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[U178]User Experience Web Design

by Christine Anderssen, Chr

So, let's explore why web designers are like ogres.

Firstly, let's see why we say that websites are like onions, with layers, in the first place - since this is the whole raison d'etre of my argument.

~Websites have an outer layer~
This is the graphical look and feel of the site. This is normally what most people think of when they refer to 'web design'. In order to create this your common, or garden, web design ogre needs to have an artist's eye and a designer's skill with tools such as Photoshop or Fireworks. The graphical web designer needs to have insight into the latest web design styles, He needs to be able to wield shades and shadows and meld them into Web 2.0 flavored onion soup. Preferably soup not made with eyeballs.

~The second layer of a website is the structure~
The structure could be determined through some method such as functional decomposition, where the web designer might start with the main function (home page) and break the site into manageable sub sections so that he ends up with a clear idea of the scope of the site as well as the internal structure. So here your web designer needs to have some knowledge of basic Software Engineering principles. But even more than that, once the main functions of the site have been designed, the functions need to be married to the graphical design in such a way that the system is usable. A knowledge of the principles of good web design and usability (ala Nielson - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html), and a familiarity with the site http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ to learn how to avoid making mistakes such as 'mystery meat navigation', is essential.

~The third layer of a website is the dynamic and interactive elements~
Frontpage and Photoshop can only bring you so far. Your web design ogre might find that he simply has to go and kill a couple of nerdy programmers to steal their reference manuals: PHP and MySQL for Dynamic websites, AJAX and PHP - Building responsive Web Applications. And he'd better know that Ruby on Rails is not a gem on a train track.

~Then we get to the content~
The website needs to be filled with good, quality content. Sometimes you are lucky and your client gives you good content. Other times, you'd better start rewriting the techno-speak and corporate waffle and ask your client gently if he can state five benefits of their services. So, a good knowledge of copywriting and a command over the English language will not come in amiss.

So, we have the layers that make a website. The core, though, is the marketing strategy.

~Marketing Strategy~
We all know that it is NOT just a case of 'build it and they will come'. The website needs to be marketed and it can only be marketed if the underlying SEO principles have been kept in mind right from the start - in other words, links are easily followed by humans as well as search engines, all pages have meaningful titles, keywords are gently worked into the content of the pages. Apart from that, someone needs to take the marketing budget allocated to the website (all websites have a marketing budget, right?) and use that marketing budget to get the best ROI for the site - decide on the best Internet Marketing strategies for building links and traffic and then go forth and execute (the strategy, that is).

Now, my question is: Is it fair to expect one person to have all these skills?

Years ago when I studied 'Computer Science' there was basically one job title to aspire for and that was 'Systems Analyst'. If you worked for a really big corporate they might have distinguished between System Analyst and Programmer. (And there was also a career called 'Punch Operator', which strangely enough, has disappeared since today we all are supposed to do our own punching...) And yes, I suppose the 'System Analyst' of that time was supposed to do everything - analyze, build, test, deliver and support the system.

But... tempers fuggit.... 'That was then, this is now.'

Today, there are myriad career paths available for the aspiring math's whiz-kid who sits down for an aptitude test. Anything from Business Analyst to Test Manager to Network Administrator to IT Technician....

And BTW, if you are a COBOL programmer, you are a COBOL programmer. You know COBOL; that is what you do. Nobody would expect you to sort out the DNS entries for the company intranet server.

But the same specialization doesn't seem to have filtered through to the web design arena. I saw a job description just today for a 'web developer' who is supposed to have the following skills: Photoshop, Fireworks, Flash, Swish, .net, C#, MSAccess, SQL design experience, ASP, VB, .net, HTML, DHTML, ASP, XML, CSS, Java script and VB script. And this poor sod is supposed to also maintain networks and troubleshoot Windows servers. And wait for it - this paragon of a web design ogre will be paid what practically constitutes a minimum wage in the IT world. And this is in the corporate world, where they should really know better and where they can actually afford to appoint specialists.

If you are a web design freelancer working for yourself, you'd better be sure that you are well versed in all the skills that go into building the layers of a website...or you'd better start working on a plan to build strategic partnerships with other specialist freelancers. This will allow yourself some freedom to specialize in whichever aspects of web design that you enjoy the most, as well as offer the opportunity to others to do the same.

If you are connected to the Internet, chances are adware (also spelled by some as "ad ware")has had some sort of impact on you or your system. Whether or not these encounters with adware were a positive or negative one is up to the user to decide. The goal of this article isto simply help distinguish the optimistic and pessimistic elements of adware.

The Negative Affects of Adware:

For most people, the negative characteristics of adware are nothing but obvious. People's primary problem with adware is its ability to randomly pop up advertisements on your system. Not only that, but adware also has a reputation of decreasing the speed and performance of computer's.

Digressing from the functionality aspect of adware, people have also become very frustrated in trying to remove adware. From restarting the computer, to Internet-suggested manual methods, to virus scans, some adware will just not seem to go away, no matter what people do. In these situations, it seems the only proven solution to removing adware is to reformat the computer and then just reinstall everything, which is usually considered a bad alternative.

With these points being said, a lot of people can probably agree with the fact of adware having qualities that most do not appreciate. In fact, some people may have some of their own personal grudges in regards to adware that weren't discussed, but these are just the primary frustrations people have. So, if adware causes all of these problems to people and their computers, you may be wondering how on earth it can have any positive traits whatsoever. As crazy as it sounds, below will discuss the positive traits of adware.

Adware and the Good it has Provided:

Think about this: have you ever got something off of the Internet for free (legally, of course) and the owner of whatever you downloaded asked you for a donation? That being said, did you ever give any donations? And no, donating your time to visit their site and use their software doesn't count. It would be a good guess to say most people won't donate any money to download stuff for free. Enter adware's positive role.

For the majority of the time, where there is adware, there is money to be made. Since monetary contributions usually do not cover all of the costs from free downloads, advertisers are throw down the offer to contribute money. In return, they simply ask the download distributors to add their adware with whatever they are offering. Since this is probably the best alterative for the developer (minus spending his/her own money), (s)he agrees to bundle the adware and in return, you are allowed to download whatever is being offered for free.

So there you have it, adware does in fact serve a positive aspect to the Internet. It doesn't matter if you do or do not utilize free downloads, because so many people already do. Having said that, adware is responsible for making so many downloads available for free.

Article Source : Human Resource Management Development

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Both Christine Anderssen & Josh George are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Christine Anderssen has sinced written about articles on various topics from About Web Hosting, Computers and The Internet and Marketing. Christine Anderssen is a web design ogress of multiple talents. You can find her at and. Christine Anderssen's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.

Josh George has sinced written about articles on various topics from Adware, Online Security and Holidays. . Josh George's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.