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CHAPTER 5 WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
further reading ...
The following links take you to content that supplements and updates this chapter of the book. Note that
I’ve included some articles that are a few years old ... don't let their publication date put you off - they are
still relevant now. The most recent posts are at end of each section.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
GO ONLINE *page 94* Out of date?
GO ONLINE *page 94* WordPress’s Anatomy of a Great Business Website
GO ONLINE *page 95* When you're inside the bottle, you can't read the label
GO ONLINE *page 95* Domain names and website hosting
Ten years of page bloat: What have we learned? is about page size.
The most pertinent paragraph in looking ahead – an article that considers the future of website design – is;
‘Achieving the business goals of our employers while simultaneously improving the lives of our users ... will be the Next Big Thing in web design and development’.
I should be pleased at this notion – but I’m not. Sadly, it serves to prove that there always has been a disconnect between website development [techies/designers] and marketers. You see, since 1996 I – and others – have been saying that ‘ACHIEVING THE BUSINESS GOALS OF OUR EMPLOYERS WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY IMPROVING THE LIVES OF OUR USERS’ should be the primary objective of ALL commercial websites.
How much does a web page cost? is a bit old ... but still valid - though you will have to inflate the cost figures quoted. I like this article because [a] I spent some time selling websites and a lot of people think they should come free with a box of cereals, and [b] some folk find it hard to appreciate cost analysis. Note, however, this piece does not include any other costs, both fixed and/or variable.
Mobile vs. Desktop: Visits and Search Trends - spoiler: websites are visited most on PCs.
Although I covered the subject of How browser rendering works in earlier editions of the book, I left it out of this one. On reflection that might be a mistake as this is stuff every digital marketer should know.
I wholeheartedly endorse the conviction behind management for humans’: the BBC’s Em Ledger on meeting user needs - but then I would do ... it is [more or less] what I - and others - have been saying since around 1996.
In earlier editions of this book I covered this subject - Menu-Design Checklist: 17 UX Guidelines - but elected to leave out for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I had a fixed total word count and new stuff [eg in social media] meant some old stuff had to go, and second that I thought that everyone in web design already new all of this. Sadly, I was wrong on the second point.
5.2 WEB PRESENCE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
SNIPPET The voice of a website – some examples …
Pepper spray, chair attacks and two knobs is from Dave Harland's The Word email newsletter [you should subscribe to it]. This one includes a 'tone of voice toolkit'.
Since 1996 I have been having a rant about the role of ‘techies’ in online marketing. I’ve always argued that effective digital marketing has to be a collaborative effort between all the necessary skills. More lately, I thought the situation had improved – then I read this article which trumpets such collaboration [at the New York Times] as ‘a paradigm shift’ and that braking down its martech and engineering silos resulted in ‘gains [that] were too productive not to merge them’. Hmmmm … maybe: [a] many organizations are still behind the loop on this issue [if so, why?], or [b] I really was ahead of my time back then [I wasn’t]. Here’s why The New York Times broke down its martech and engineering silos.
Army's £113m recruitment website 'was 52 months late' is an example of how things can go wrong - and how much websites can cost [though 113 million pounds does seem excessive].
Although Cleo, a chatbot case study: Why brands need to be cautious with comedy personas is not about 'voice' of a website specifically - it does cover the subject.
Gerry McGovern and I have been singing from the same hymn sheet for around 25 years, with his articles always being worth your time - if you're in a rush, just read the last two paragraphs of The dangers of exceptionalism. Oh, and I've put it in this section as it is more about management than it is about website design. Another one from the author of Skills of a great digital designer.
The book mentions content management systems – why we care about traditional content management systems, the original no-code tool tells you much more about them.
Three reasons your company has missed the whole point of corporate digital communications is actually just one of a series of linked articles. Although the focus is on corporate sites, I think the issues are relevant to all sites, but I’ve put it here as it is a strategically focused.
Don't be put off by the title of Data is out of control: the story of COVID and airborne transmission - it uses a serious example of why online content must be updated [that is, managed].
Your boring corporate home page is putting people off - and from the same source How not to annoy customers on your corporate website. Don't be put off by the corporate bit ... many of the observations and tips apply to all websites.
5.3 USABILITY
GO ONLINE *page 104* A series of two-minute videos from the Nielsen Norman Group that explain a number of aspects of UX issues ...
The term UX
Designers are Not Users
Design thinning
Flat Design Decreases User Efficiency
Hamburger Menus Hurt UX Metrics
UX challenges in designing for Millennials
Emotional Design
Logo Placement Affects Web Navigation and Brand Recall
What is Omnichannel UX?
Ideation doesn't waste time, it saves time
GO ONLINE *page 111* Inclusive design
From the early days of the web I have argued that if a user can't work a website they're not stupid - the developer is. This mantra is mirrored in Steve Krug's excellent 2000 book on usability; Don't make me think. Since then, I've used the phrase every time I see trendy web design that is good in the developer's head - but not in real life. That 62% of shoppers that struggle to complete purchases abandon their carts and 52% of digital consumers left to shop with a competitor is the message to developers everywhere: as I've been saying since 1996 ... it's the customers that pay the developers' wages. No sales = no income = no jobs.
Visual Hierarchy in UX - the page’s visual hierarchy controls the delivery of information from the system to the end user — it lets users know where to focus their attention.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design could be in other sections of this chapter - but it does focus on usability. It's a good read, but one thing I do not think it empahsises is the objective of the website and whose site it is. For example, you would expect a fashion designer's website to have more aesthetic appeal than, say, that of a local government department. The same could be said of Web Design Trends and Statistics 2021 - and would also add that much of this advice is similar to what was common knowledge/opinion at the turn of the century.
