Newsletter issue #50 - 1st May 2008
This issue
Hello and welcome to the May edition of the Webcredible newsletter!
In this issue:
- Feature article: Online persuasion - 7 ways to persuade people to buy
- Top tip: Provide calendars with date fields
- Useful program: IE Tester
- Top link: Google Accessible Search
- New articles in April
- Webcredible news in April
Enjoy!
Feature article: Online persuasion - 7 ways to persuade people to buy
Persuading people to buy online (from TVs to groceries, holidays to services) isn't as hard as you may think. It can usually be achieved with techniques that marketers and psychologists have known for years. Read through this month's feature article, implement our recommendations on to your site and watch online conversion rates soar!
Read this article in full at www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/online-persuasion.shtml.
Top tip: Provide calendars with date fields
Entering dates into websites can be an erratic business - it's very easy to enter the wrong date without realising, enter the right date in the incorrect format, or even not know off-hand what the desired date is. Most sites now offer a calendar feature, displaying the dates per month, allowing people to select their required dates more easily. Providing this calendar is a start, but do make sure it conforms to some basic usability guidelines:
- Don't open the calendar in a new window More and more browsers and toolbars have in-built pop-up blockers so do be careful about opening calendars in a new window. These pop-up blockers can of course stop the calendar from actually opening. Rather, have the calendar open as an overlay on the current screen, thereby preventing this problem from happening.
- Calendar functionality is easy-to-use A usable calendar should conform to a number of criteria. The next and previous buttons should always be in the same place for each month; the calendar should be easy to close if users decide they want to instead manually type in the date; and invalid dates (e.g. days before the current date) should be greyed out and impossible to select.
- Only provide a calendar for dates with a one year range A calendar works particularly well for travel bookings as there's typically only a choice of days within the next year. It doesn't work so well when the choice of dates is far greater than 365, for example with a date of birth field. It can be frustrating for users to have to hit the previous buttons hundreds of times to get to the correct day, month and year for their birthday.
Useful program: IETester
IETester is a free web browser that contains 4 different versions of Internet Explorer, from 5.5 through to 8. Now you can test websites in multiple versions of Internet Explorer all through just one browser!
Access this useful program at www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
Top link: Google Accessible Search
Google Accessible Search is basically a Google web search which includes the accessibility of websites into its algorithm. This basically means the more accessible your website is the higher up it'll be in these search results.
Check it out at labs.google.com/accessible.
New articles in April
Read these and many other articles at www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources.
Webcredible news in April
- Webcredible to exhibit and present at Internet World
- We're recruiting a user experience consultant!
Read these news stories in full at www.webcredible.co.uk/about-us/latest-news.shtml.
Training courses
Courses continue to sell out well in advance! Our next training courses will take place in our training centre in Aldgate, London in May, June & July:
- Writing for the web training - Monday 19th May, Monday 23rd June & Monday 21st July. For more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our writing for the web training page.
- Web usability training - Tuesday 20th May, Tuesday 24th June & Tuesday 22nd July. For more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our web usability training page.
- Usability testing training - Wednesday 21st May, Wednesday 25th June & Wednesday 23rd July. For more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our usability testing training page.
- Web accessibility training - Wednesday 21st May, Wednesday 25th June & Wednesday 23rd July. For more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our web accessibility training page.
- Intermediate CSS training - Thursday 22nd May, Thursday 26th June & Thursday 24th July. For more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our intermediate CSS training page.
- Advanced CSS training - Friday 23rd May, Friday 27th June & Friday 25th July. For more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our advanced CSS training page.
About Webcredible
Based in London, UK, Webcredible is a user experience consultancy. Tailor-made usability, accessibility & design solutions include:
- User-centered design
- Accessible web design
- CMS services
- Usability
- Accessibility
- Training
- Website review lite
Please contact us on 0870 242 6095 or info at webcredible.co.uk, or consult www.webcredible.co.uk for further information.