top 10 usability issues for blogs - meetupfiles.meetup.com/1105190/top10uxguidelinesfor...
TRANSCRIPT
Top 10 Usability Issues for Blogs
Brian’s Top 10 List for Blogs
Slide 2
1. Strategy: No Clear Blogging Strategy
2. Credibility: Lack of Credibility Cues on Blogs
3. Headlines: Poorly Written Headlines to Grab Attention
4. Navigation: Using Only One Navigation Scheme
5. Content: Writing Ineffective Content
6. Frequency: Infrequent or Irregular Updates
7. Burying: Classic Hits are Buried
8. Bad Forms: Cumbersome Forms to Use
9. Search: Bad Search Forces Users to Think
10.Un-responsive: Blog Can Only Be Views on One Device
1. No Clear Blogging Strategy
It Always Starts With Strategy
25 Basic Styles of Blogging
25 Basic Styles of Blogging
Combine Strategies
Insight Blog: Mobile & Forms
Video Blog: View Presentations
Link Blog: Data Mondays
Event Blog: Convey UX
Your Strategy Defines You!
1. Luke as an Expert:
- Three Books, But One Blog
- Luke W is now a personal brand
2. Data Mondays:
- Probably, links from a Google Search
- Resources for many designers
3. Video Blog Posts:
- Self-promotion, but that’s ok
- The videos are really good
4. Mixture of Writing Style:
- Link, video, presentation, and event posts
- Data is on Monday (at a set frequency)
2. Lack of Credibility
Four Types of Credibility
1. Presumed Credibility: You already have heard of this
person or brand. (Ex: Known brands vs generic brands.)
2. Reputed Credibility: You have heard of this person or
site from someone you trust. (Ex: Your friend likes it.)
3. Surface Credibility: You like how something looks on a
casual inspection. (Ex: Looks good vs looks confusing.)
4. Earned Credibility: You know it is credible from your
personal experience. (Ex: Good customer service.)
Home Page is a Cartoon
Great People, Poor Blog
Why Credibility is Important?
Stanford Studies on Credibility
One Factor Damages It All
Ways to Add Credibility
1. Make your site look professional (surface credibility).
2. Make it easy to verify accuracy of info (sources, links).
3. Show there’s person behind the site (name, picture, bio).
4. Highlight your expertise (credentials, organizations).
5. Make it easy to contact you (email, social, phone).
6. Keep your content fresh (old content is not trusted).
7. Restrain from marketing (reduce ads, offers).
8. Avoid errors (broken links, spelling) impact credibility.
9. Use simple, plain language for people to understand.
10. Use testimonials and case studies (reputed credibility).
3. Poorly Written Headlines
Online versus Offline Headlines
Online Headlines
1. Displayed out of context.
2. Part of a series.
3. Compete with other links.
4. No background material.
5. Text is the same size.
6. Do not use ALL caps.
Offline Headlines
1. Displayed with context.
2. Surrounding data:
- Photos
- Decks
- Article
3. More information to start.
4. Usually the biggest text.
5. Use ALL caps a lot.
40-60 Characters per Headline
Headlines: Writing Assignments
Treat headlines as their own writing assignment!
Guidelines for Headlines
1. Short abstracts of your article.
2. No teasers to entice people. (They don’t click.)
3. Written in plain language. No cute or clever puns.
4. Skip leading words like “The”, “A”, or “An”.
5. Do not use the same verbs each time (to differentiate).
6. Make the first word an information carrying one.
(Ex: Titanic Sinks, Design Like Da Vinci.)
4. Using One Navigation Scheme
Most Blogs are Time-Based
Default Setting is a Calendar
Use Pages, Categories, & Tags
1. Pages to separate content.
2. Categories to group similar types of content together.
3. Tags to group related content together.
Guidelines for Navigation
1. Timelines are only one method to organize content.
2. Provide more than one navigation scheme.
3. Use pages, categories, and tags to group content.
4. Avoid the mistake of tagging to all your categories.
5. Categories must be sufficiently detailed to reduce posts.
6. 10-20 categories are usually enough for any subject.
7. Highlight each category’s most recent articles and the
most popular ones.
5. Writing Ineffective Content
How Users Read on the Web
Implications of the F Pattern
1. Customers will not read your text thoroughly.
2. They do not read in a word-by-word manner.
3. Use inverted pyramid style for writing.
4. First two paragraphs must state most important info.
5. Use information carrying words for headings, paragraphs,
and lists—people can easily scan them on the left.
6. Most people scan the first two words of every line.
The Scent of Information
Spend More Time Elsewhere
“People spend more time on another
person’s site.” (Jared Spool)
Guidelines for Content Usability
1. Use clear, simple language.
“We won the award.” vs “The award was won by us.”
2. Limit each paragraph to one idea:
- Easier to scan
- Get the general sense of what is coming
- Move to the next idea (or paragraph)
3. Front-load your content (put the conclusion first):
- Quickly scan the opening sentence.
