Webesis.com Blog

Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes

2009-05-11T15:41:24Z

Great IA article. (#3) Missing Category Landing Pages and (#5) Subsites/Microsites Poorly Integrated with Main Site are the biggest challenges facing large, corporate sites in my experience, especially #3 which still comes up for debate when in my mind it's an obvious requirement from a usability perspective.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, May 11, 2009

Uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 ...

2009-04-13T15:04:11Z

Unfortunately I've had random ongoing issues w/ IE8 and have tried to uninstall it to no avail. I haven't tried this script, but hopefully it does the trick:

Uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 8

Mobile Web 2009 = Desktop Web 1998

2009-02-17T16:23:40Z

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, Feb. 17, 2009

Summary:
Mobile phone users struggle mightily to use websites, even on high-end devices. To solve the problems, websites should provide special mobile versions. (Ya think?)

Ok, this caught my eye, too: Alan Kay famously said that the Mac was "the first computer worth criticizing." Similarly, the iPhone is the first mobile Internet device worth criticizing. It's a starting point for mobile online-services access, not an endpoint.

Internet Explorer's share of the browser market fell below 70% in November

2009-01-02T16:23:34Z

http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/01/internet-explorers-share-of-th.html

Good User Experience Requires an Integrated View

2008-12-26T21:22:35Z

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/quality-correlations.html

"For users, however, the mix of good and bad design on the same site feels sloppy and like the site doesn't try hard enough to serve them." -- Hello?! Did I write this?!

About Us info on websites - what does your company do again?

2008-10-01T16:44:38Z

"We found a 9% improvement in the usability of "About Us" information on websites over the past 5 years. But companies and organizations still can't explain what they do in one paragraph."

Yet another one of those features on a corporate site that you have to include because users expect it to be there, but be succinct or don't bother ..

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox: About Us Information on Websites

Gee, that's too bad ..

2008-09-17T04:46:43Z

According to Mary Jo Foley ..

"From what admittedly little I had a chance to see, Windows 7 does not look or feel like a major departure from Windows Vista."

Where Sarah Palin stands on technology issues ..

2008-09-07T12:25:45Z

"While Gov. Palin is fairly new to the political scene nationwide, the Alaska native's stance on key topics may give clues into the policies she would support if she were elected Vice President."

BetaNews article

Google's new Chrome browser -- it's super fast!

2008-09-02T21:27:09Z

Download Google's new Chrome browser

I do see some issues with rollover links displaying properly on some of the sites I've built, but so far so GREAT! How's it working for you?

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is glitchy ..

2008-09-02T16:24:32Z

.. at least that's my experience. Drop-down menus and graphics aren't fully displaying and Web pages are loading slowly. I'm making Firefox my default browser for the time being (sorry, Microsoft). Anyone else having issues with IE 8 Beta 2 running under Vista?

According to this Computerworld article "IE8 is epically porcine," said Barth. "Microsoft has gone to epic levels of bloat."

Microsoft's IE8 Beta 2 hogs memory, says researcher

My machine has 2 gigs of RAM. Are you telling me that's not sufficient to run a stupid Web browser?!

Are site maps obsolete?

2008-09-02T16:00:21Z

The results of Jakob Nielsen's recent site map usability study as compared to one done 7 years ago suggests that while site maps have become more prevalent, most users don't use them. Nonetheless, in his infinite Web usability wisdom he still thinks site maps are worth having on a professional site. Here is his rationale in a nutshell:

They don't hurt people who don't use them.
They do help a few people.
They incur very little cost.

Read this article to fully understand his rationale:

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, August 12, 2008, Site Map Usability

IE 8 Beta 2 now available for download ..

2008-08-28T16:54:04Z

.. from this Web page:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/

IE 8 won't necessarily have private controls ..

2008-08-27T17:14:49Z

Latest from Mary Jo Foley's blog. Guess I got excited too soon ..

(To be clear: Microsoft isn't confirming it will have the same kind of "private browsing" functionality that Safari already offers, and some are speculating that all Redmond will end up doing is identifying which sites are porn sites, which won't be very useful to those who are hoping IE 8 will help them cover up their online tracks. )

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1543

Microsoft to roll out more granular 'porn mode' with IE 8 Beta 2

2008-08-26T05:39:08Z

Now do I have your attention? ;) Seriously, privacy controls as outlined in Mary Jo Foley's blog post ..

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1550

.. are an idea whose time has already come (Apple got there first by putting them in the latest version of Safari for both Macs and PCs) and are finally being included by Microsoft in the next version of Internet Explorer. Expect Firefox to follow suit if they want to continue to put up a good fight in the browser wars.

Limits on domain names to be opened up ..

2008-08-18T16:43:23Z

http://security.itproportal.com/articles/2008/06/27/icann-backs-custom-domains-gives-brand-owners-nightmares/

Upon approval of the implementation plan, it is planned that applications for new names will be available in the second quarter of 2009.