As a website visitor, there’s almost nothing more frustrating than seeing ‘Error 404 page Not Found’ on your screen, and for whatever the reason for its appearance, and for most visitors, what usually follows is a swear word or two and a quick exit from the error page in search of an alternative website.

Unless the reason for an Error 404 page is a mistyped URL, there’s not a lot you can do about it as further information on these pages is often sketchy or non-existent: it’s a real pain but just one of those things.

Customise

However, as a business it might be worth asking your web designer to customise your error page to make it less anger-inducing and more attractive and useful to visitors.

The addition of colour and graphics would go a long way in keeping visitors reading the page because unlike the plain standard ones currently in use, it wouldn’t be instantly recognised as an error page and so visitors are likely to stay on it for a few more vital seconds which should hopefully give the page time to do its job.

Engage

Offering alternative links to the page visitors were initially looking for or helpful information may persuade them to carry on until they get to the page they want. Even a little injection of humour into the copy could dispel their initial frustration and keep them interested enough to continue.

Friendly

I think this particular example from Arco Media just about sums up what a friendly Error 404 page is all about, and it seems to me that making the effort to create something that doesn’t immediately alienate visitors and manages to keep them reading can only be a good thing.

Until next time.

We all know what a PDF file is, what it does and how useful they can be in particular instances. They are also a constant source of debate as to whether they are a good or a bad thing for websites which of course depends on an individual’s experience. Many have reason to use PDFs on their websites, but when you do happen across one, are they a help or a hindrance to a good browsing experience? This post briefly looks at some of the downsides of PDFs on websites.

Time

Having to wait for a PDF to download is a particular hate. The website itself may be a marvel in terms of easy navigation and quick-loading pages, but get to a slow-loading PDF and users tend to forget how good the site is and all that good work immediately goes out of the window.

Movement and Menus

Scrolling can also be a bit of a hit and miss affair with movements either being jerky or scrolling being too fast whether using the sidebar or the mouse wheel, although to be fair it has improved with newer versions.

Menus and command bars are different to standard browser layout which isn’t really a major problem in itself but nonetheless sometimes causes confusion amongst newer users.  

Print or Screen?

There are some that believe PDF content is for printing only due to the fact that it’s hard to read on screen, but I’m not sure I agree. Obviously there are times when large amounts of information will be too much for a web page and so better off being contained to a downloadable file, however, there are users who have no problem reading PDFs on screen.

As I said, earlier, this post mentions just some of the negative issues, but PDFs do have a good side as well; something I’ll be looking at in another post.

Until next time.

The internet has no shortage of stunning websites that manage to captivate visitors with things like colour, layout, interactive features, and ease of use or simply just superb design, but unfortunately many are let down by their choice of fonts. 

Easy to Read

Because of how well they display on a computer screen, some of the most commonly used fonts include Times New Roman, Verdana, Arial, and Helvetica, and I have to admit that my own favourites are Verdana and Arial although I’m happy with any font that’s easy to read.

Disliked by Many

No doubt there will be those who like a website containing some of the more unusual or less-favoured fonts and that’s to be expected as taste is a personal thing, but from a personal point of view and from what I can tell, a view shared by many, the least-liked is Comic Sans and if you’ve ever seen it on a website you’ll know why.

Fonts in Design

Regardless of how good a site looks, the choice of font can make or break it, so choosing a suitable font is perhaps as much a part of web design as creating the website itself because it’s the copy that imparts information and as such should be very easy on the eye.

Having said that, it’s likely that occasionally, a client may demand a font that perhaps doesn’t display too well but is in keeping with their company brand and in these instances font choice is understandably beyond the control of the web designer - well; you can’t blame them for everything, can you? 

Last week I was idly browsing the web looking at 3D websites and was not only amazed by the talent and creativity of some of the designers, but also how 3D can totally transform a website and give it some extra pulling power.

Taste

Having said that, just because a site is in 3D it doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to be better than a standard site, because as with anything involving a creative element there are good and bad examples of both so preferences will be purely subjective.

Realistic

To illustrate how effective 3D art can be, I found this site via another blogger and like him was mightily impressed by these examples by designer Jeff Strong which show an incredible attention to detail that gives the subjects a photorealistic quality worthy of any website.

3D

The 3D effect seems to be more visually pleasing and effective when combined with Flash as this example from an engineering website shows.

This eco-website is another one I thought particularly interesting just for the visual aspect alone. There is a couple of seconds loading time but bear with it and see what you think.

Anyone looking for something to turn their website from just being a website into more of a user experience should consider talking to their web designer to find out more.

I’m not saying that 3D websites would suit every business because they won’t, but for anyone looking to give their site something a bit special and a little different, 3D could be well worth consideration.

Until next time.

The newly released Firefox 4 browser appears to have been initially well received and looks like it will give Internet Explorer and others a run for their money. I’m going to briefly mention some of the new features and hopefully look at them in more detail in future posts.

