Tag Archives: innovation

d.Construct and Web 2.0

Posted in Reviews on by Paul Boag

Some random thoughts on the subject of the next generation of websites and my questions about how it will influence the mainstream.

So here I sit, at the d.Construct conference on Web 2.0, waiting for it to start. This seems like the perfect opportunity to jot down some random thoughts on the subject of the next generation of websites and my questions about how it will influence the mainstream.

What is Web 2.0? Hell if I know!

To be honest I do not want to be drawn into the debate about what makes something Web 2.0 and what does not. That kind of abstract discussion does not interest me. However, what is clear is that something is happening on the web and a new generation of slicker, user focused, and application like, websites are emerging.

How does Web 2.0 become mainstream?

What is of interest to me is how the innovations on these sites are going to filter down to your average rank-and-file website. Let’s face it, most of us aren’t involved in developing cutting edge websites that push the envelope of what is possible. We develop websites for businesses or organisations who have much more mundane objectives like making money, rather than spearheading technological development.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow as I am hoping this will help me to clarify how Web 2.0 can move to the mainstream. I have some initial ideas but I am not sure how commercially viable they will prove for my clients. For example, one of the driving forces behind Web 2.0 is AJAX and DOM scripting. These technologies provide the more “application like” experience we have come to expect from sites like Google Maps and Gmail. On these sites, you do not constantly have to wait for the page to reload. Instead, the whole user experience seems a lot “slicker”. However, when I sat down and thought about it I could not think of an easy way to “sell” this to my clients. What does it give them in real terms? In a few cases, I could see the value where you were dealing with ecommerce sites in a highly competitive marketplace. Small changes that improve the user experience can distinguish you from the competition. However, beyond that I could not imagine my clients paying more for this enhanced user experience.

Selling Web 2.0

I guess the latest time I went through this process was with the move to web standards. However, there I had a clear list of benefits I could take to my clients. With Web 2.0, AJAX, DOM scripting and the numerous other buzzwords currently flying about I cannot see as clearly defined benefits. I guess that at the end of the day it just might be a question of the herd mentality. You might be forced into making your site more application like because that is what everybody else is doing and it will look dated by comparison. However, this seems like a bit of a lame reason to upgrade.

Come on, help me out here. What cold hard business reasons are there for adding that slick, application like feel to your run-of-the-mill website?

The missing pillar of web design

Posted in Web strategy on by Paul Boag

After listening to the various podcasts coming out the Web Essentials conference this year it has made me think a lot about the nature of web design and the current state of the industry. Although there are some very exciting developments, I am concerned that we may be in danger of loosing some perspective.

Six Pillars of web design

For fear of stretching an analogy, I believe that there are six pillars of web design. Each pillar represents a fundamental part of any website development project and a successful site has an equal balance between all pillars.

These pillars are:

Usability

Usability is a well-recognised sphere of web development with many champions such as Steve Krug and Jacob Nielsen. Sites with bad usability suffer from poor rates of repeat traffic and failure by users to complete calls to action.

Accessibility

For the sake of this article, web accessibility refers to making your site accessible to the widest possible audience whether they are disabled, using old technology or alternative devices. This is a particularly popular area at the moment within the web design community, with a lot of effort being put into developing techniques to improve site accessibility.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics refers to the branded look and feel for a site. Covering colour schemes, styling and interface, aesthetics has a huge impact on how a users perceives a site. For a long time this was my far the most dominant pillar of web design but now it is seen by many as secondary.

Development

This pillar of web design is experiencing phenomenal growth, with ever more powerful "web applications" emerging. It covers web standards and AJAX as well as more traditional server side scripting.

Content

In many ways, this pillar is ignored by many web designers being considered "the clients problem". The reality is that content can make or break a website. Well-written, easy to read content combined with useful applications can go a long way to supporting an otherwise weak site.

Objectives

This is the missing pillar of web design. Often overlooked in the web design process and yet fundamental to any sites success. Why does the site exist? What is it trying to achieve? What returns on investment are required? These are all essential questions that are easy to ignore. Fundermentally this is the "business model" behind the site.

Since initially writing this article Alist Apart have published an excellent article on site objectives and strategies. It is definately worth a read.

