Company LOGO Web site Do’s and Don’ts What Works and What Doesn’t

Agenda Recommended “Do’s” Recommended “Don’ts” Survey of Good Practice Open Discussion

Your Virtual Handshake A web site represents an organization when an actual person is not available.

The “Do’s”  Know your users.  Review web logs. Identify what files are being accessed.  Check web provider to see if they offer web stats  Free Web log analyzers, local: Analog (multi-lingual), AWStats  Free Web counters, web-based: Branica, Bravenet  Conduct surveys.  Correspond with users.

The “Do’s”

Recommended “Do’s”  Review your content.  Pay attention to information that is being published online.  Check for common mistakes such as spelling, grammar, etc.  Browser Check!  Outline your site before it is created.  Develop and maintain a Sitemap  Identify your organization’s mission.  Helps users quickly assess who you are  Assists search engines

Recommended “Do’s”  Have a web site that is visually pleasing.  Consistent web site color schemes  Appropriate images  Culturally accurate and sensitive  Allow for future growth.  Does your current site allow for growth within the organization?  How easily can new projects be assimilated within the existing site?  Keep your site credible.  How does your site perform under a librarian’s scrutiny? See Librarian’s Guide to Evaluating Internet Resources

Recommended “Do’s”  Ask for input from people who know nothing about your organization.  Family, friends, strangers… they can sometimes ask the best questions.  Keep your site translator-friendly.  Google Language Tools  World Lingo  Be consistent throughout the site.

Recommended “ Don’ts”  Don’t give your users a headache.  Use colors that are easy to read.  Don’t hide the new stuff.  Did you add a new database or report to your site? How will users find it? Is there a place on your main homepage to highlight this new material?  Don’t forget to add date information.  Always add a date to reports and news items.

Recommended “ Don’ts”  Don’t hide contact information.  Let your users find you.  Don’t organize your site by department.  Use clear, generic labeling and try to minimize the use of jargon.  Don’t confuse your user with your navigation.  3-Click Rule! Information should be, at the most, three clicks away.  Put all your navigation buttons in one place and on every page.

Recommended “ Don’ts”  Don’t go overboard with graphics and animations.  Too much can be distracting, in a bad way.  Images should be used to illustrate the content.  Don’t use multiple fonts.  It can make text difficult to read.  And this would lead to user frustration.  Have I make my point?

Recommended “ Don’ts”  Don’t clutter your pages with text.  Users don’t read.  Long articles are fine, but keep your main pages, such as “home” and “about us”, as brief and as concise as possible. See Scanability doc  Don’t use a new technology if it doesn’t add to the user’s experience.

Survey of Good Practice  Library of Congress,  Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,  Choike,  Cuba Encuentro,