Orphicpixel |
| Website Design – Removing Yourself From the Equation Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST Having a website can to some people feel a bit like having a baby. This is something you spend a lot of time and thought creating, and something that will represent you online like an ambassador for you or for your company. Even if you outsource the design of your site, then you are still going to be heavily involved in choosing the colors and the layout and you’ll likely find you have an image of the site in your mind that you want to achieve. Is this the right way to go about designing a website though? Because if you are basing your web design on an image in your head, then what is that based on other than ‘personal preference’? This is just like your preference in interior design – it quite possibly doesn’t appeal to the largest number of people it possible could. For your front room that hardly matters as it’s you who’s going to spend the most time in that room. But for your website it really does matter. Who is Your Website For?There’s a temptation to design a website based entirely on intuition and on gut feelings. You love blue and think it feels futuristic so why not make it mostly out of dark blue? You love technology and complex patterns so why not have it look like the internal workings of a circuit? Well this is why: because if you did that you’d end up with a dark website that was overly complex and difficult to navigate and that would put a lot of your potential viewers off as soon as the page loaded. When you make a website for a business or company you need to look at the design of the site in the same way that a business looks at any other aspect of their products and services. Did you know that Shampoo companies have whole focus groups and sometimes whole teams dedicated to deciding what font to use on their bottles? It’s worth the companies investing those resources into such a seemingly small detail because it translates into more sales. Your website is full of fonts and colors and it has the potential to make you a lot of sales so you need to be scientific about the process – even if it’s not to your personal preference. Where to Get Your InspirationSo if you aren’t building a site that you like necessarily, how do you know what it should look like? The key is to do research and to listen to those that know what they’re talking about. So consult with your web design company and if they advise strongly against using red writing on a blue background then listen to them. Next do market research – draw up some color schemes of websites, or print out a few websites similar to your own and get people’s reactions to them. If you’re part of a large organization then you can put some resources behind this and do real market research. If yours is more of a small local business then just show your ideas around to some friends and get some basic reactions. You can’t please everyone, but you can see which designs get the most yeses and which turn people off.
|
| Why Google Decided to Make Browsing A Web Page and a Social Activity Too? Posted: 23 Feb 2012 09:29 PM PST As the most popular search engine, Google is keeping up the pace with a recent patent application that will see it develop its web-browsing services even further. In the ever changing world of social networking competition is strong, with each site offering faster, bigger and newer options to make the interactive experience even better.While Google might not classed as a social-networking site, that doesn’t mean it can’t put its own very unique stamp on this popular and diverse terrain. Its new patent certainly seems to suggest that web browsing can now be considered as a social activity, in this case by giving visitors to a web page the option to interact with other browsers of the very same page. Of course, this is Google, so we’re not simply looking at a single and solitary option. This is a multi-faceted development and includes the possibility of holding a conversation with people who have bookmarked a page or people you know who may be interested in that page or site. Potential uses for this interactive tool are diverse and span a great number of fields, including travel, education, tourism and family. For example, it could lead to instant dialogues regarding products, places and tourist sites, arranging travel plans, long-distance study and online courses and all manner of collaborative online projects. With such social networking options, Google opens the door to a greater range of interactivity and is perhaps showing the way forward to existing popular social-networking sites. As with many of these sites, privacy is and will always be a crucial issue and a concern to both business and public users. Google has addressed this issue within the patent by describing a process in which it asks permission from each contact before communications can begin. Focus also remains on options for anonymity and the freedom to choose when browsers wish to use as such a tool to engage in a dialogue with others. A status message will enable each user to highlight if and when they are available for online conversations that can be logged by Google or others. This might prove an important resource for companies and other organizations and for the best SEO companies that they use to make their websites more prominent and visible in search-engine rankings. It could also prove very important for those involved in education and research-based activities. Top of the list in terms of those that will feel the impact of such a development are those that rank amongst the best SEO companies. Search engine optimization is always in a constant state of flux, so such developments should be expected. However, those that are good at what they do will see Google’s patent as a challenge and a chance to build sites that are both more engaging and a greater talking point for those that visit. In the same way, web designers will need to meet the challenge with designs, graphics and content that create both visual appeal and an easy to read layout. The range of possibilities is huge and makes digital design and marketing an exciting field to be a part of today. When it comes to what more can be done with such kinds of interactivity, time will tell. But with an opt-in and opt-out tool that turns web browsing into a social activity, it seems fair to predict more radical changes to the both how people browse and interact on the internet and how search engines operate in response.
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Orphicpixel To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu