The "F" Pattern

People on the web are in a rush to get what they want. Click they come and click they go. You have a limited amount of time and words on the screen to get your point across.

When people view a web page, they scan it for the information they want. They will scan across the top of your page reading the content. Then they will scan down and read across again. If they scan down further, they will likely scan across the page an even shorter distance.

You need to get your main information across in the first few scans! It is also helpful to use a few tricks to make sure your main point jumps out.

Plain Language

Using plain language is not one of my strong points. I like words and I like using the word that best fits my exact tone and meaning. I think in and have a tendency to write complex sentences.

It takes effort to write so that you express the same ideas and emotion using simple language that is easy for everyone to understand. Some pages require jargon, legal text or formal and complicated language, but these pages are best saved as support pages. Your main pages should be designed for a more general audience and should keep things clear and easy to read. Use short sentences of 25 words or less. Break longer sentences into shorter thoughts that are easy to understand. Remove jargon, or explain what it means if you must use it. Use active language and be direct.

Studies have shown that people who can use fewer and simpler words are often considered more intelligent. They also get their point across to more people. On the web you only have a short amount of time to attract someones attention before they are off to the next click. Most people start to lose interest after about 122 words. Help them get the point of what you are trying to express immediately. If they want to know more, they can drill down into your site for more information.

GeoRSS

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's a way to publish information so that it can be displayed in a variety of places including other web sites, RSS reader applications and some mobile devices. If your a blog reader, you're probably already familiar with RSS. Blog entries can be re-published in major portals like Google, or displayed on "gadgets" in other blogs or web sites. Entries are usually from the most current to recent past with a set, and usually small number of entries.

So then, what is GeoRSS? GeoRSS is an extension of the RSS format (XML) but includes location information. Good examples of GeoRSS feeds include the USGS earthquake feed. It publishes information about recent earthquakes, including their magnatude, date, place and map coordinates. It can also be used to show current traffic accidents.

There are lots of fun ways to use it too. For those on Twitter, try looking at Twittervision. You may want to display delivery or sales locations, daily appointments locations, where your web site visitors are coming from or other interesting facts from data your collect on your web site.

Maps are fun. Interactive maps can be fascinating!

Artistic Design

Artists use light and dark areas and elements that bridge across gaps in a painting to draw your eye from one important feature to the next. That is part of what draws an emotional response from a viewer. Your web page needs to drawn an emotional response too! You are not just delivering content, you are delivering a feeling with that content. Maybe you just want people to feel good about what you are promoting. But more often, you want to generate a call to action. The colors and design elements are part of that plan. Color sets the tone and can calm or incite, appeal to the common or noble, or create empathy. Design elements can draw the users eyes to what you want them to see.

KML for maps

I participated in a great GIS Day event yesterday, but it left me pretty exhausted by the time I got home, so no blog entry.

Today, we can talk about KML. KML is a set of data is a specific XML format that represents geographic locations. So, what can you do with it? You can take information from a database, get it geocoded and output it to a KML file. You can then send the file to Google Earth or any other mapping service that understands KML, and all those locations will display on the map. You can map all your group members, customers, offices, work sites or even the location of all your vacation photos. You don't need to buy mapping software or set up your own server. Your data is dynamic, so your map is dynamic. Add a new work order and it shows up on your map.

Maps

Still on a GIS kick! I was introduced to GIS several years ago. Not web based maps - those have been around for years, but using GIS to identify and solve real problems. But it is usually best to start simple.

Adding a map or several maps to your web site is incredibly easy. Most of the major map providers like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc. allow you to look up a location and grab a bit of code to add the map to your own web site. Cut and paste, it couldn't be simpler.

But the maps are far from simple. They are usually embedded in an iframe window - literally a web page from the map provider displayed in a little window inside your own web page. These maps are quite powerful and usually have a good sub-set of the features found on the full page maps of the map providers. You can pan around the map and zoom in and out. Links to provide driving directions are available and additional information is often found on the map.

Now, what to do with those maps! Obvious solutions include providing the location(s) of your business or groups meeting place. You can also show all the locations where you've done work, especially if the work is readily visible and you are using them as references. You can show all the places you've been on vacation, played team sports, taken photos or visited geocaches. I've also enjoyed looking at the map of all the visitors to my blog. Thank you for coming by and putting a dot on my map.

OpenID - Part 2

If your site needs to provide a logon feature, then security is high on my mind. You always need to evaluate how much security something needs. If you are not too concerned, then a single password to access some bit of content is fine. If you want to provide different services to different users, then a user ID and password is nice to implement. If the information on your site includes personal data about the user, or especially financial data, then encryption is a must. But what if you only want to protect the user ID and password? OpenID could be your solution!

I've just added OpenID login to My Family Web Site. I'm still testing the code that I had to modify from it's original source to work on my Shared Hosting service provider. But, it appears to work. Anyone can now log into my home web site with OpenID. Nothing different to see by logging in yet, but I am working on the authorization portion so that different users will have access to different features of the site in the future. Initially this will be for my family, but who knows what I might add later on.

Ok, now on to the next cool item. Several OpenID providers (MyOpenID & Verisign) allow you to create and install Browser Certificates! This means users don't need to log into those sites at all. When users want to log into your site, they submit their OpenID URI, authorize their OpenID provider to supply verification to your site, and they are authenticated! Now you can choose if you consider them logged in and what access they have based on that logon.