Maintaining the balance

Problems arise when these pillars are not in balance. If one pillar is removed, or even if one pillar becomes greater than another does, then the whole structure becomes unstable.

Like in every other area of life, web design goes through "trends". From brochureware to flash, from web standards to AJAX, we are all prone to jumping on the bandwagon. Of course, in once sense this is a good thing. When we see other people’s groundbreaking work, it inspires us to innovate ourselves. We are seeing this with AJAX and Web 2.0. There is a lot of innovation happening around the "development pillar" and that is good to see. It should be applauded. However, we must be careful to ensure that this pillar does not become unbalanced with the others. I am seeing many web 2.0 applications that function wonderfully, degrade nicely, look stunning, but are at the end of the day are pointless, lacking a clear objective!

The sixth pillar

I hear a lot of grumbling in the web design community about clients. Our clients aren’t interested in accessibility or AJAX or web standards. Many see their clients as being ignorant and a barrier to progress. Although I am sure there is the odd ignorant client out there, I think the main problem is that they focus most heavily on the one pillar of web design we largely ignore… objectives.

They are concerned with the sites return on investment, whether that is in sales, leads, or brand awareness. They don’t care about accessibility unless it will help them achieve their objectives. They are not interested in the underlying technology if it won’t solve their business problems.

The holistic approach

So who is right? Are our client’s right to obsess about objectives and goals, or are we right focusing on accessibility and applications? The reality is that we should be taking a holistic approach to web design where we all at least keep an eye on the other pillars. Even if you specialise in accessibility you should not be blind to technology and equally if you specialise in technology it should not be at the expense of all else.

By maintaining an overview of all the pillars of web design, we are sure to keep them in balance and prevent too much bias towards any one area.

@Media2005

Posted in News on by Paul Boag

@Media 2005 was the first Web standards and accessibility conference here in the UK and only the second worldwide. The conference demonstrated a growing commitment to building accessible and standards friendly web sites.
So what came out of the conference and why will it affect the way we all build web sites.

I was fortunate enough to attend this two day conference and had the opportunity to listen to some of the leading figures in web design. They spoke about how the way we build web sites will change and how it will benefit us all, both users and site owners alike.

I have to confess I was totally inspired by the conference and so here are just some of my initial thoughts:

Taking standards based design the next step

I probably haven’t spoken about standards based design enough on this site before, but what I have written has hopefully explained that web standards are about separating content from design. This has a whole range of benefits including, but not limited to;

  • faster download time,
  • sites being easier to maintain or redesign,
  • greater accessibility,
  • available to a greater range of browsers and devices,
  • better print capability.

However what really inspired me was a talk by Jeremy Keith who took the idea one step further and suggested we also separated out behaviour from content.

If you have read my blog before you will know that I try and avoid technical jargon because there are enough people out there providing the technical detail. With that in mind I am not going to get into the specifics of DOM and Javascript and exactly what I mean by behaviour. However what I will say is that by separating out interactive / functional elements from your web site you gain a number of advantages. These include:

  • the ability to manage all of your functionality (such as popup windows etc.) from one central source,
  • a cleaner, more accessible web site that will still work even for people without the software to view the extra functionality,
  • the ability to add new functionality site wide without editing each page that the functionality needs to appear in.

The beauty of Design

Douglas Bowman gave two very inspiring sessions that raised a number of interesting points. One of the issues he touched on is something that is particularly close to my heart and something which I believe is fundamentally important to good web design. He spoke about our tenancy as designers to be constrained by the practicalities of web page construction and that this often stifles our creativity.

So many web sites look the same, not because they are trying to conform to design standards (which is something I whole heartedly support) but because the designers have an inability to think outside of the constraints of the medium. Douglas encouraged innovation where we design first and work out how to build it later. Only by taking this approach can we ensure not only the best design for the job but also that we are constantly pushing back the technical boundaries of web design.

The real face of accessibility

For a long time now I have accepted that we have a responsibility as web designers and indeed web site owners to ensure that our web sites are accessible to the widest possible audience. Indeed I routinely check my sites against web accessibility guidelines and fix individual little problems so they work better with speech browsers. However it wasn’t until a presentation by Robin Christopherson from Ability Net that I fully began to realise how impossible it is to browse the web as a blind user. Robin himself is blind and demonstrated some of the problems faced by blind users. He did a particularly compelling demonstration by attempting to navigate the Amazon.co.uk web site using a standard speech browser. Although I have tested pages before in speech browsers I don’t think I have ever attempted to achieve anything other than basic tasks. Robin’s demonstration was a real eye opener and has galvanised my commitment to creating truly accessible design.

