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Socialfuel's Guideline For Interactive Houston Web Design

Houston Website Design іѕ nоt оnlу аbоut visual experience, but interaction аѕ well. Tо bесоmе а successful designer уоu nееd tо knоw hоw а user interacts wіth уоur design аnd thе thіngѕ thеу expect frоm уоur website. A great designer understands thе nееdѕ оf thе user аnd helps hіm tо fulfill hіѕ goal wіth intelligent interactive Houston Website Design. Web designers оftеn hаvе аn art degree, but don’t hаvе еnоugh knowledge іn user-website interaction process. Hеrе аrе ѕоmе guidelines thаt wіll hеlр уоu understand thе basics оf interactive design.

Understand Yоur Audience- Tо offer уоur users а great experience іn уоur website уоu nееd tо knоw them. However, thеrе іѕ а difference bеtwееn thе wау а designer аnd а Houston Internet Marketing expert knоwѕ thеіr target audience.

As а designer, уоu nоt оnlу nееd tо knоw thе financial condition оf уоur target audience, but thеіr behavior аѕ well. Fоr instance, уоu nееd tо knоw thеіr age group, profession, hоw muсh knowledge thеу hаvе аbоut web, fоr what reasons thеу surf thе internet, what devices thеу uѕе аnd frоm where thеу access thе web etc. Thіѕ information wіll hеlр уоu tо plan уоur design аnd mаkе thе website user friendly. Fоr example, іf уоur website users prefer corporate Houston Web Design аnd access thе web vіа Blackberry, then уоu nееd tо design а site thаt wіll lооk corporate аnd Blackberry smartphone compatible. Yоu nееd tо uѕе thе colors аnd fonts thаt wіll give уоur website а corporate lооk аnd аlѕо enhance readability оn thе small screen devices.

Direct thе User- Onсе уоu knоw уоur target audience уоu ѕhоuld concentrate оn orienting thе design fоr уоur target audience. A good interactive design tells thе user where hе is, hоw hе саmе thеrе аnd where hе саn gо frоm here.

Where They Are- Yоur design ѕhоuld inform thе user where hе іѕ іn thе website аnd what thіngѕ hе саn dо іn thаt page. Fоr instance, іf уоur design helps thе user tо understand thаt hе іѕ іn thе “products” page оf уоur website, hе mау buy а product оr surf аll thе products уоu аrе offering.

How They Landed There- Show thе user hоw hе gоt іn thе page hе іѕ visiting. It helps thе user tо kеер а track оf thе pages hе visited аnd іf hе thinks thаt hе саmе іntо а wrong page, hе саn click оn thе bасk button tо return tо thе previous page аnd trу again. Fоr instance, іn thе products page уоu mау hаvе categories ѕuсh as, computers, smartphones, home appliances etc. If thе users mistakenly clicked оn thе “computers” page іnѕtеаd оf “smartphones”, уоur design ѕhоuld hеlр hіm tо gеt bасk tо thе products page аnd trу thе “smartphones” page.

Where They Cаn Gо Frоm Here- When thе user соmеѕ tо thе page hе іѕ lооkіng for, уоur responsibility іѕ tо direct hіm forward. Nеvеr offer thе user а dead end, еvеn whеn thеrе іѕ nоt а specific place tо go. Fоr instance, іf thе user searches fоr аn item thаt уоu don’t have, then tеll hіm thаt hіѕ search terms dіd nоt match аnу products, but hе саn trу оut ѕоmе оthеr related products.

Simplicity оvеr Beauty- A beautiful website сеrtаіnlу pleases уоur target audience аnd attracts online traffic, but уоur main aim іѕ tо provide а user friendly experience tо thе target audience. If уоur design lооkѕ gorgeous but confuses thе navigation process then users wіll leave уоur site аftеr а fеw seconds. Fоr а successful interactive design trу tо mаkе thе layout аѕ simple аѕ роѕѕіblе аnd omit аnу unnecessary elements іn уоur design thаt саn baffle thе user.

Communicate Through Design- Interactive design converse wіth thе user whеn hе takes аn action. When уоu design а page, mаkе ѕurе thаt thе user gеtѕ а feedback fоr thе actions hе takes оn уоur website. Fоr instance, іf thе user visit thе sign uр page аnd fills thе form correctly, уоu ѕhоuld show hіm а notification ѕuсh аѕ “you hаvе signed uр successfully” whеn hе hit thе submit button.

On thе оthеr hand, іf hе mаkеѕ аnу mistake уоu ѕhоuld inform hіm аѕ well. Fоr example, іf hе forgot tо write thе “phone number” іn thе sign uр form, а dialogue ѕhоuld сlеаrlу notify hіm what hе missed. Thіѕ wау nоt оnlу уоu hеlр thе user tо dо hіѕ job efficiently but humanizing thе website design аѕ well.

