Blog
October 31st, 2011
Tech Tip Series: Faceted Navigation Trick #1
October 24th, 2011
Information Architecture, Technology, Web Development
When developing a site that has a faceted navigation interface, it’s important to make sure it doesn’t become a content trap for Search Engines or bots. There are dozens of ways to block bots and search engines from your site, but many people want the external links and knowledge sharing. This can come at a cost however, as your site is bombed by thousands and thousands of page requests from incoming search engines and bots. Enough, in some cases, to inflate your page count (and bandwidth usage) to more than 10 times your actual site usage by real site visitors. Instead of discussing outright blocking strategies – let’s focus on how you can construct your facet pages to easily give search engines and bots what they want: your content.
Dustin Collis
Online Customer Engagement and Dialogue: Avoiding the Mistakes of GM and GoDaddy
October 24th, 2011
It used to be that the most important question in Marketing was, How do I get the word out? Marketing and communications were unilateral. Corporations would put out the word, measure success, make improvement, and try again. But no longer. Internet engagement, and most particularly social media, requires an evolution in your efforts. To be successful, you must be ready to dialogue, to engage in a give and take where you not only talk but listen, all in real time.
Jim Keeney
Engineering a Website’s Front-End for Optimized Connectivity
October 20th, 2011
Technology, Usability, Web Development
Broadband! Optical fiber! 4g! These are the keywords of today’s connectivity. But what do they really mean? They mean that we can now send more media-rich content to users. But…should we? Well, if it serves the most relevant content to the user and creates a good user experience, sure. But we need to remember that one of the basics of good usability is site performance. And with so many users now streaming video, music and other large amounts of data, we’re finding the Internet can often be pretty strained.
Don Ruzek
HTML5 Isn’t Going to Kill Flash. It’s Going to Make it Stronger.
October 17th, 2011
Application Development, Interaction Design, Technology, User Experience Design, Web Development
As a developer, I am constantly confronted with articles like “HTML5 will kill Flash,” or “jQuery will kill Flash,” as if there were some blood feud that could only end with the demise of one of them. The argument usually comes from developers leaning to one side or the other, and generally carries tones of heavy bias. So, I thought it would be a good idea to write a piece going through the differences between the two, and why each has its own area where they will be dominant (without the need to kill each other).
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Matt Heiner
How Steve Jobs Changed the World with Fonts
October 6th, 2011
The world is mourning the passing of a great innovator. Steve Jobs became an icon because of all the ridiculous game-changers Apple has brought us. With such a list of revolutionary products being delivered by one company, it’s easy to overlook subtle, cultural changes that have permeated our subconscious as a result of these enormous inventions.
John Manicke
Tablet Strategy: The Future of the Human-Computer Interaction
October 5th, 2011
Application Development, Internet Strategy, Technology, User Experience Design
Let’s go back in time. Ask yourself: what led to the massive consumer adoption/acceptance of the proliferation of cable TV channels?
The color television? Of course! Better antenna and technology producing a quality signal? Sure! Reasonable monthly subscriptions? Absolutely. Masterful advertising campaigns by Ad Agencies like Sterling, Cooper, Draper-Price? Was that just an obligatory Mad Men reference? You bet.
But seriously: there’s a much more basic and fundamental innovation that allowed for TV networks to expand their offerings (i.e. additional channels) and bring in more commercial time to sell: The Remote Control.
Matt Chamberlin
