Clicks & Notes

Quality Web Content - How to write summaries for web and intranet pages, and why

The first text in most web and intranet pages should be a summary of 1-2 sentences. That’s a good rule of thumb.

Why:

• saves readers time
• helps the writer focus/clarify thoughts
• provides useful search results

Uses/approaches:

• “The executive summary-summary” – encapsulate the entire article in one sentence
• “The key message-summary” – just get to the point
• “The description-summary” – describe what the article is about (although, couldn’t the title serve that function just as well?)
• “The instructions-summary” – tells the user why/when/how the page should be used

(via Column Two)

Robin Good’s Latest News - Free Fall: Internet Explorer Has Now Lost 30% Of The Browser Market

according to my own traffic statistics based on a sample of over 600,000 visitors from over 180 countries, Internet Explorer controls slightly more than 70% of the browser market, where, just twelve months ago it had over 91% of it

EMERGIC.org - Firefox Advantages

The benefits of tabbed browsing hit home when you create folders of related bookmarks. For instance, on my computer I have a folder of a dozen technology-news bookmarks and another 20 or so bookmarks pointing to political Web sites. A third folder contains 15 or so bookmarks for sites devoted to the World Champion Boston Red Sox. With one click, I can open the entire contents of these folders in tabs, in the same single window, allowing me to survey entire fields of interest.

Computerworld - Business Must Be Cautious With Firefox

Many mission-critical applications have been built on Internet Explorer, and most organizations don’t have the budget or resources to recode them. In addition, PCs’ application loads need to be properly tested to ensure that nothing breaks with the addition of a different browser.

Added 02 February 2005: Computerworld - Readers respond to Firefox column

Michael Gartenberg’s Jan. 24 column ‘Business Must Be Cautious With Firefox’ generated the most reader mail that we’ve seen in a while. Here’s some of what readers had to say…

Wired News - Opera, the Forgotten Browser

Ironically, many of the features that are now favorites among Firefox users first appeared in Opera, such as Multiple Document Interface, known as tabbed browsing in Firefox, and Mouse Gestures, which allow users to control the browser by moving their mouse instead of clicking on icons. Opera can also match Firefox’s boast of enhanced security – that is, better security than what IE supplies.

BBC NEWS - Latest Opera browser gets vocal

The latest version of the net browser can be controlled by voice command and will read pages aloud.

ECRM Guide - Web Analytics: Time for a Change in 2005

Doing a big site redesign every two years, with minimal content updates between redesigns, no longer makes sense. If you’re really concerned about the site’s performance, consider tuning it, based on overall site goals, throughout the year.

Our most successful clients set aside roughly 10 to 20 percent of their annual Web budget to optimize the site throughout the year. In many cases, staff is divided into groups. Two people on a 10-person Web team focus exclusively on projects to optimize site performance. Optimization work can include improving calls to action, copy, signup or checkout funnels, campaign landing pages, and so on.