When I received my first issue of Practical eCommerce from DoublePlus New Media Marketing, I was impressed with the range of topics Chuck Lasker’s brainchild covered. I knew Chuck mostly as a Miva Merchant expert and expected the topics to apply only to that domain. Thankfully, I was wrong.
The current issue covers a broad range of topics related to eCommerce including blogging, pay-per-click advertising, attracting Hispanic customers, form fields, Miva Merchant tips and tricks and more.
This publication is worth investigating.
July 27th, 2005
Clearly search engine optimization is a very complex process that cannot be reduced to a list of ten points. However, I hope this list helps you understand search engine optimization more completely. Perhaps it will keep you out of trouble with search engines and web directories to which you submit your Web site.
Six On-Page Factors
These are directly related to how you design your Web pages and what content you choose to include.
- The era of optimizing pages for search engine traffic based on a single keyword is long gone. You will get better results by concentrating on several key phrases and variants that accurately represent your content and offerings. These should be used especially in page titles, headers, and anchor text.
- Group Web pages by theme into directories (folders) named using key phrases and use a key phrase rich index page to access the files in each folder.
- You are writing for people. Always. Search engines will bring visitors to your site, but visitors will not be impressed by keyword stuffed pages that contain useless repetition. Most likely, they will never return.
- Never choose a word by default. (I admit this is a tall order.) Intentionally choose words targeted to your audience’s interest and the needs of search engines.
- Be cautious about using any document type other than HTML since it may delay or even prevent a search engine from indexing the file. If you rely on search engines to bring browsers to a page, always avoid putting text into other formats. The web is still a text medium even though it is also able to serve multi-media content.
- Keep your content to code ratio as high as possible for higher search engine visibility. One of the best ways to do this is to master semantic XHTML and CSS.
Four Off-Page Factors
These factors are related to incoming and outgoing links.
- Incoming links from well ranked Web sites that feature content in your niche are strongly connected to your level of search engine visibility. Examples of these Web sites are Yahoo!, Open Directory, Yahoo! Local, Google Local, Zeal, and many regional or specialty directories such as a Better Business Bureau, Professional Association, or Chamber of Commerce.
- Because of the importance of anchor text in determining how relevant your site is to a search phrase, it is useful to suggest appropriate keyword rich anchor text to anyone who offers you an incoming link.
- Never link to a Web site unless you are convinced it offers content that adds substantial value to your visitor’s experience. This especially applies to reciprocal linking schemes.
- Avoid linking with Web sites that have a Google PageRank of zero on their home page. This is sometimes an indication that the site has been banned by Google and may affect the reputation of your own Web site. Unless the page you are linking to is less than two months old, it should have a PageRank assigned. However, some pages buried deep within a Web site may never be assigned a PageRank by Google, so the home page is the strongest indicator of possible problems.
Though I cannot assign credit for all of these ideas to any one source, none of them are completely original with me. I have relied on David George’s The ABC of SEO and have been influenced by Shari Thurow’s Search Engine Visibility.
July 23rd, 2005
Spring Into HTML and CSS by Molly E. Holzschlag is an exceptionally thorough introduction to CSS and XHTML. It is written in a careful, academic tone that is never condescending. Each topic is presented in a short section called a “chunk” and can stand on its own. Though this could result in a disjointed presentation in the hands of a lesser author, Molly maintains a sense of flow throughout.
One advantage of the “chunk” style of writing is that the book is easily scanned. Readers already familiar with the basics of HTML and CSS will easily find relevant information without having to wade through an entire volume.
Holzschlag has done an excellent job of appealing to professionals who are adept learners and who see the value of a strong conceptual base for their work. No project is introduced without a prior explanation of the concepts being used.
Spring Into HTML and CSS may not appeal to those looking for a quick and easy entry into projects with a minimum of conceptual coverage, however; they can skip ahead easily to the projects and download the accompanying files to start playing right away.
Though programming and technical writing and perhaps most professional topics do not require a full-color treatment, design does! Perhaps future editions will include a full-color insert with some inspiring examples of what CSS can accomplish. Even without full-color, Molly creates grayscale examples that give an excellent introduction to the capabilities of CSS. Just don’t expect to be dazzled!
This book was a pleasure to read. In fact, I read the entire Annotated References for XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1. Normally, these are presented in table form for easy skimming. Molly went against the grain and the result is clearly effective. The “chunk” style was maintained here as well. Each element or selector is treated as a topic with explanatory notes.
Recommendation: This book teaches the “why” and not just the “how” of modern web design. While you can skip ahead to the projects, you will do well to pay close attention to the details. If you find your mind wandering easily when reading, perhaps you would do better to start with Eric Meyer on CSS because of its full-color project format. However, if you want to strengthen your conceptual skill with CSS and XHTML, you will not do better than this fine book!
