Lately, I’ve been talking to a lot of dreamers. People with big ideas, and that’s great — but I find myself advocating for a just-get-started approach. Have big dreams? Keep ’em alive, and keep building on them. This country is built on people willing to dream. But start small. On the Web, you don’t...
Three Things That Matter
Long ago, I heard a profound quote about projects, which went something like this: There are three things that matter: quality, speed, and price. You can have any two of the three, but not all three. Which do you want? Quality and speed? OK. It’ll cost more… Quality and a low price? OK —...
Some People Think the Web is Like the Moon…
…It’s nice to look at on clear nights, but it doesn’t much affect life. Not long ago, co-workers separately came to me, amazed that an online form we posted was getting results. “We used to have to force people to fill out this form,” one gushed. “Already I’ve gotten some back — and we...
TGIF
So, it’s Friday at 4:25 and I’m getting ready to go home. Which reminds me of the gap between the 24×7 expectations of the Web and most people’s 40-ish hour work week. IT folks have long struggled with extended hours (as have 911 operators, emergency personnel, etc.), and some of them wear their pagers/cell...
Getting to "Done"
The Web is great: I can publish content whenever I want, and it’s instantly available to my audience all around the world. The Web sucks: I can’t keep up with all the changes I have to make. New Web publishers, especially those that are used to traditional print cycles, are sometimes stymied by the...
One Bad Apple, Unfortunately, Really Does Spoil The Whole Bunch
Donny and his sibs were probably right about one bad apple not spoiling the whole bunch, girl. But on the Web, users make snap judgments — so one mistake, and can throw the whole site into question. (Kinda like a spelling error on a resume: probably doesn’t make you any worse at driving snow...
Bigger Soapboxes Than This
I’ve given several presentations and had a pre-blog list of Web myths going in the past, and I thought some might be interested in them: Website Redesign and the Devil’s Work. How to make your Webs user-focused. Iceberg, Right Ahead: Managing Website Growth — Little gorillas are so cute. Then they grow. Web Site...
If you're not Amazon, maybe you shouldn't dress like Amazon.
I’m working on a site redesign, so I’m reviewing a lot of other Web sites’ designs right now, and re-reading Nielson & Tahir’s Homepage Usability, and here’s what I notice about the state of Web design: We’re all trying to be Amazon. Or Yahoo, or CNN, or any of the other 800-pound gorillas in...
You are the weakest link.
This morning, I’m reminded that the weakest link of a multi-publisher Web site is… people. I’m restoring a site because another publisher accidentally overwrote the site’s Home Page, which orphaned the entire site. Of course, this happens when all your main pages for subfolders are named the same (typically index.html or default.htm) and the...