not all the wizz-kids they are portrayed as. So rather than teenagers being able to use any website thrown at them, many found websites more difficult to use than adults, due to poorer reading skills and less patience.

Assessing your website's usability on "the average user" is a dangerous game (as there is no such thing), but if you're going to generalise it's handy to know some researched facts about your potential audience rather than basing your decisions on misconsceptions.

The internet wasn't invented when I was a teenager, and my kids aren't that old yet - so I have nothink to test these findings on... So any teenagers reading this: What do you think?

Simple Browser-Based Editing

If you've ever had to allow your client to edit their website, you'll know what problems that can cause.

Clients can get sucked in by the power of most editors, and new fonts will appear, new colours, new styles. Pretty soon it looks like your masterpiece was created in Publisher! (Don't laugh - I've seen it happen.)

You have a few choices:

1. You can allow them control using something like Macomedia Contribute - but it has it's limitations and if it's only simple things that need editing it can be expensive and/or overcomplicated. It also gives the client a lot of control, which can be dangerous!


2. You can use something like XStandard, which generates excellent code, but it's a plugin and gives the client a lot of control. Danger again.


3. Or you can use something like Camron Adams' new widgEditor. It doesn't do much, and that's the best thing about it. Clients can't go "formatting crazy" - they can add headings, bold things, italicise things, and make lists.

The beauty of this thing is it's simplicity. No need to spend hours teaching your clients how to use it, nor trying to give them lessons in semantics. The button that generates a <strong> element is labelled B. It can't get more basic.

If he'd inlcude an "Insert Image" button that's all the extra functionality I'd add.

Simply brilliant!

Smoking is good for you?

Brendon Sinclair has done it again.

Taken a brief encounter with another business and given us his thoughts on how to make it better.

This one will take a few minutes to read - but there are bound to be some ideas in here for everyone. He covers:

1. Finding your target market


2. Identifying what you're actually selling


3. Developing a marketing plan


4. Media releases, direct mail, loyalty incentives


5. Educating clients


6. Encouraging word of mouth

Got all that? Good!

Now... just to apply some of this advice...!

On knowing the 'Why'

Dave Shea has posted some thoughts on overcoming the dreaded designers' block.

I'm most interested in this coment:

What's more important than a planned process, however, is the due diligence (DD) that must happen before a design begins. Gathering materials like existing branding, project objectives, content, and anything else available is essential for the design process.

I couldn't agree more.

Too many designs (and I've been guilty of this in the past too) are just slapped together without thinking about the website's objectives. Logo here, nav there, photo here...

I had a meeting with a client a few days ago and we were discussing improving the conversion rate for their website. Their home page looked nice in a generic sort of way, used their logo and colours, but it had no real purpose. We identified a couple of concrete activities that a visitor could do, but the design in no way encouraged anything.

So here's what I'm thinking. Whether you have designers' block or not, here's what you should have before you even think about starting:

1. Existing branding


2. Project objectives


3. Content (or at the very least an outline of what the content will be)


4. "Anything else available is essential for the design process" - which should include:
   
   
   
   • client preferences (if any)
   
   
   • potential audience or target market
   
   
   • Specific actions you'd like the reader to take
   
   
   
   

If you don't have this information, you'll really battle to make your design work. It might look nice, but the commercial reality is it needs to do more than that.

CSS Zen Garden Entry

I am not the author is this page - but you have to admire their skill and dedication. One would have to assume that this design was rejected by Dave Shea, which is a real shame, as it certainly "explores the limits of CSS"!

Here's the link - if you dare!

Man fired over weblog accusation

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a man in Britian has been fired for badmouthing his employer in his Blog. Apparently he complains that his dismissal "raises some disturbing issues of freedom of speech". Well - what did he expect to happen? What would you do if you were his employer? I know what I would have done!

Sure, he has a right to free speech. But you can't go badmouthing someone in the public domain and think nothing will come of it. Why post something in a blog thinking that nobody will read it, or make the connection?

Sorry - but I just can't feel sorry for this guy. "You reap what you sow"...

Here's the story:

An employee of British bookseller chain Waterstone's has been fired for bringing the company into disrepute after he made entries on his weblog site identifying it in code as "Bastardstone's" and accusing it of slavery.

Joe Gordon said he was dismissed from the company's Edinburgh store on the grounds of "gross misconduct" and "bringing the company into disrepute," although he had never identified the company by its proper name.

"I did not set out to attack the company in some systematic manner," he said.

But Waterstone's had refused to accept his defence that the blog entry had just been a satirical spoof, written at home in his own free time.

In the blog, called Woolamaloo Gazette, Gordon gave his company the code-name Bastardstone's, called his line manager Evil Boss, and complained about his working hours and what he said was "slavery".

A company spokesperson confirmed the dismissal, saying: "There's an ongoing disciplinary procedure, and Mr Gordon has the right to appeal twice. We can make no further comments until then".

The dismissal "raises some disturbing issues of freedom of speech," Gordon said.

AFP

Where'd Adam Get That Colour Scheme?

Adam Polselli has explained one way he finds inspiration for colour schemes. This is probably an old page - but I only just found it. It's brilliance lies in it's simplicity.

Stuck for colour? Look around!

Web Essentails 04 Resources

Just a short post - if you're looking for some light reading, here are the transcripts and presentations from Web Essentials 04 in Sydney.

Well worth going over again. (And again!)