Related Web Sites
July 10th, 2005
“User experience is about how [a product] works on the outside, where a person comes into contact with it and has to work with it.”
I have been intrigued about Jesse James Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience ever since reading a short blog post by the author in which he referenced some of its key concepts. Recently, I read his definition of the new technology (actually new application of old technologies) called AJAX and was reminded that I hadn’t read his book yet. Perhaps due to some overly technical works I had seen in the past, I harbored a bit of prejudice as I lifted the cover. I’m sure Garrett would attribute that to poor user experience design, but I digress.
As I read through the book, Garrett’s focus, excellent illustrations and exceptionally clear prose revealed a vision of what web design can be. This book is a compilation of best practices gleaned from much thought and practical application that will revolutionize my thinking about web design and development.
Let me illustrate: Since I have most often worked on web design jobs that have little room in their budget for planning, I have on occasion (let’s hope rarely) produced web sites that were not as effective in meeting the goals of my clients as I would have liked. While they didn’t completely bomb, they didn’t propel anyone to the pinnacle of success either. What does Garrett say about this?
“The worst mistake you can make is to gloss over the fundamental user experience issues of the project in the name of saving time or money.”
“Oh yeah, Mr. Jesse James Garrett”, I retort, “And where were you two years ago?”
Since the book was released in 2003, I guess the question is, “Where was I two years ago?”
As you can probably tell, reading this book was both as profound as a work of art and as mundane as a swift kick to the midriff! While setting out a clear framework for effective user experience design, Garrett uncovered some deep flaws in my design approach - design by mimicry and fiat rather than by careful assessment of user needs and design as an organic outgrowth of this assessment. In short, I haven’t been a user experience designer, only a web designer.
Briefly, the five planes of user experience design are a roadmap for the web development process. Moving from abstract to concrete, they are Strategy, Scope, Structure, Skeleton, and Surface. Each plane is dealt with in detail in a chapter of the book and is supported by illustrations, diagrams, and real-world examples.
“Potential should be measured not by what is possible, but how we can adapt the technologically possible to enhance the human experience” Richard Grefe, Executive Director AIGA - from the foreword.
As I have noted above, a key strength of this book is its clear portrayal of web design as user experience and a framework for approaching it as such. Its only potential weakness I detect is that it is theory heavy and some readers may not be able to find clear ways to apply its concepts. This is no real weakness as Garrett clearly intends The Elements of User Experience to propound a theory about how web design can be approached as user experience design. In fact, the author has taken pains on nearly every page of the book to clarify theory with clear diagrams and illustrations or to apply his elements of user experience to real-world design problems.
If you are looking for a technical how-to manual on web design, Jesse James Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience is not the book for you. Dozens of books describe technical challenges and help us navigate through them, but few make us stop and think clearly about how we are approaching a web design project. If you are comfortable with how you approach design challenges and convinced that your way is always best, this book is definitely NOT for you. However, If you are ready to think deeply, re-examine the vocabulary and framework with which you approach web development, or just to gain a fuller understanding of web design issues, then this book is worth your investment. Because of the simplicity of Garrett’s prose and his clearly defined technical terms, The Elements of User Experience is accessible to college student, copy editor, and web programmer alike; I recommend they all read it.
If you have ever wondered the best approach to the web design process, Garrett clears up any confusion. The best approach looks at web design as user experience design.
“The simple fact is this: The right approach is one in which no aspect of the user’s experience is left to chance. Make every decision consciously and deliberately and ground each decision in your understanding of the underlying issues at play.”
Jesse James Garrett has provided us with the tools to think about usability and be clear about what decisions we are making and why, and he has done so simply by reminding us to be vigilant and to do nothing by default.
Title: The Elements of User Experience
Author: Jesse James Garrett
Publisher: AIGA/New Riders/Peachpit Press
ISBN: 0735712026
Date: 2003
Format: Paperback
Pages: 189
Cover Price: USD: $29.99 CDN: $46.99 UK: 23.50
Resources:
July 6th, 2005
I returned from my July 4 weekend today to an email from Simon Angling with a link to his current project. It proves conclusively that, with some hard work, TYPO3 does allow designers to produce standards compliant code.
Simon’s site is fast and light on its feet. I’m sure that he will share it with everyone when the project is ready to launch.
Thanks for dispelling my doubts about the capabilities of this CMS!
Upon receiving Simon’s email, I did some more thorough research and found a detailed tutorial on using TYPO3 to create standards compliant templates.
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July 4th, 2005
