- Web Sites Are Supposed to Make Things Easier, Arent They?
- Standardization, Please!
- Requiring Unnecessary Features or Plug-ins for Navigation
- Silent Failures for Unavailable Browser Features
- Failing Completely for Unavailable Features or Unsupported Browsers/Versions
- Browsers Not Offering Per Window or Easily Reversible Setting Changes
- Companies Registering <sitename> But Not <http://www.sitename>
- Making Information Hard to Find
- Making It Hard to Find or Select Among Products
- Being Impossible to Contact
- Putting Information Only in PDF or Document Format, Not in HTML or at Least Text Files
- Having No-Value-Added Click Here to Enter Splash Pages
- Check Your Site for Stupidity
Making Information Hard to Find
Basic information about your company—name, contact information, what you do/sell—should be on the home page or at most one click away, and easy to find from well-labeled main-page links. I’m talking about your company’s full name. Most customers don’t care about this, but if I’m writing about your company, you should care that I get the full name correct. Make it easy for me to determine which is actually your company’s name:
- Blivits
- Blivits Corporation
- Blivits Inc.
- Blivits, Inc.
- Blivits Ltd.
Ideally, this information should be in the title bar and/or at the bottom of every web page. Failing that, the About Us page should start with the full name of the company.
Similarly, tell me what your company does/makes—and do it quickly, clearly, and tersely. One sentence. Two at most. For example, "Blivits Ltd. makes Linux-based jaunting appliances for small, remote, and branch offices." If I want a four-paragraph essay on the history and philosophy of your company, I’ll look for a link like History or Our Philosophy. The About Us page should display only a succinct statement of what your company is or does.