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Category Archives: Web Design

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Learn To Reduce Website Friction at Fathom-Hosted NEOUPA Event

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We’ve all been to websites that make us want to scream or throw our electronics. One common umbrella term for any of the obstacles that prevent us from doing what we want to do on a website is friction.

Friction, Baby
Gratuitous 90′s pop-rock references aside,* next Tuesday you can learn much more about website friction and how to avoid it from Fathom’s own Mike Perla, Director of Conversion Optimization.

By the way, NEOUPA stands for “Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals’ Association.”

What you’ll learn

Perla promises to offer insight into:

  • How usability can increase conversions
  • How audience can dictate functionality
  • Reducing friction with decision support tools
  • Overcoming objections with hard evidence

If you’re in the area and have any interest in usability and conversion, don’t miss this NEOUPA event (online registration).

p.s. If you’re curious about Better Than Ezra, listen to the group’s first album, Deluxe.

***

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

*Friction, Baby is the title of Better Than Ezra’s 3rd album, not that I’m counting.

Posted in Conferences and Events, Conversion Optimization, Fathom Company News, Usability, Web Design

 

Responsive Web Design is the New Black

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Technology is evolving at a rapid rate. From desktop computers, to smartphones, to touchscreen tablets, today’s market is filled with an astounding array of gadgets that help put information at our fingertips. While technological advances are exciting, they also can create challenges for brands and businesses. For instance, how does a brand create a positive user experience on their website when users are accessing it through what seems like a limitless number of devices? The answer:  responsive design.

What is Responsive Web Design?

In a nutshell, responsive design is an approach to web development that suggests a website should respond to a user’s behavior, regardless of screen size, resolution, platform, browser, etc. For example, let’s say a user is accessing your brand’s website on their laptop. Then they pull out their iPhone to access the same information on the go. Once they arrive at their destination, they decide to browse the web on their iPad. Even though this user is viewing your site on three vastly different devices, through responsive design, their experience is tailored for each device.

The idea of responsive web design originated with Ethan Marcotte when he wrote an introductory article entitled “Responsive Web Design” in A List Apart magazine. His article addressed pertinent issues in the web design community related to the growing number of devices, input modes and browsers that were making it more and more difficult to develop custom-made websites for each new device that hit the market.  By applying a concept that originated in architectural circles, Marcotte proposed that instead of designing websites to fit the specifications of individual devices that the design itself should respond to a user’s unique behavior and needs. As such, depending on the user’s device and preferences, the design will adjust accordingly in order to ensure an optimal user experience.

Why Responsive Design Matters

According to research conducted by Pew Internet, 88 percent of American adults have a cell phone; 57 percent own a laptop; and 19 percent have a tablet computer. What is more, 63 percent go online wirelessly with one of these devices.  So what does all this mean for your business?

Essentially, this research points to the fact that as technology becomes more diverse and accessible to the average person, potential customers and clients will be using any number of devices to access your brand’s site. Knowing this, brands need to plan accordingly as an organization’s website is often the main connection point with their consumer-base. While your site may look great on a desktop computer, consider how it might look on the latest smartphone. If the user finds your site difficult to navigate or too text-heavy when viewing it on a mobile browser, you may have just lost a potential customer.

Some have tried to remedy this dilemma by creating different versions of their site for the various devices that have emerged over the last few years. The problem with this plan of attack, however, is that it is virtually impossible to design for every gadget on the market – not to mention it would cost an inordinate amount of money even for the biggest brands. To solve this issue, brands are turning (or should be turning) to responsive web design. Responsive design not only creates a tailored user experience that makes browsing enjoyable on any number of web-enabled devices, but it also benefits your bottom line.

The Basics of Responsive Web Design

When designing a responsive website, there are a few basic techniques and components to keep in mind. These include:

  • Fluid Grids: When discussing fluid grids, web designers are talking about the layout of your website. A fluid grid layout is designed in terms of proportions rather than fixed pixels and dimensions. In other words, whether a layout is stretched across a large desktop screen or a tiny mobile device, the elements on the page will resize based upon their widths in relation to one another. Therefore, with the use of fluid grids, your design’s integrity will not be compromised from one device to the next.
  • Flexible Images:  Like fluid grids, fluid images involve resizing images proportionately, based on the browser’s size. The basic idea behind fluid images is that you let the browser resize the image as needed while using CSS to guide their relative size. Instead of defining a set size for your image, which can create problems when viewing the image on different devices, with fluid images, as your screen narrows, so too does the image.
  • CSS3 Media Queries: A crucial component of responsive design is CSS3 media queries. Essentially, media queries enable you to apply specific CSS styles based on the site visitor. This is extremely useful as media queries make it possible to adjust your site to each individual user, regardless of device or browser.  For instance, if a browser drops below a particular width, you can apply a specific style that would better suit a browser of that size.
  • JavaScript: While CSS3 media queries are quickly gaining widespread acceptance, some older browsers don’t always support them. If you know that a large number of your site visitors are using an older browser like IE 5, you may want to ask your designer to implement JavaScript.  JavaScript will enable older browsers to support CSS3 media queries.
  • Hide or Replace Content: While a major component of responsive design involves resizing images and content proportionately, another important element involves hiding and replacing content when needed. In certain situations, it may not always be ideal to shrink or rearrange certain elements; sometimes it is best to remove an item altogether. If you’re designing for a mobile device, for example, you may not want to include the same large block of text that appears when accessing your site on a laptop.  With responsive design, you can opt to hide that text block on smaller devices and replace it with a simple link.

