Web Design Usability; What It Means to Be Usable

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
You probably have a lot of tough stuff to learn and think about at work on a daily basis. Petty cash, cash flow, flow charts, annual reports, TPS reports, imports, exports, inventory, outventory... it's chaos out there in the business world. So today I'm going to talk about something deliciously unambiguous. No curve balls here. What I'm going to talk about is exactly what it sounds like it is.

And our topic is...usability.

Which deals with...you guessed it...how usable a website is. In other words, is it easy to use? Or is it hard to use?

Who Cares About Usability?

Well, for starters, your website visitors (a.k.a. your potential customers). They actually care about it A LOT. When web surfers visit your website, their expectations are probably all similar – they all want the website to be easy to navigate. As they click around, they are going to find out that either A) it is easy to use or B) it is not easy to use. If it's choice “B,” the wussy visitors will click the “X” immediately and travel to one of your competitors' websites. Meanwhile, the brighter, more adventurous, and more determined visitors may stick around for awhile, but as their frustration levels increase, they too may opt to leave the site.

The middle of a shopping spree on your website is no time for natural selection to take its course. You want ALL the customers, including the lazy, tired, and easily confused, to make it to the checkout without quitting.

Okay, So Apparently It's Important...But How Do I Increase Usability?

Since this post is just an Intro to Usability, I'll just say this – the simplest websites to use are simple. Too many choices and unnecessary bells and whistles can distract and confuse visitors to a site. Now, that's not to say a website with lots of functionality can't be usable, too, if it's been designed correctly. But I'll save that for another entry.

For now, the takeaway is this – Usable websites are easy to use and navigate, customers prefer usable websites, usable websites are simple and straightforward, and IntelliSites loves to design websites that are simple and straightforward.

It's that simple.

Refresh Browsers; This and Four Other Must-Know Browsing Tips

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Have you heard that statistic that says humans only use 10 percent of their brains? Well, use of the internet is no different. There's so much possibility built into modern internet browsers that people (even us nerds at IntelliSites) sometimes can't keep up. But here's the inside info on five basic features everyone should know how to use.

1. Refreshing your browser. Websites are constantly changing. New content is uploaded, graphics are changed out, and news is posted. But sometimes your browser doesn't notice these changes right away. You'll often need to refresh your browser to get the updated version. You do that by clicking on the swirly little arrow up on your toolbar. They look a little different from browser to browser, but if you want to make sure you've got the right button, rest your cursor on it for a second and “Reload this page” or “Refresh” should pop up. If it does, that's the button to click to see the most up-to-date version of the web page you're viewing.

2. Smart addresses. In many modern browsers, if you know the website you want to visit, you can usually skip the "http://" and the "www" when you're typing it in. In most cases, it's enough to start with the name of the site (e.g. just type intellisites.com, not www.intellisites.com). Over time, all those extra seconds you'll save will add up. (Incidentally, you should be typing those addresses into the address line of your browser, not into Google...)

3. Tabbed browsing. Instead of having multiple windows on top of each other, all modern browsers offer tabs, a way to see every window you have open as if you had a pile of clearly labeled folders in front of you. It's multi-tasking made easier.

4. Code view. Looking at code view can be a confusing and disorienting experience for the non-programmer, but it can help you find some of the hidden things behind the scenes of a website. This isn't something you'd do on an everyday web surf, but you might want to do it when you visit your competitors' websites so you can take a peek at the keywords and title tags they're using.  To get there, usually you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+u or Shift+Ctrl+u, or just right click anywhere on the page and choose “View Source” or “View Page Source.”

5. Find on page. Ever clicked on a Google result and been confronted with an extremely long page page of text? Don't waste your time and your eyes trying to scan the whole thing for the part you need. Use the find feature to locate exactly what you need. Press Ctrl+f (or Command+f on a mac) and type in the word or phrase you're looking for. Voila! Your browser will find it and highlight it for you!

I hope these tips help to make your web experience just a little more super.

Pick Your Surfboard

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Mozilla's Firefox is among the most popular web browsers in the States. This is a pretty incredible feat since Firefox is entirely open source. That means it's not a business product, but a product that's been built by a team of volunteers all over the world.

So, if it's so popular, should you make the switch to Firefox?  Maybe.  But more importantly, what's the deal with choosing a browser?