- First sentence is usually read (again, F pattern)
Guidelines for Content Usability
4. Use descriptive sub-headings:
- Breaks up the page
- Shows the organization
- Easy to scan to see your idea, or argument
5. Use font differences sparingly:
- Harder to read with competing fonts
- Decrease your credibility
6. Use descriptive links:
- “Click Here” is rude
- Descriptive links support your article, too
Guidelines for Content Usability
7. Use lists for scannability:
- Less intimidating
- Information chunking
- More succinct, usually
8. Left-align text:
- Easier to read
- Blockquotes add credibility, but decrease reading speed
Don’t Write What They Don’t Need
50% Less Words
2X Understanding
Color and Text Appearance
Color-Blind Users and Content
6. Infrequent or Irregular Updates
Blog of a Well-Known Person
1. Latest post is from February 1, 2013 (not too bad).
2. Next post is from October 2012 (this is old).
3. Outdated meeting widget on sidebar (of every page).
Infrequent Schedules Hurt Fans
Without new content, you risk losing your fans,
who are your best customers.
Establish an Editorial Calendar
1. Use the Wordpress Editorial Calendar plug-in.
2. Write universal content, which can moved around.
3. Publish at regular intervals to keep your site fresh.
Let Users Know of Expiring Content
1. Use the Wordpress Content Scheduler plug-in.
2. Provides notification for expiring content to contributors.
3. Change when content expires, too.
Do You Know When to Publish?
1. Lowest readership is on Saturdays.
2. Mondays and Tuesdays have the highest readership.
3. Dips on Fridays (most of the time).
7. Classic Hits are Buried
CLASSIC
TODAY HITS
Most People Do Not Visit Daily
1. Average 500 daily
views.
2. We have 3 posts with
over 50,000 views.
3. We get 25,000+ views
at the conference.
Show Popular Articles
Show Related Articles
Zemanta is a good plug-in for related articles.
Use Embedded Content
• Embedded links
• Embedded video, audio, slides
Guidelines for Past Hits
1. Don’t relegate past hits to your archive.
2. Revisit past hits with a fresh perspective.
3. Embed links, video, or audio in newer articles.
4. Use a Popular Articles list on the Home page.
5. Embed related links using a plug-in like Zemanta.
6. Do not assume that people visit everyday.
7. Compile lists of past articles (ex: SEO 101, Top 10 List).
8. Bad Forms are Used
The Tool is Good, Usage is Bad
• Gravity Forms is an awesome plug-in.
• Most people don’t know how to build good forms.
Linked-In: Optional is Required
Linked-In: Optional?
Example: Any Data is Accepted
• Postal Code accepts any data format.
• Phone number accepts any delimiter (dash, dot)
10 Rules for Good Forms
1. Use a simple, vertical layout with labels above the input
fields. It is easier to scan
2. If vertically aligned labels are not possible, make them
bold and left-aligned.
3. If you put more than one field on a row (e.g. first and last
name) make them look like a single piece of information.
4. Emphasize section headings (via color or shading) if you
want people to read them.
5. Only ask for required information. Identify optional fields
rather than required fields (don't use asterisks).
10 Rules for Good Forms
6. Use a single input field for numbers and postal codes,
and allow input in various forms.
7. Avoid displaying unnecessary information and make sure
important information stands out.
8. Real time feedback may be distracting — good
implementation is key.
9. Place instructions to the side of the field.
10. For multi-page forms tell users how many steps remain
before completion.
9. Bad or Ineffective Search
Search Helps Small Sites Compete
Big sites get more traffic, but niche sites can dominate.
SEO and Usability
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about
attracting people to your site by making sure
your blog and article show up in search engines.
• SEO happens before the first click.
• Usability is about people completing tasks, so it is
interested in their behavior after they arrive on
your blog. It is about conversions (and more).
• Usability is about what makes them click.
The Importance of Search
• If your website is
difficult to use,
customers leave.
• If they get lost in
your website,
customers leave.
• If a customer can’t
FIND your product,
they can’t BUY it.
….
Then, they leave!
About 60% of people are search-dominant (1st step).
No Search Better Than Bad Search
1. Bad search greatly
impacts credibility.
No search slightly
impacts credibility.
2. Bad search loses
lots of customers.
No search loses
less customers.
Site Search When Navigation Fails
All in One SEO is Good Plug-in
This a good start for SEO, which is half the equation.
Guidelines for Site Search
1. Make it a box.
2. Button on the right.
3. On top right of page.
4. Must be on all pages.
5. Box is initially empty.
6. Button label = “Search”.
7. Searches whole site.
8. Don’t search Internet.
9. Read Rosenfeld book.
10. Un-responsive Design is Used
We live in a Post-PC Era
In 2012, PC sales were down from the previous year.
Tablet Sales Rapidly Increasing
In 2013, tablet sales will exceed 100+ million units.
Mashable Mobile = 50% Traffic
Over 60% Read News Online
2013: Year of Responsive Design
What is Responsive Design?
“In simple terms, a responsive
design uses media queries to
figure out what resolution of
device it’s being served on.”
Food Sense: Responsive Design
Responsive WordPress Themes
• Lucid
• Angular
• Trim
• Glamour
• Deadline
• Boxline
• Inovado
• Simple Press
• Flexible
• Blox
Thanks!!!