WebProNews

Bad Content Equals Bad Sales

What I like about Jakob Nielsen's posts most is the grumpy-old-man-ness in the underlying tone. It makes me almost think he's family. But along with the why-doesn't-anybody-ever-listen-to-me attitude comes some sage-like advice. This time it's about how bad content trumps other design flaws in terms of what's bad for business.But before that, it's about elevator buttons:   

Search in the Third Dimension

The quote on the home page of SpaceTime is intriguing: "I think I've found a product that makes the Google interface look like it was designed by Apple." Rob Enderle, Enderle Group.

Web 2.0 Could Be Bad For Business

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen warns against believing all the Web 2.0 hype when designing with the end-user in mind. While some 2.0 features can help, the majority of sites should focus on mastering the 1.0 aspects that users know and love.The problem, as Nielsen sees it, is that companies follow too much what the hot trends are, and as a result create sites that are unnecessarily complicated or offer little benefit to the average user.

This Article Is Too Long

To make a long story short, people naturally prefer short, easy-to-digest articles over long, comprehensive articles, but to get the best literary diet, readers often mix the two and so should you.

Say Goodbye To Ye Olde Editorial Process

There may always be a place for paper. This isn't about that – the likelihood that print is on the verge of extinction – but rather how a new generation of editors and writers present the news in a digital world. The new format for news – there must always be a standard eventually – is evolving, as dinosaurs wheeze and choke.

Hey, Shakespeare! Nobody Cares; Web Writing Tips

Writing for the Web is tricky business because there is no audience more diverse. Writers, especially purist writers (I'm pointing at myself both accusatorily and guiltily), are stubborn, especially ones honed in a print world where the appropriate audience finds you or rejects in distant silence, and writers (secretly) want you to bask in their brilliance.

If It Looks Like An Ad They Ignore It

If you were specifically looking for the population of the United States, you'd notice the big red numbers in the upper right corner of the US Census Bureau homepage right? Not so fast. A recent eye-tracking study suggests you've been trained to ignore things like that.

If It Looks Like An Ad, They're Not Looking At It

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen dropped a few bombshells in his latest Alert Box usability report. Banner blindness isn't exactly a new topic – everybody knows by now it exists – but the results of this study suggest that ad network placements aren't worth a warm pitcher of spit.

Will The SERP Be Reinvented?

The search engine results page (SERP) has been largely the same for the past decade. But Google's foray into Universal Search and Ask.com's recent unleashing of 3D search have people wondering if we're in for a new era, a new look.

Jakob Nielsen Hates Blog Posts, Comments

Little quick-hit blog posts (should we call them blosts?) and comments left on other blogs don't do enough to attract truly desirable customers to sites.