Firefox Screen-Reader Emulator

Fangs is a plugin for Firefox that produces a text-based output of what a screen reader might see. Clever name, considering the most popular screen reader for Windows is called Jaws...

Couple Fangs with FoxyVoice, which does actually read the contents of your Firefox window, and I guess you've got the next best thing to a real screen reader!

A mini for me, please!

I've been hunting around for a second-hand Mac to do some testing on. I was hoping to spend about $500 and then another $230 for OSX. The the local Mac shop told me about the new Mac Mini.

Perfect!

A tiny box (about 16cm square by 5cm high) that I can plug my existing monitor, keyboard and mouse into. $800 for a brand new Mac! So when they arrive in town in early February you can bet what I'll be doing...

In their own words:

Perfect for Programmers

Set a space-saving Mac mini atop your workstation PC and add a KVM switch to share keyboard, monitor and mouse. Mac OS X includes free developer tools for Mac, UNIX and Java. Test out a Mac version of your latest creation, instantly. Pretty soon you’ll be using the Mac full-time, with that PC relegated to the testbed.

I was thinking about getting the base model, but I'm pretty sure that if I have one of these on my desk I'll start using it for more than just testing. Maybe I should go for the 1.42G model...

Good news for Gamers

Roy Evans has written an interesting article about job skills of the gamer generation. Perhaps all that time spent building and destroying virtual civilisations in Age of Empires wasn't such a waste after all?

It's All a Game

Just when you felt it was safe to think you understood how to be a leader – think again.

If you are employing people in the 18- 30 year age bracket on your Graduate Development Program, pick up a copy of “Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Re-shaping Business Forever” by John Beck and Mitchell Wade.

Our workshop programs “The Human Factor” point out that we don’t see the world (or anything in it) as it actually is, we see it as we are”. Managers and leaders in their 40’s and 50’s have a generational filter regarding how we see and deal with people, based on (amongst other things) the fact that we grew up without the computer. We note that strange affliction which compels our off-spring to play games on computers and consoles with who-knows-who on the internet, instead of wanting to play Dolls and Dress-ups or Cowboys and Indians in the back-yard, as we did. So how do we manage the development of this new batch of employees to enhance their organisational abilities?

According to Beck and Wade, there is a whole lot to gain – if we clean out our own filter. The authors suggest:

The “Gamer Generation” are:

• Team-workers


• Creative entrepreneurs


• Problem solvers


• Believe nothing is impossible


• Evaluate risk, rather than being risk-averse


• Skilled Resource Managers

They have been attending a professional development program since they were old enough to handle a mouse, which most trainers above the age of 40 would only dream about. They have attended hours of simulation exercises to create and tell stories, explore social conventions, interpret rules, assemble resources, use a wide range of social skills, apply caring attitudes, and also consider the ethics of destroying civilizations if necessary to reach a goal. And all before even setting foot in your company door.

The authors suggest these range of competencies probably contribute to their view of organisational life as a game, with colleagues as “players”. They are potentially more competitive, keen on winning, optimistic about finding a solution to every problem, suspicious about rules (which they probably see as obstacles to winning) and the people who quote them (i.e. the typical manager), confident of their own abilities, entrepreneurial and resilient.

A big point here – gamers are good team players – unlike Pac-man of my generation, games can be played in teams of people from anywhere in the global internet community, or with friends from school or the local community in the local internet café. Tactics are discussed, teams are managed and focused communication takes place, all in preparation for the next challenge. There are also large face-to-face meetings (akin to a National Conference) arranged in controlled surroundings where gamers gather to share their learning (a new dimension to experiential team games).

The authors go on to suggest that rather than complain about the work-ethic of the under-30 Roy Evansgroup, it is probably more a matter of the savvy manager understanding how to harness the skills, energy and creativity of this group in order to focus their energies on the organisational vision, replacing the games “mission” with the organisation’s business plan and letting them go… just watch their dedication and productivity in action.

Search Engine FAQ

This post by Stymiee was made on the Sitepoint forums some time ago, but it's always worth revisiting. The basics of Search Engines in FAQ style.

Sure, it doesn't cover everything, but there is quite a deal of knowledge here - including dispelling a few common myths.

Although the author makes a bit of a disclaimer:

Since SEO is not a science this is a gutsy post to make so cut me some slack!

I'll cut you some slack Stymiee - it's a great post!

Search Engines Like Blogs

Why is this the case? It's nicely summed up here. The author states:

So, here's my take on why blogs rank high in search engines.

* Keywords, key phrases
* Straight to the point
* Each post's page structure
* Coding
* One subject per post
* The blog site's information structure
* Links then...?

I've seen referrals from Google within a day or two of posting - I'm wondering of Google recognises a blog and visits it more regularly as a result? Or is that just a case of good timing?

WAMP - the easy (lazy) way

Following up on my recent post about installing WAMP (Apache, MySQL and PHP on Windows), I discovered a recent post on Gadgetopia about some apps that install the AMP part on Windows for you.

No doubt easier, but when you get wizards to do something you always seem to lose some control that you have if you do it manually. Although, I should mention that I'm making that comment without having tried any of these, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut!

2005 Colour Predictions

Adam Polselli has come up with his colour predictions for 2005. And I like what I see, especially his "browns and naturals" palette.

As with these sorts of things - they tend to come true (to some extent), as other designers read this, and then adopt the predictions in an effort to remain "current". Is this what 2005 will bring in the colour department?

Probably!