March 2006
Step-by-step: Web site design
Four steps for designing and maintaining your site for maximum usability
By Dawn J. Grubb

1. Communicate, don’t confuse. 
Potential attendees and exhibitors visit a site to find answers to specific questions or to help solve a problem. Your site’s content should be written so they can find what they need quickly.

Make your Web copy short, succinct and easily scannable. Keep it simple — avoid big words and long-winded sentences. Break up large chunks of copy with subheads, bullet points, photographs, or charts and graphs. 

The Poynter Institute’s EyeTrack III study (www.poynterextra.org/EYETRACK2004) shows Internet users’ reading pattern: Their eyes typically fixate on the top left of a page before reading from left to right from the top down. Poynter suggests large headlines to draw readers in and larger typefaces that are easily scannable.

Because readers typically spend less than a second scanning headlines, make them short and to the point. Avoid cute or clever headlines.

2. Watch your design.
The days of clever design to impress people are over. Today the Web is a tool, and usability can be greatly hindered by an over-designed site. According to a 2005 JupiterResearch/Ipsos-Insight Entertainment and Media Consumer Survey, the virtual community is split 50/50 between dial-up and broadband users. Since half of your users likely don’t have a high-speed connection, keep your design clean and simple.

Some elements to avoid:

Large photos. Large-sized photos can significantly slow down a Web page’s load time, take up server space and force readers to scroll through pages to find key content.

Colored text and backgrounds. Resolution varies from computer monitor to monitor, and color greatly differs from print and online. What’s easy to read in print might be unreadable online. Stay away from text on colored backgrounds, hard-to-read typefaces and page layouts that were designed for printed material.

Unnecessary animation. Animated GIFs, blinking text, background music and video/flash intros may look cool, but does this bling really help communicate your message?

3. Use logical navigation.
Use common terms that people are familiar with: Exhibitors, Attendees, General information, Contact Us, Press, etc.

And watch your clicks. Burying information deep within your site will aggravate visitors. A good rule of thumb: Don’t expect users to click more than three links to find information.

4. Avoid functionality pitfalls.
It’s great if your site looks nice, but it won’t really matter if it doesn’t work. Broken links, pages that don’t load and other poor functionality turn users away. Routinely test your site for bugs. Some things to watch for:

Search capabilities. Some sites have built-in search capabilities, some use providers like Google and others choose blogging packages — such as Movable Type and WordPress — that come with search options.

Autofill for forms. Linking your attendee database so that information automatically populates will save them time while registering. Just be sure to offer them the option of changing their information.

Let them know upfront how long it will take. If your registration form is 16 pages, give them a heads-up. They may not have time right then to complete it.

Downloadable PDFs. PDFs can also affect usability when not properly used. They were designed to digitize paper, not to be used as a Web solution. Only use PDFs if you have long attendee brochures, exhibitor prospectuses, white papers, annual reports, studies, etc., that you want people to download, print and read.