Project 2 Issues Dr. Ralph D. Westfall February, 2006

Technology Issues Need to calculate shipping cost Need validation on customer data inputs identify missing items specifically identify bad format e.g., letters for credit card instead of numbers

Technology Issues - 2 Test in Netscape and IE Test all links Use.aspx code for last updated in.aspx files (rather than JavaScript) Put all code files into one Word doc file also Insert all.mht files into this file

Page Design 16 million possible background colors 216 "web safe" colors Some fonts look more attractive than others Can use colored text don't hide text on dark background be careful about changing link colors Photo/image: clear, shows main feature

More Design Issues Avoid unused "white space" in pixels of screen width (e.g., top left or top center) put buttons side by side, not over/under Avoid long lines of small text Use hidden tables to position form elements Be consistent between pages color, font, logo/image, layout, etc. purchase and confirmation (last) pages also

Content/Appearance Use spelling checkerspelling checker available in Dreamweaver, Word, etc. Check appearance with different screen size 800 (=800x600), 1024 (=1024x768) can reset display in Windows Control Panel Centered text has ragged margins unpredictable line breaks, different widths

Content/Appearance - 2 Put descriptive text by products what it does, why it’s a good buy On order page, identify products by name instead of Product No. 3

Customer Focus Opposite to focus of a personal home page What does customer want/need (calculator)customer want/needcalculator "Do you need … ?" "Looking for the perfect … ?" Examples of low prices Information on delivery time, security, customer service Focus on customer needs at start of 1st page

Interface/Navigation Customer has a short attention span Site navigation needs to adjust to customer, rather than customer adjusting to navigation more work for customer = less sales Avoid anything that creates extra steps are "splash screens" any good? especially splash screens with little or no text? losing all inputs if one item needs correction

Respect the Customer Don't say "best viewed with [ X ] browser" or best viewed at 800x600 may offend customer with other browser sends the wrong message: "our business is not smart enough, or too lazy (or both) to create a web site that works for other browsers and different screen sizes" Some customers may not recognize that images are links (provide text links also)

Documentation Need to document all images backgrounds need to be documented too Need to document text too sentences, paragraphs, etc. as well as images Putting something on the Internet is NOT "personal use"

Other Issues Put copyright and/or last updated correctly on every page ASP.Net pages need.aspx code for date Business site is completely independent of Project page opens in full screen no links back to Project page Project page will have link to Project 2 database reports for site manager

Other Issues - 2 Use separate input boxes for first and last name easier to look up later (alphabetic order) useful for database marketing, credit card validation Need to get credit card type along with card # also expiration date

Unique Selling Position "Unique" means something others don't do or can't say about their business USP gives an advantage over competitors gives customers a distinct reason to buy creates a compelling image: what your business will do that others can't/won't do from Fiore, p. 40

Exercise think ("outside of the box") product or service you can sell on the web identify a USP for the product/service why it is unique? advantage over competitors' offerings reason why it would make customers buy? image it creates in customers' minds