Praise and criticism

For me this conference was a real turning point. I have to be honest that over the last few months I have become disillusioned with web design. As somebody that has been involved in the web since the early days I missed the challenge and excitement of those chaotic times. Somehow things had become very stale and sensible. However @media 2005 has made me realise that I have a real opportunity to shape the way the web develops in the future and make it a much more usable place for everybody.

I have read some comments that have critised the conference and in particular the speakers for being to insular. Some have expressed a sense that those speaking and running the conference were elitist in some way. Certainly they all seemed to be good friends but I would argue that their closeness is one of the reasons they have achieved so much. I have to confess I had a pang of envy that I was not one of the elite who inspired web designers worldwide and is forging the future of the web. However I quickly realised that it is down to people like me and you to implement these new methodologies on a daily basis if we are really going to achieve a more accessible web. You can have all the evangelists in the world but unless they win converts and those converts act on their new found convictions it means nothing. They have certainly made a convert out of me and I thank them for their inspiration and hard work.

Is it time to upgrade your web site?

Posted in Web strategy on by Paul Boag

How do you know when it’s time to upgrade your web site? Should you expect to have to upgrade your site regularly? This article gives you the answers.

How do you know when it’s time to upgrade your web site? You may be receiving recommendations to improve your site only months after it was initially launched. Can you really be expected to invest more money in your site so soon? The answer is probably not. However, it is important to understand that your web site is not a static entity that rarely changes. Like the Internet itself, your site should constantly expand and develop.

Why should I upgrade?

So why do I believe that your web site should be constantly developing? Surely once you have put your message out there that should be enough. Unfortunately things don’t work that way on the web.

Because brand loyalty is a thing of the past.

Unfortunately the very nature of the Internet is fast paced evolution. With millions of websites only a click away, the stakes are constantly being raised and somebody is always doing it bigger and better. Users are constantly expecting more and brand loyalty is a thing of the past. You constantly have to work to ensure your customers don’t click from you to your competition.

Because your site will appear neglected.

New possibilities on the web are emerging so rapidly that it is easy for your site to look out of date. Although it is not possible to keep up with every new innovation, you do need to keep up with the main trends. If you don’t, your site can appear to lack investment and that reflects badly on the perception of your company.

Because users behaviour changes

One of the consequences of the Internet being such a new medium is that users are still coming to grips with it. The way they navigate, read and interact with web sites is adapting to enable more efficient browsing. Users have come to anticipate navigation being found in a certain place. They have also grown to scan pages instead of reading them and to filter out unnecessary information such as advertising. It is important that your site takes into account these changing trends.

To ensure compatibility

Unfortunately a lot of mistakes were made in the early days of the web. A lot of web sites were developed without anticipating the rapid changes in technology. As a result the technologies employed were not always the best ones for the long term. In order to ensure that your web site can grow in the future it is necessary to upgrade now rather than later.

When to upgrade

So when do you upgrade? Below I provide a list of questions that should give you an indication of whether now is the time. If you find that the answer to many of these questions is yes then its probably time for you to improve your site.

  • Does your competition have functionality and features that you don’t have?
  • Does the design of your site look dated when compared to others?
  • Does your site fail to show new product lines or still feature out of date products?
  • Has your business model changed so that the content on your site is not relevant in many places?
  • Are users not staying on your site as long as they used to?
  • Are your visitors leaving after only a few pages?
  • Are the hits on your site failing because you are seeing less repeat traffic?
  • Are you seeing a drop in leads, contacts or sales through your web site?

Will I always be upgrading?

It can begin to feel like you are constantly making changes and improving your web site and to some extent that is how it should be at the moment. The Internet is still in its early stages and your web site has probably only been around a few years. People are still learning how best to use the web and the technology is still evolving.

However, it won’t be like this forever. As with any golden age, from the Industrial Revolution to the Renaissance, things will eventually slow down and equilibrium will be reached. Standards will be established and technology will develop less rapidly. Already many lessons have been learned and a longer term approach is being adopted.