digiwebs 
Although some web developers balk at the idea of using WYSIWYG HTML editors to develop professional sites, the fact remains that they are widely used by design and development firms and have contributed to making the web a nicer-looking place. The code created by these editors isn’t always clean and lean, but they offer … Read more
I’ve always disliked the “Dummies” books—you know, the ones with the bright yellow covers. Despite the potential for funny titles (“Cooking for Dummies”), I’ve always found them to be vaguely insulting. When it comes to the burgeoning field of Information Architecture, however, a book for beginners (not always dummies) would be welcome. And now it’s … Read more
Navigation Complex By Peter-Paul Koch Years ago I did some navigation research. My goal was to find out if any type of navigation was particularly suited to certain kinds of sites. I also wondered if navigation isn’t too complex in general. I identified six forms of navigation—three main types and three subtypes. The main types are: … Read more
By Jeff Lash Persuasive navigation is navigation that persuades a user to do something. That something can be anything that you want the user to do—buy a product, sign up for a newsletter, or download a game. By understanding user needs and matching them up with business goals, you can persuade users to go where you want them … Read more
Keep it Simple By Peter-Paul Koch The first site I made as a professional web developer used 17 frames. My first professional assignment was coding the World Press Photo site. In those days sites had to be compatible with Netscape and Explorer 3 and 4. That wasn’t a problem – that’s what I’d been hired for. … Read more
An interview with Dr. Jakob Nielsen, usability expert By Meryl K. Evans and Nick Finck Then and Now Companies, Clients, CEOs, and Cost Usability Attitudes Then and Now Digital Web: What surprised you while doing recent studies on Web site usability? Dr. Jakob Nielsen: Probably the most surprising recent finding came in our study of the usability of Web-based applications … Read more
Simplicity vs. Innovation By Peter-Paul Koch Last month’s column focused on the general concept of user-centered design. This month presents a look at the more limited field of usability and offers a way around the simple = dull equation that threatens good usability design. Conservatism A site should be innovative in design and content, but, when it comes … Read more
There is something gratifying about picking up a book by an author whose concept is so elegantly displayed, with a message so clear, that you want to share it with everyone you know. For those of us who have been engaged in the creative development of the Web for the last few years, The Elements of … Read more
Client-Centered Design By Peter-Paul Koch What is the difference between user-centered design and usability? Until writing this column I didn’t have the faintest idea. Fortunately, a quick search turned up a page that explains the difference quite nicely: UCD [user centered design] is often mistakenly considered a synonym for usability. UCD is much more encompassing – it … Read more
Back to the User: Creating User-Focused Websites Collective Lessons Learned from Listening to and Observing Users By Tammy Sachs Since our earliest interviews with Web users, enormous progress has been made in shaping sites that inform, engage and build lasting customer relationships. Imagine searching for information without Google; finding a rare collectible without eBay, figuring out … Read more
By David Wertheimer Providing good user experience takes more than drawing handsome icons for people who don’t read. One has to think in all directions to properly define smart user-centric design, then, apply those decisions in a timeless fashion. An analogy By way of the audio department: Fifteen-year-old Jim walked into the Panasonic service center wheeling … Read more
Introduction to XML By J. David Eisenberg What is XML? If you’ve been producing sites for any length of time you probably hear about XML, and wonder exactly why so many people are excited about it. XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. Let’s take a closer look at the parts of the acronym, and then we’ll show you … Read more
Using controlled vocabularies to improve findability By Christina Wodtke Many moons ago I waited tables. One day our manager came down to tell us that from now on we were to refer to our customers as “guests.” We also were to refer to courses as “first course” and “second course.” Our chef was French, and found … Read more
Fluid Thinking By Peter-Paul Koch Times have changed for the better since the advent of Web standards. We can write a script or a CSS declaration, confident that Mozilla, Explorer and Opera will interpret it in roughly the same way. That confidence is a tremendous luxury, when compared to what we faced even a few years … Read more
By Jeff Lash One of the first things you learn about information architecture is that your Web site needs to be organized the way users think it should be organized. Unfortunately, this never happens. In fact, it should never happen. User-centered information architecture is a myth. A successful information architect understands the way users access information, … Read more
An interview with Peter Merholz and Nathan Shedroff on User-Centered Design By Meryl K. Evans Understanding UCD Business of UCD The Process Understanding UCD Digital Web: What is user-centered design (UCD)? What are its benefits? Problems? Peter Merholz: Contrary to common wisdom, user-centered design is not a process, but a philosophy. User-centered design requires the inclusion of a … Read more
By David Wertheimer [A parody, with thanks to Jeffrey Zeldman. See also “99.9% of Websites Are Obsolete” elsewhere on Digital Web Magazine.] An equal opportunity disease afflicts nearly every person now on the Web, from the humblest instant messenger to the multi-million-dollar-salaried heads of corporate giants. Cunning and insidious, the disease goes largely unrecognized because it is … Read more
An interview with Steven Champeon and Shirley Kaiser of the Web Standards Project (WaSP) By Meryl K. Evans Current Climate Get Real with Standards Compliance Current Climate Digital Web: Just prior to ending Phase I, the WaSP announced that the browser makers were finally up to standards and that the rest of the work for supporting client-side standards … Read more
Defining information architecture By David Wertheimer What is information architecture, and how does it exist beyond an “IA guy”? This seemingly simple question was posed to me in June by Charles Hamilton, chair of the World Wide Web Artists’ Consortium (WWWAC ) Development SIG. Hamilton was putting together a panel on IA and had invited me … Read more
By Jeff Lash This month’s issue of Digital Web focuses entirely on information architecture, and this is the first monthly column titled “IAnything Goes” which will address information architecture on its own. What’s the big deal here? Why is IA important? If you don’t care about IA, why should you? In the beginning, there was the … Read more
An interview with Jeffrey Veen and Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path By Meryl K. Evans Information Architecture Design Concepts & Usability Adaptive Path Forward Information Architecture Digital Web: This question has been asked many times and we would be in trouble if we don’t ask. How do you define Information Architecture (IA)? What does it encompass? … Read more
Smarter Content Publishing Building a semantic website to increase the efficiency and usability of publishing systems By Victor Lombardi Do you remember the days before WYSIWYG word processors when you had to markup the text, much like we markup web documents using HTML? I don’t. I started word processing using WYSIWYG applications on the Macintosh and … Read more
Web Page Reconstruction with CSS By Christopher Schmitt Page design and markup Before After CSS and well-structured documents are a combination that can’t be beaten. This tutorial looks at how to transform a Web page using traditional Web design methods into a CSS-based site. In fact, the example will be drawn from a Digital Web content … Read more
The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog By James McNally The first of an expected flood of books about blogging, this is also bound to be one of the smartest. Rebecca Blood was one of the first to start a weblog, launching “Rebecca’s Pocket” in 1999. More importantly, Blood is a fiercely … Read more
Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design By James McNally In 2000, O’Reilly published Eric Meyer’s, Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide. Despite the fact that it was a reference book, Meyer’s conversational writing style and sense of humor made it a joy to read. It quickly established Meyer as the “go-to guy” for … Read more