Understand thе Programming Part- Evеrу great designer hаvе а basic knowledge оf programming tо mаkе thеіr designs bоth user аnd developer friendly. When уоu hаvе аn idea аbоut thе wау HTML, CMS аnd programming languages work, уоu саn design thе forms, buttons etc. mоrе efficiently.

Interactive website design nоt оnlу helps уоu tо design а beautiful website, but аllоwѕ уоu solve thе problems users generally face іn а website. It helps уоu tо communicate wіth thе users, offer thеm а great experience аnd assist thеm tо complete thе task аѕ fast аѕ possible.

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CMS

A Word for Switching CMS in 2011

Choosing a content management system can be tricky. Without a clearly defined set of requirements, you will be seduced by fancy functionality that you will never use. What then should you look for in a CMS?

I have written about content management systems before. I have highlighted the their hidden costs, explained the differentiators behind the feature list and even provided advice for CMS users. However, I have never actually asked what features you should look for in a content management system. And that is what I will address here.

When I left home for university my mother taught me a valuable lesson. If you want to save money, never go grocery shopping when you are hungry, and always write a list. If you don’t, you’ll be tempted to buy things you don’t need.

The same principle is true when it comes to selecting a content management system. Without a clearly defined set of requirements, you will be seduced by fancy functionality that you will never use. Before you know it, you’ll be buying an enterprise-level system for tens of thousands of dollars when a free blogging tool would have done the job.

How then do you establish your list of requirements? Although your circumstances will vary, here are ten things that are particularly important.

1. Core functionality

When most people think of content management, they think of creating, deleting, editing and organizing pages. They assume all content management systems do this and so take that functionality for granted. However, that is not necessarily the case. Nor is there any guarantee that such functionality will be presented in an intuitive way.

Not all blogging platforms, for example, allow the owner to manage and organize pages in a tree hierarchy. Instead, individual “posts” are automatically organized by such criteria as date and category. In some cases, this is perfectly adequate. In fact, this limitation in functionality keeps the interface simple and easy to understand. However, in other circumstances, the limitation can be frustrating.

Consider carefully the basic functionality you need. Even if you do not require the ability to structure and organize pages now, you may in future. Be wary of any system that does not allow you to complete these core tasks.

Also ask yourself how easy it is to complete these tasks. There are literally thousands of content management systems on the market, the majority of which offer this core functionality. However, they vary hugely in usability. Always test the system for usability before making a purchase.

2. The editor

The editor is one core feature worth particular attention. The majority of content management systems have a WYSIWYG editor. Strangely, this editor is often ill-conceived, despite the fact that it is the most used feature within the system.

The editor is the interface through which content is added and amended. Traditionally, it has also allowed the content provider to apply basic formatting, such as font and color. However, developers have recently moved away from this type of editor to something that reflects best practice.

The danger of traditional WYSIWYG editors is two-fold. First, content providers are given too much control over the design. They are able to customize the appearance of a page so much that they undermine the consistency of the design and branding. Secondly, in order to achieve this level of design control, the CMS mixes design and content.

The new generation of editors takes a different approach. Content providers use the editor to mark up headings, lists, links and other elements, without specifying how they should appear.

Ensure your list of requirements includes an editor designed on this principle and that does not give content providers control over the appearance. At the very least, look for content management systems that allow the editor to be replaced with a more appropriate solution.

The editor should also be able to handle external assets, including images and downloadable files. That brings us to our next point: management of these assets.

3. Managing assets

Management of images and files is badly handled in some CMS’. Badly designed systems can frustrate users with poor accessibility and usability. Images in particular can cause problems. Ensure that the content management system you select forces content providers to add <alt> attributes to images. You may also want a CMS that provides basic image editing tools, such as cropping, resizing and rotating. However, finding one that does this can be a challenge.

Also, consider how the content management system deals with uploading and attaching PDFs, Word documents and other files. How are they displayed to end users? Can descriptions be attached to the files, and is the search function capable of indexing them?

4. Search

Search is an important aspect of any website. Approximately half of all users start with search when looking for content. However, the search functionality in content management systems is often inadequate.

Here are a few things to look for when assessing search functionality:

  • Freshness: how often does the search engine index your website? This is especially important if your website changes regularly.
  • Thoroughness: does it index the entire content of each page? What about attached files, such as PDFs and Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents?
  • Speed: some search engines can take ages to return results. This is especially common on large websites.
  • Scope: can you limit the scope of the search function to a particular section of the website or refine search results once returned?
  • Ranking: how does the search engine determine the ranking of results? Can this be customized by either the website owner or user?
  • Customization: can you control how results are displayed and customize the design?

