Jason Millward - Freelance web designer and front end developer - Leeds, West Yorkshire » Web design

10 of the best free Magento templates

Jason — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:48:32 +0000

Theres a great list of the best 10 free Magento templates available at InspiredCSS

Top 10 free Magento templates at InspiredCSS.com

Why we should develop to web standards

Jason — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:27:40 +0000

I was asked to submit a report stating why we should use web standards to design and develop websites. Below is a list of reasons why we shoudl use web standards to make the web better.

1. Code Efficiency:

The larger the files are, the longer they will take to download, and the more bandwidth they will use. By separating content for styles and using good clean semantic xhtml and efficient CSS we can save on bandwidth and provide customers with faster loading, more efficient pages. It also allows code to be re-used more easily across the sites.

2. Ease of maintenance:

By separating style and content any change requests can be carried out with minimum of effort. By using well coded CSS, site wide changes can be made by changing the minimum amount of code and can therefore be completed quicker. Standardising the layout of pages and stylesheets for each site will make working on different sites easier and quicker and will also allow promotions be rolled out across each site with minimum effort.

3. Accessibility and usability:

Web pages created using web standards mean better accessibility to customers with disabilities and users of alternative devices such as screen readers. An accessible site also complies with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). There are 8.5 million disabled people in UK meaning a potential 8.5million more customers to an accessible website. A site coded to web standards will also aid usability.

4. Search Engine Optimisation:

Using semantic xhtml for mark-up and following best practice guidelines will allow for better organic SEO. Well-coded web pages make life easier for web crawlers. Correct use of meta tags, pages descriptions, headers, keywords etc in the development phase of web pages will greatly improve search engine rankings by default.

5. Mobiles and devices:

Because the content and styles are separate it will be easy to create dedicated mobile stylesheets if the requirement is there. Use of mobile devices for Internet access is on the rise and shouldn’t be ignored. Device specific stylesheets can be created easily should there be a need.

6. Good practice:

Using current web standards for developing websites is good practice and helps to future proof the sites and make future development both quicker and easier.

The $300 Million button

Jason — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:11:18 +0000

I found this great atricle the other day on User Interface Engineering that emphesises the importance of good usability on a eCommerce website perfectly.

In a nutshell it was one small form that was causing the problem to a tune of $300 million a year. The form was simple. The fields were Email Address and Password. The buttons were Login and Register. The link was Forgot Password. It was the login form for the site. It’s a form users encounter all the time.

It wasn’t so much as the forms layout but where the form lived. Users would encounter it after they filled their shoppign cart and were required to fill it in before they could purchase their products.

The designers thought the form woudl save return visitors time and first time purchasers wouldn’t mind the extra effort of filling the form as it would save them time next time they purchased from the site

“I’m Not Here To Be In a Relationship”

Usability tests conducted with customers told a different story – they didnt want to register to make a purchase! All they wanted to do was choose and item and pay for it with the minimum amount of effort.

You can read the full article here:

The $300 Million Button

There couldnt be a better example of how a users journey affects their experience on your website. At the end of the day all a user want sto do on an eCommerce website is make a purchase with the minimum amount of effort. Removing as many hurdles for your customer as possible will undoubtedly increase sales, in case to the tune of $300 million.