Web production tips

This page will chronicle a growing collection of web production tips.

Suggest new topics!

Email me some topics, if you have any in mind! Some that have already been suggested are (1) guidelines on when to add a search engine or a discussion board to your web site and (2) a look at what happens when "design" goes overboard.

Current web tips

• Is your web site streamlining your business?
  One often neglected feature of corporate web sites is their ability to enhance the effectiveness of key business processes.

• Are your designs backfiring?
  When designers rely solely on their own instincts, their designs can end up backfiring, especially on the web.

• Understanding web site traffic reports
  By learning the meanings of a few words like hit and visit, these reports can become much more useful and easy to understand.

• Is your web plan missing an audience chart?
  A web plan must identify key audiences and their needs. Without this information, the plan will surely miss the mark.

• Thinking critically about home pages
  Home pages are key in achieving site objectives. However, they are also some of the most misunderstood spots on the web.

• How to make printer-friendly web pages
  Making sure desktop printers handle your web site well is an often neglected aspect of building a great user-experience.

• Is a site-wide search tool right for your site?
  It is often easy to build a search engine into your site, but the problem arises when your site isn't ready for one.

• Getting noticed on the web – A case for good content
  What motivates your site visitors, other content producers, and search engines to refer to you in the first place?

• User-experience is the key to great web sites
  User experience considers presentation, organization, and interaction, and how each adds to the overall quality of the site.

• Writing and editing effectively for the web
  Web users put off reading for as long as they can. Instead, they scan. So, our web text must be edited for scanning, not reading.