The issue of customization, of course, goes far beyond search.

5. Customization

I have had the misfortune of working with content management systems that are completely inflexible in their presentation.

Your content’s presentation should not be dictated by technology. It is simply not necessary now that we have techniques to separate design and content. Unfortunately, like some Web designers, many CMS developers have not adopted best practices and have created systems that produce horrendous code. This puts unreasonable constraints on the design and seriously impacts accessibility.

You need a content management system that allows flexibility in the way content is retrieved and presented. For example, can you retrieve news stories in reverse chronological order? Can you display events in a calendar? Is it possible to extract the most recent user comments and display them on the home page? Flexibility makes a CMS stand out.

Speaking of user comments, all forms of user interaction are worth mentioning.

6. User interaction

If you intend to gather user feedback, your CMS must provide that functionality or allow a third-party plug-in to provide it. Equally, if you want to host a community on your website, then you will require functionality such as chat, forums, comments and ratings.

At a minimum, you will need to be able to post forms and collect responses. How easy does the CMS make this process? Can you customize fields or does that require technical expertise? What about the results? Can you specify who they are emailed to? Can they be written to a database or outputted as an Excel document? Consider the kind of functionality you need and look for a CMS that supports it.

Also ask what tools exist for communicating with customers. Can you send email newsletters? Can recipients be organized into groups that receive different mailings? What about news feeds and RSS?

Finally, consider how you want to manage users. Do you need to be able to reset passwords, set permissions or export user information to other systems?

But user permissions are not the only things that need managing. You should also consider permissions for those editing the website.

7. Roles and permissions

As the number of content providers on your website increases, you will want more control over who can edit what. For example, one group may need to be able to post job advertisements but not add content to the home page. This requires a content management system that supports permissions. Although implementation varies, permissions normally allow you to specify whether users can edit certain pages or even entire sections of the website.

When Choosing The Perfect CMS

As the number of contributors grows still further, you may require one person to be able to review content being posted to ensure accuracy and consistency in tone. Alternatively, content may be inputted by a junior staff member who requires the approval of a more senior person before making it live.

In both cases, you’ll need a CMS that supports multiple roles. This can be as simple as having one “Editor” and one “Approver” role, or more complex with customized roles and different levels of permission.

Finally, enterprise-level content management systems support entire workflows in which page updates have to go through a series of checkpoints before going live. These complex scenarios require the ability to roll back pages to previous versions.

8. Versioning

Being able to revert to a previous version of a page allows you to quickly recover if something is posted by accident.

Some content management systems have complex versioning functionality that allows you to roll back to a specific date. However, in most cases, this is overkill. The most common use of versioning is simply reverting to the last saved state.

Although this sounds like an indispensable feature, in my experience it is rarely used expect in complex workflow situations. That said, although versioning was once a enterprise-level tool, it is becoming available in more and more content management systems.

The same can be said of of multi-website support.

9. Multiple website support

With more content management systems allowing you to run multiple websites from the same installation, I would recommend this as a must-have feature.

Although you may not currently need to be able to manage more than a single website, that could easily change. You may decide to launch a new website to target a narrower audience.

And with the growth of the mobile Web, you may want to create a separate website especially for mobile devices. Whatever the reason, having the flexibility to run multiple websites is important.

Things To Consider When Choosing The Perfect CMS

Another feature you might not require immediately but may in future is multilingual support.

10. Multilingual support

It is easy to dismiss support for multiple languages. Your website may specifically target the domestic market, or you may sell a language-specific product. But think twice before dismissing this functionality.

Even if your product is language-specific, that could change. It is important that your CMS be able to grow with your business and evolving requirements.

Also, just because you are targeting the domestic market doesn’t mean you can ignore the issue of language. We live in a multicultural society in which numerous languages are spoken. Being able to accommodate these differences gives you a significant edge over the competition.

That said, do think through the ramifications first. Having the ability to add multiple languages doesn’t mean you have the content for them. Too many of my clients have insisted on multilingual support and yet never used it because they neglected to consider how they were going to get their content translated or pay for it.

Conclusion

Consideration of features is an important part of the process of selecting a CMS, but it is not everything. It is also important to consider issues such as licensing, support, accessibility, security, training and much more.

I leave you with a word of warning: don’t let your list of requirements become a wish list. Keep your requirements to a minimum, but at the same time keep an eye on the future. It’s a fine line to walk. On the one hand, you don’t want to pay for functionality you will never use. On the other, you don’t want to be stuck with a content management system that no longer meets your needs.

 

As a leading national marketing service and advertising agency, we specialize in creating maximum results for our clients through search engine optimization, creative advertising, graphic design and digital media as well as a full line of creative services for traditional and emerging media platforms. Houston Website Design Services by Socialfuel.