Tidy Tabs

Firefox has gone for the Google Chrome approach and placed tabs above the URL bar. This now gives the window a less cluttered and tidier appearance and also allows users to keep their bookmarked pages in handy groups.

Synchronisation

This allows users to access their personalised Firefox browser from their mobile devices, so if for example a user was looking for map directions on their PC and had to leave in a hurry, they could go to exactly the same website page on their mobile and continue where they left off without having to re-enter the search information.

Speed

The introduction of a new JavaScript engine from JägerMonkey makes browsing six times faster than Firefox version 3; something users will no doubt welcome with open arms.

Platform

Unlike Internet Explorer which only works on Windows Vista and 7, Firefox 4 will work on multiple platforms such as Linux, Mac and of course Windows itself.

Others

Another new feature is Panorama which allows users to easily sort and group tabs which again makes for a much tidier and clutter-free window.  Other features include a new HTML5 parser, more responsive page rendering and a ‘Do not track’ facility. There is a whole lot more which hopefully I will be writing about in more detail in future posts. In the meantime I’m off to have another look at the new Firefox to see what else it can do.

Until next time.

You take a short break from writing and what happens when your back is turned? Twitter turns five years old; it hardly seems possible that it’s been that long. The popularity of this micro-blogging platform has soared since its inception, and although figures vary, it’s estimated to have somewhere in the region of 200 million registered users and generating roughly a billion tweets per week.

Instant News

As a communication medium, Twitter has played its part in relaying news from around the globe such as the Japan earthquake and the current troubles in the Middle East. Newspaper reporters and TV crews are now rarely the first on the scene of world events because it’s almost certain that a Tweeter will break the news well before they arrive.

Celebrity

Perhaps one of Twitter’s biggest attractions is letting users follow the daily lives of their favourite celebrities. Many of the world’s biggest personalities like to tweet as much as the next person and I think this has played a huge role in the site’s phenomenal success. I suspect the majority of fans also live in hope of getting a reply from their idols although I doubt it happens much if at all.

Marketing  

It’s not surprising that where there’s a communication platform there are marketing opportunities and numerous businesses now have Twitter accounts which in many cases are proving invaluable in spreading brands and extending market reach. The popularity of using Twitter as a marketing means has inevitably lead to Twitter allowing advertising in the form of promoted tweets, although this only happened in the early part of 2010.

Whether you are a fan of Twitter or not, its roaring success can’t be denied and appears to be going from strength to strength. It will be interesting to see what the next five years bring.

Until next time.

Although there are millions of websites out there, you will no doubt occasionally come across some that are either overloaded with images or contain some which are not quite up to scratch. Images are a highly important element of a website and their value could be very easy to overlook, but their use requires careful consideration and perhaps a degree of caution.

Sharp and Clear

Visitors to a website will undoubtedly notice the images before anything else and if you’re like me, a blurry or wrongly sized image will immediately put you off the site.

Not only do they look slapdash and unprofessional; they convey a lack of care and attention; something that will certainly drive visitors away. Sharp, clear images will do more than just look good on your site, especially when accompanied by well written copy.

Relevance

Images should directly relate to your products or services and not make visitors have to think what it’s all about. Being ultra-creative with images certainly has its place and can work well but visitors don’t want to spend time working out the link between the images and what you have to offer.

Size

Website loading times play a vital role in deciding whether visitors actually arrive on a site, and as great as they may be, images that are too large should be avoided at all costs as they will slow down loading time and reduce visitor numbers. Images should be small and always optimised to ensure the fastest possible loading time.

Everything in Moderation

Going overboard on images won’t make your website any better even if they are of a high quality. As I said before, visitors will look at images before anything else and good web design should ensure an even balance between images and copy which should complement each other, not compete for prominence.

Until next time.

As the internet continues to evolve, users’ expectations are also changing. Static, brochure-type websites no longer hold their interest like they used to: users want more when they browse; they don’t want to simply read a website, they want to do something with it; they want it to be an experience.

Interactive

Interactive websites have been around for some time in one form or another and people have quickly got used to them, but as with anything, once you are familiar with something you start to look for something better.

Cool

Although not business websites, the following couple of examples that caught my eye are to illustrate how sites are becoming more and more interactive and how they can create and sustain user interest. There are some examples here but the two that stood out for me was Universcale which focuses on time, distance and size measurements in a very educational and fascinating way and Neon Bible which is awesome and although it takes a few seconds to load it’s worth the wait. When it starts, click the singer’s hands.

Have a look at both sites here

There are many more examples on the web just like these that will keep users interested and amused enough to keep them on the site. Obviously a far cry from static-type sites and proof of how far web design has come since the internet first came into being. It will be interesting to see how far it can go in the future.

Until next time.