January 12,
2005
In
This Issue:
1. The Problem with Flash
2. In the News - MSN Search spreads
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - Keeping the crawlers out
5. Wrapping It Up
_________________
The Problem with Flash
This is something I've been intending to write for a while now,
but just haven't gotten to it. This week's a good week for it,
though, because I'm still wrapping up some research on another
article about retailing on the web that I hope to have ready for
next week. So let's talk about Flash, instead.
Flash, in and of itself, is not a bad tool. There are a great
many applications and situations where a Flash-based movie file
is the
right way to go. For an example, visit
the web site of our client I. Weiss and click
the graphic that says "Click for interactive stage demo." Here's
a perfect use of Flash technology -- as an educational demo that
enhances the user experience. When it's used correctly, Flash
can add great value to a web site. The problem is that it's rarely used correctly, and the most
flagrant mistake is the creation of a Flash-based home page (or "splash" page).
Here's a quick rule-of-thumb I often share with clients: If you
want to add something to your web site that requires a "Skip
This" button, you're probably making a mistake. But better
than that, here's a quote from a guy named Jared Spool, a very
well-respected developer and usability expert interviewed by the
Marketing Sherpa web site:
"When we have clients who are thinking about Flash
splash pages, we tell them to go to their local supermarket
and bring
a mime
with them. Have the mime stand in front of the supermarket,
and, as each customer tries to enter, do a little show that
lasts
two minutes, welcoming them to the supermarket and trying to
explain the bread is on aisle six and milk is on sale today.
"Then stand back and count how many people watch the
mime, how many people get past the mime as quickly as possible,
and how
many people
punch the mime out.
"That should give you a good idea as to how well their
splash page will be received. That's the crux of it."
That's it in a nutshell. The Flash movie may look cool, but
it's not "exciting" -- unless you consider it exciting
when you get in your customers' way. There are also some search
engine
visibility issues with Flash that we'll probably talk about at
some other time, but the real issue is usability. It's just not
user-friendly to make a Flash-based home page. And that's the
problem with Flash.
_________________
In The News
MSN Search rolls out slowly
In a post on the official MSN Search blog, the company says it
is slowly rolling out its new search engine to more users. The
search engine is still in beta, but the company says it is now
routing some users of the regular, live search through the beta
version for their search results. But still no word when the new
search engine will launch, other than "when it's ready."
MSN Search Blog: Beta Ramp-Up
MSN Search Beta
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time to read.
These are just some of the headlines we've posted
to OWTweb.com in recent
days.
What makes a design seem 'intuitive'?
January 11, 2005 - UIE.com
The biggest challenge in making a design seem intuitive to users
is learning where the current and target knowledge points are.
What do users already know and what do they need to know?
Google's new ad policy to affect affiliate marketers
January 06, 2005 - ClickZ.com
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
Hi Matt,
These search engines are getting too good! We've discovered that
some private pages of our web site can be found in certain search
engines, and we don't want them being found. Is there a way to
get them removed?
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer --
Yes, you can get those pages removed, but it may take a little
while. If your talking about Google, for example, they have
a page where web
site owners can request that a page be removed from their
index and other SEs
may
have similar information.
The easiest way to prevent this from happening in the future
is to use a robots.txt file on your site. It's a small text
file which
you must name robots.txt, and you must upload it to the root
directory of your site. In other words, it has to be located
at <http://www.yoursite.com/robots.txt>.
To prevent all search engines from indexing a certain section of
your site, the robots.txt file should include this:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /about/
That example would stop crawlers from going to the /about/
subdirectory of your web site. You can also list individual
pages if you want
crawlers to skip those.
The asterisk next to User-agent indicates that the rule applies to all
crawlers. You can set individual rules for individual crawlers.
Check out http://www.robotstxt.org/ for more information about all this. (Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
That's all for this week. Busy days here around OWT. Hope your
2005 is off to a good start business-wise, as well.
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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