I've been going on about Design for the Elderly for so long that I have now joined the ranks of the elderly!
If you can get past the fact that Why web accessibility must be a staple offering among agencies’ services is actually an advert – there’s some good stuff in it.
Infinite Scrolling: When to Use It, When to Avoid It
Brands could lose fickle Gen Zers over poor digital experiences concentrates on e-commerce - but the message is the same for any kind of site.
How to make web accessibility a part of digital marketing efforts.
E-Commerce Pros Are Failing to Optimize Site Search concentrates on e-commerce but I cover the subject here - though I also give it a mention in the next chapter.
I have included Scrolljacking 101 for just one reason ... and that is to ask why on earth you would do this to your website - or more specifically, to your website's users? I think it is an example of designers doing something just because they can.
I've put Table of Contents: The Ultimate Design Guide in this section, though it could easily belong in basics, below. I think website design should start with this, but it is too often the last.
My opinion on Icon Usability: When and How to Evaluate Digital Icons is that they're used by designers for the aesthetics of the page ... I'm happy with a simple word which is clear to everyone.
There's some interesting stuff in Alt Text: Not Always Needed. I think every website developer should know this ... but I'll most don't. Why? It's not sexy. Note that this subject is also included in the previous chapter on SEO.
5.4 THE BASICS
I have included SEO How-to, Part 8: Architecture and Internal Linking here to make the point about the importance of SEO to website development. Notice how in this article the structure of the website is emphasized for SEO purposes. I would argue that the website should have such a structure for usability purposes - with the bonus that it also increases SEO. Customers come first. Ironically, the SEs know this - it's why they 'reward' good structure.
Does your website still matter in a mobile world?
How to Draw a Wireframe [Even if You Can’t Draw] takes my site architecture several steps further.
You could consider Core Web Vitals: Google is not backing down in the fight against the slow web to be part of SEO - but it's just good web development practice.
I’ve included The Dos and Don’ts of Pairing Typefaces simply as an example that there is more to the development of effective websites than meets the eye.
Consumer’s reasons for abandoning a digital transaction or task could – or maybe should – be in the next chapter [on e-commerce], but I think the issues in Slow Page Load Times Drive Customers and Visitors Away are relevant to all websites, not just retail sights.
How to build a better website architecture.
The Anatomy of a Good Design: An Analysis of 4 Sites.
In this section I cover online credibility - the author of Why SEOs should focus on creating trust might have read a previous edition of the book or attended one of my sessions on the subject :-).
The issues raised in Achieving lift-off with your relaunch apply equally to new websites - note that it starts with website objectives. Now where have I seen that before?
I don't cover this issue in the book because it is, well, pretty basic [and its been around since websites first existed]. And yet I witness the problem so often online ... see 404 pages: Best practices and examples from 50+ brands.
I find it interesting that articles like Homepage Design: 5 Fundamental Principles are still published ... this because folk like me were saying pretty much the same back in the late 1990s - probably around the time the author of this article was born :-).
I've put Why 90’s Designs Are Coming Back here, though it could be in the previous section. I would argue that there may be a return to 90's design [I was there] because it works.
For those of you that don't know, What Is User Experience (and What Is It Not)? is from the experts in User Experience.
5.5 CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
I could put links to the work of Drayton Bird in just about every chapter of the book where the subject includes writing some kind of copy or content. I've decided to make do with
The best job seeking letter I have ever read
as it could be valuable to students - or anyone - looking for work. If you want more from Mr Bird, have a look around his website [at the time of writing he was offering an excellent deal on some of his books].
SNIPPET *PAGE 126* The Gobbledygook Manifesto
GO ONLINE *page 128* Words aren’t free
Although the concept is quite popular, in the text I don’t mention customer personas – though what I do say is very similar to the notion. In Back to the Basics: The Importance of Buyer Personas take particular notice of the list of car rental customers and you’ll see why I say this.
GO ONLINE *page 133* Smile!
Sorry, the article on cost of images has been removed from the web.
A 6 minute video from [probably] the expert in the subject area - Virtual Reality and User Experience
15 Photoshop Tutorials for Product Photography reads rather like an ad for Photoshop, but I've included it here just to show what might be involved in developing images for a website. Obviously, the more images on a site, the more it is an issue - a big e-commerce site, for example.
Presentation, Explainer Videos Remain Popular.
I’ve included How to hire quality content writers as an example of what is involved in writing effective content – and why you shouldn’t do it yourself.
Don't assume that Content Strategy 101 is about content marketing - it isn't, it's about the development of website content.
The ethics of AI writing and the need for a ‘human in the loop’ is a very reasoned argument on the subject.
I like website content like this Evoke Classics about us ... but be very careful before trying it. It MUST reflect the ethos of the organization.
In chapter two I talk about AIDA ... the author of How to create content for every stage of the customer journey has based her article on that model ... but without referencing - or mentioning - it, which I think is a shame and I have to wonder if it is a deliberate omission, or if she isn't aware of the 100 year old model [see part 2 of my and finally in chapter one].
This work's summary says all; 'Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to develop processes, standards, and strategies for effective content' ... see Content Strategy: Study Guide.
5.6 THE GLOBAL WEB PRESENCE
SNIPPET *page 139* Languages online
The following articles on China are a few years old. Have 'Western' Internet use and practices caught up - or is online behaviour just different in Asia and the West? China makes customer experience in the West feel outdated, Digital China in 2019: Trends and recommendations and The best digital marketing stories in China: May 2019
Modify Your Design for Global Audiences: Crosscultural UX Design.