Cre8tive Flow

Vancouver-based business networking and technology forum Tazzu hosted Vancouver’s first official WordPress Camp last Wednesday, showcasing the great features of WordPress as both a blogging platform and a content management system. The event, which was expected to bring in about 30 people, had a turn out of over 90 at The Network Hub in Downtown Vancouver, but everyone was more than happy to sit knee-to-knee to learn, share and be inspired.

I was going to ignore all the commentary on the latest topic to rattle the windows in SEO/M country, but when Bill launched into the topic in the Usability forum, I couldn’t resist.

We visit the debate in Should Visitors Be Told To “click Here” Or, is Google Making us Stupid?

My take?

“Call to action prompts utilize “click here”, “buy now”, “more”, “learn more”, “submit”, etc. and honestly, PEOPLE are used to these signals. They know they’ll go somewhere if they click.

Another article has appeared on the topic of SEO and Usability and how these two different skill sets benefit each other. The latest, Usability and SEO. Which comes First?, written for Search Engine Watch by Eric Enge, caught my eye because he wrote:

“What I want to emphasize here is one key point: Usability comes first, and SEO comes second.”

It’s funny to hear that statement coming from a professional SEO.

My initial reaction to Bill Slawski’s Add To Cart Buttons - What do you look for? question was to think only a bunch of web design geeks would dare ask a question like “What do you like in a submit button”, or Cre8asiteforums was desperate for a new usability discussion.

Turns out he found a place with 111 ecommerce buttons and everyone’s acting like there’s a party going on.

I want mine beveled, with a bit hot fudge sauce.

With a Cre8asite Usabilty forum, and a forum that focuses upon how Web pages look on different types of browsers, including mobile devices (I’m a big fan of both forums), I was excited when I came across a new paper from Google which looks at usabilty testing of mobile devices.

I’ve recently written about a patent application from Google that discusses software that could enable people to search Google without using a browser, and Aaron, at soloseo, followed up with some of his experiences searching on a phone. I’m curious if others are enjoying the experience.

I know how to use “Page Up” and “Page Down” to navigate up and down a web pagedocuments. I know to use keyboard shortcuts to quickly enlarge text size or put it back to normal. I can disable your stylesheets with three key presses. I also know that if there’s no obvious link back to the home page, it’s pretty likely that the company logo will take me there.

I know these things because it’s my job. But not everybody spends every day looking at websites with an eye to how they work (or don’t work).

Recently, a Cre8asite member asked about the consequences of changing their interface design. They are looking at making a transition into “Web 2.0″ and AJAX by replacing their old, outdated select inputs (or “drop-down” boxes, if you prefer) with fancy auto-suggesting text inputs.

But they’re a little bit worried. Although this seems like a logical choice, there may well be some consequences! How might a user react to a radical change in the basic functionality of a site?

I’ve been considering the idea of accessible navigation recently. Not specific methods of making navigation accessible, which are part of what I discussed in a post on designing with accessibility in mind, but on the whole idea of what makes navigation accessible.

The principle behind accessible navigation is about providing access to content - not necessarily about creating a menu which can be used by people with disabilities. It’s critical to provide access to your content - but not to make a visually impaired visitor use the same method to get there as a sighted user.