Web Browsers 101

Let's begin at the beginning. In order to surf the web, you need a web browser, which is the software application that makes it possible for you to do all the things you do on the internet. Now, when you first bought your computer, chances are, the folks who set up your computer included Internet Explorer for you and set it as your default.

While it was nice of them to get you started, now that you're going, you do have the option to shop around. Since browsers are generally free, what you're shopping for is the browser with the right features. Different browsers have different takes on security and options for customization. Browsers also vary on how fast they run and how they display certain web pages.

Be More European

Thanks to antitrust laws in Europe, European internet users have recently been given a new way to select the best browser for them. Europeans who use Internet Explorer now actually have a screen that pops up and prompts them to learn more about other browser options. (Yes, that's right, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is now required to help internet users learn more about and even download other browsers.)

While IE doesn't offer this browser choice screen for Americans, it doesn't mean you can't do a little good old-fashioned Googling on your own to find out more information about the browsers that are out there and which one's right for you.

And Firefox Can Help

And to get you started, the makers of Firefox have put together a website explaining the importance of choosing a browser (and here's another site with the same goal). Check out these sites, talk to your friends, and see what's out there in terms of browsers. Maybe you should join the crowd and make the switch to Firefox. Maybe IE 8 is the one for you. Maybe you're destined to be an Opera guy. 

I have just one request. Please. Don't. Use. IE 6.

But I'm cool with the other browsers.  Pick the best one for you, and enjoy the ride.

IE 6 Issues -- Why You Should Upgrade

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
At IntelliSites, we don't generally go around saying that anything “should die.”

Today will be an exception.

Internet Explorer 6 should die.

This early version of the Internet Explorer web browser has a lot of bugs that can cause websites to display incorrectly. For us web design types, that means a lot of extra work to get the websites we create to look good on IE6 users' computers. It's not that we would mind doing the extra work, of course, if IE6 was doing a bang up job browsing the web for its users.

But it's not. In fact, it's a very limited browser, with fewer features and capabilities than other browsers or even newer versions of IE.

Banding Together to Say Goodbye

Luckily, we aren't the only ones battling against this old beast. We have some comrades on social networking sites that have banded together to express their desire for people to stop using the browser. And in Denver, a mock funeral was held in March in an attempt to get web users to get over IE6. Even Microsoft itself acknowledges the advantages of upgrading to a newer version of Internet Explorer.

To our delight, as each month goes by, fewer and fewer web surfers use IE6. But this slow changeover is taking too long. The time has come to put the poor old browser out of its misery once and for all.

If you are one of the holdouts who is still using IE6, just go for it and upgrade. Why use an old browser when there is a snappy new one just waiting for you?

Avoid Spyware - How To Keep Your Computer Clean

Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
Is your computer slowing down? Do you click on your internet icon, run to the kitchen to get some macaroni and cheese, and come back to find that your computer is still not connected to the internet?

You can thank spyware for that.

Spyware, malware, viruses...you hear a lot about these sneaky predators these days. They get into your computer to reconfigure things, steal information, track your activity, or at the very least, slow things down.

If you're in the market for a better browsing experience, here are some tips you can use to avoid these pests and keep your computer moving along.


Don't Just Click It. Links are fun to click – but they can be dangerous. Whether they are links from webpage to webpage, links on social networking sites, or links in an e-mail, be very careful about which ones you click on. Evaluate the situation and use caution. Is the link in a strange-sounding e-mail from a long-lost acquaintance? Did the link randomly pop up in a little box on your screen? Was the link found on a website that seems a bit shady? If so, hold back.

Don't Trust Every Website. When you Google a topic, there is no guarantee that every site that comes up is 100% trustworthy. Search engines look for relevant sites, but they don't always screen out sites that were set up with malicious intentions. Before you click, check out the web address – is it extremely long and complicated? Does it end with an unusual domain name? Also, read the description and see if it makes sense. If it's just a jumble of nonsense phrases, chances are it's a site that's out to poison people with spyware or other malware. Choose another site from the list that seems more legit.

Sometimes the Best Defense is Offense. Avoiding suspicious links and websites will decrease the amount of spyware your computer is exposed to, but it's really difficult to be vigilant enough to avoid it all. In addition to being careful as you surf, be sure to install antivirus software on your computer and keep your subscription up to date. Freeware programs like Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware can also be downloaded to help attack the spyware programs that have already made their way into your computer.

With these tips and a little luck, you'll end up with less mac and cheese in your belly before your computer connects to the internet.