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Should external links open in a new window?  This is one conversation that consistently comes up in my place of employment.

The Case for Opening Links in a New Window

The argument is that you don’t want to have visitors leave your website.  Opening links in a new window means they remain on your site and can easily go back to your website. In theory, visitors will go to the external link and then close that window and go back to page on your website they were just viewing.

I have a lot of problems with this argument and strongly believe that links (unless otherwise highlighted) should always open in the same window.

Don’t Break the Back Button

By opening a link in a new window, you create a new instance of the browser and remove all of that person’s recent browsing history that previously was accessible via the Back button. Most users rely on the back button when navigating the web. (more…)

Once a month, Drawar has a new subject that members can re-design for fun.  This month’s version2 project was Website Analytics.

Target: A analytics page that shows the statistics of a website. This could be pageviews, unique visitors, bounce rate, etc. Basically anything you find on your analytics page can be included. If you need examples, there are a ton of analytics packages on the web. Although you might like your current one, see what you can do if you re-envision it.

I’m a little late to the party, but I finally sat down and mocked something up.  I used Coda for my code editor and Pixelmator as my Image editor.  This was my first time using Pixelmator, so I apologize if the images aren’t top notch.  In total, I spent about 3 hours mocking up and creating this web page.  Nothing actually functions in it, it’s simply a working mock-up.  Finally, I only tested it in Safari, so no promises on what will happen on other browsers. (more…)

I was reading Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, an excellent book by the way, and it opens with the following quote from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

I could perhaps like others have astonished you with strange improbable tales; but I rather chose to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest manner and style; because my principal design was to inform you, and not to amuse you.

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Overview

The following is a plan created to walk through the process of redesigning a website.  It is broken up into 8 individual phases.  The plan is designed so that a phase must be completed before moving on to the next phase.  Each phase also includes a final step of reviewing and documenting.

Phase 1: Discovery

In Phase 1, the primary goal is to collect the data that will be used to move forward in the project.  This includes analyzing the current website using web analytics and reviewing current web trends.  It’s also important to interview the individuals and community who currently uses your website.  During this phase, it’s important to not have too many assumptions, just a primary goal of information gathering.  By the end of this phase, you should have a document that will help answer questions moving forward.

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