Archive: Web Usability

Yahoo! Homepage Re-Design and Your Homepage Re-Design

Last Updated by Man Tran

About the new Yahoo homepage and using web analytics data to guide homepage and website redesign

Recently (October 2012), the Internet, including CNET, TechCrunch and Business Insider all had articles about the upcoming re-designed Yahoo homepage under the new CEO Marissa Mayer. The responses for the new (not launched yet) homepage were mixed; while many praised the new design for its leaner arrangement and more search-focused, others thought the changes were not significant, not worth mentioning or implementing etc. This article will give you a brief overview of the said changes, but more importantly a possible explanation for the grounds for those changes as well as the strategies that Yahoo is adopting through the new design.  Read more...


Test Your Website Usability in 10 Seconds

Last Updated by Michelle Sullivan

Don’t have a lot of time to test your website usability? How about do it in 10 seconds or less?

Website usability

I originally named this post Test Your Website Usability in 60 Seconds (influenced by title of the movie Gone in 60 Seconds). However, after thinking twice, I realized web users today (in the age of Google) no longer have that kind of patience when surfing the web. They often give a website less chance and less time; in fact, users only spend 10 seconds or less trying to search for information. If your website fails to present them what they need during this short window of time, they can just leave and click on the next result on the search result page.  Read more...


Flash Website And Search Engines

Last Updated by Michelle Sullivan

All Flash website — what you want may not always good for your business.

Web usability | Flash website is not always good.

As a member in the marketing team, you may be responsible for either designing or coordinating the design process of the new website. You may want a complete Flash-based website because many of your clients have Flash websites, and you really like the interactive, animated site navigation, and the visual effects including the page transitions on each and every page. Well, that’s what you like, but is it good for your online marketing and for your business as a whole?  Read more...


Web metrics: Average Time on Site: The Longer The Better?

Last Updated by Michelle Sullivan

Sorry to hear that your viewers stay on your website so long!

Web usability | Viewer's longer stay - not always a good thing

The story

A marketing/web coordinator has just finished his first web traffic analysis and report, and he is very pleased with the company website performance / web metrics in the last few months. The best item of all he thinks is the “Average time on site” item — telling him how long on average his viewers stay on the site. It’s about 5 minutes, so people must find his company website interesting and stay long to find more information.  Read more...


Web metrics: Website traffic – The More The Better?

Last Updated by Michelle Sullivan

With this post and some other posts about web usability and web metrics I take a different approach. Instead of going straight to the point and talking about web metrics and web usability, I chose a lengthier but more unexpected route — telling story for a change. Hopefully, you find it useful and interesting to read.

Sorry to hear that your website has tons of traffic!

Web usability | High traffic - not always a good thing

The story

A web designer guaranteed his client “I’ll optimize your website so that in the next couple of months you’ll get tons of traffic to your online store!” A couple of months later, the client came back to see her designer and requested “Could you… somehow de-optimize the site so that it gets less traffic?” “Huh????”  Read more...