Trapped in the Internet
A recent inquiry by uxmovement.com shows that users get more out of having form labels above the fields rather than beside them. Having it illustrated makes the point quite painless and straightforward:
It just looks cleaner and it uses the natural flow of the eyes to help in processing of information. This is something that every designer has either overlooked in the past or simply neglected.
Jakob Nielsen again reiterates how important it is for web designers to consider the mythical page fold as a tried and true way to target users and gain their attention.
He shows that the first 800 pixels from the top of the page are the most important, with 300-400 pixels garnering the most viewing time. Users spent about 80% of their time above the 800 pixel mark and about 20% below it. The fold represents what a user sees without having to scroll down when viewing a web page. Continue reading “Keep it above the fold”
The world of modern web development is not understood by anyone outside of it. The intricacies, the intense segmentation, and the true strength of the professional community is often overlooked by the layperson.
“So what do you do?” they ask. “I’m a web developer.” I pause for a moment. “I build and design websites and web applications.”
“Oh cool I used to do some of that at my old job with Frontpage.”
I’ve had about a million conversations with people that start off like this. For sake of brevity, I usually leave things at this – but secretly I’m steaming inside. Not necessarily because they’re not familiar with my realm, but because how the profession is written off as something almost trivial. The value is constantly being eroded and stereotyped, making educating clients and consumers that much more difficult. This is partly because to get your hands dirty in development the only thing you really need is a text editor and a web browser. That’s where many people think development ends.
If web development was an iceberg that would be the 18 feet sticking out of the ocean. What you don’t see is the remaining monstrosity that sinks the hive-mind Titanic as it approaches and blows people’s minds so much so that they nearly refuse to acknowledge it exists or is even nearly as complex as it truly is.
Being a web developer means three things:
This escapes a lot of people even in 2010. Think of it in terms of construction. You want to build a house (or website) so you draw up plans that meet your needs, find a suitable plot of land for it, start estimating costs, and start assembling a team to complete the job. You’re going to need a general contractor or foreman, a drywall crew, framing crew, clearing crew, electricians, plumbers, masonry crew, cabinet crew, and the list goes on. And within each of those general fields there are also long lists of specialties. You have to be careful to select the right candidate for the right purpose and stay mindful of each crew’s specialties and core competencies. Don’t expect your master masons to be able to run electrical wiring…
The same is true in web development. Given the nearly endless array of specialties and qualities that development professionals possess, the world that consumes the fruits of our labor needs to know what it truly takes to make a monster like facebook, a twitter, a blog, or even a digg or reddit. This comes through on sites like craigslist where someone wants to create the next facebook or myspace – for a budget of $220 and a 24 pack of Miller Light. There is no concept to what it takes to actually create something from the ground up, make it function properly, design a great user interface, and get people to start using it.
As professionals we all develop specialties to serve a certain purpose – it’s about time we stop generalizing and start educating. The next time someone asks what you do for a living tell them as succinctly as possibile – any of the following are good examples:
Don’t cop out. Tell people what you do – don’t be mad at them for having no idea what it means to be a developer. Educate them.
After years of emphasis on placing the important page elements ‘above the fold’, we’re now being shown that users actually don’t mind scrolling! That is, if you have interesting content and adequate visual cues that there actually is something worth looking at down there. Continue reading “The mythical page fold and why it doesn’t really matter anymore”
It takes me a long time to design a website and be satisfied with it. So long that I rarely do it anymore. There are so many apt designers out there who distribute free and purchasable templates at more than reasonable prices, it seems almost ludicrous to spend the time to make one myself.
Of Course you lose the originality of your site and run the risk of looking like someone else’s site, but I’d rather have a tight design than one that I haven’t gotten around to making it really great.
With programming and development you can cut corners and make it work and still get the same result, but with design you just can’t do that. If you don’t design thoroughly it will be noticed and could negatively impact your readership and visitors.
I’ve been going over themes at YOOThemese and Rockethemes lately and I’m extremely impressed with the level of design that I’m seeing. To design something similar would take a week solid without breaks in my world, and then you have all the value added extensions and special styles…
It makes a great case for using templates.