Getting Started with Responsive Web Design

While technology is constantly shifting and changing, it is important that brands stay on top of new trends in order to ensure they are fully capitalizing on their potential. As a company’s website is often the first place one goes to get information, it is imperative that your consumers are able to access the information they need, regardless of the device they are using. That is why understanding responsive design is so important.

As the world of web design can be somewhat intimidating for brands to navigate on their own, the design team here at Fathom is here to assist you in your journey. If you have questions or would like to learn more about what responsive design can do for you, contact us today!

Posted in Online Marketing, Usability, Web Design | Tagged

 

Competitive Advantage in 250 Milliseconds

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You don’t need to follow track and field to know who Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay are, and now you don’t need to work in Internet marketing to know about the importance of website speed for keeping visitor interest, thanks to today’s front-page story in The New York Times.

Track and field (or Internet marketing) insiders may already know that website speed has been written about before by Google and usability expert Jakob Nielsen, but one of the newest findings may surprise (via the Times story above):

“People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth of a second).”

Our attraction to speedy websites may be subconscious, but the effect is no less powerful despite our lack of perception. Incidentally, 250 milliseconds is faster than the time it takes a 99-m.p.h. fastball to reach the plate, but actually slower than one beat of a dragonfly’s wings.

Implications of speed

Implications of  speed are seen all over; here’s a few examples:

  • General: If any Web page is deemed “bad,” people will leave it in a few seconds. If it’s good, they could stay a few minutes. The key is what they find in the first 10-20 seconds, which determines the probability of users speed-dating vs. having a cup of coffee.
  • Organic search: Google formally introduced site speed as a ranking factor in its algorithm two years ago.
  • Paid search: If your landing page doesn’t fire up quickly, impatient visitors will favor another, faster one.
  • Video: “4 out of 5 online users will click away if a video stalls while loading” (via the Times story above).
  • Email: E-newsletter subscribers might be suspicious of (or altogether ignore) links you put in emails if the pages they launch don’t load at the right speed. Your messages miss the mark they otherwise would have hit.
  • Mobile: Lack of speed in loading a mobile website can enrage smartphone and tablet users to the point of breaking things.
  • Web copy: Nobody’s reading very much of it.

In addition to weighing site speed in its search algorithm, Google also has published internal studies showing that visitors spend less time on less responsive sites and stated that having faster sites can also reduce operating costs. It even has a whole section of its coding site devoted to it.

Even back in 1997, when most people weren’t using high-speed Internet, speeds of under a second were paramount when moving from page to page (as Nielsen notes). A decade or two prior to that, IBM studies from the 1970s and 1980s showed greater productivity on mainframes when users experienced a sub-second lag time between a keystroke and the corresponding screen.

What does all this mean today?

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Go big or go home.” I say, “Go fast or lose customers.” How’s that for competitive advantage?

Keep your site lean and brisk … Vin Diesel and Keanu Reeves would be proud.

***

Image courtesy of Mark Fischer via Flickr.

You don’t need to follow track and field to know who Usain Bolt and Tyson
Gay are, and now you don’t need to work in Internet marketing to know
about the importance of website speed for keeping visitor interest,
thanks to today’s front-page New York Times story.
Track and field (or Internet marketing) insiders may already know that
website speed has been written about before by Google and usability
expert Jakob Nielsen, but some of the newest findings may surprise:
“People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close
competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth
of a second).”
Our attraction to speedy websites may be subconscious, but the effect is
no less powerful for us not even perceiving it.
Incidentally, 250 milliseconds is faster than the time it takes a
99-m.p.h. fastball to reach the plate, but actually slower than one beat
of a dragonfly’s wings.
There’s applications all over the place:
General: If any web page is bad, people will leave it in a few seconds.
If it’s good, they could stay a few minutes. The key is what they find in
the first 10-20 seconds,
[http://www.useit.com/alertbox/page-abandonment-time.html]
Organic search:
Video: “Four out of five online users will click away if a video stalls
while loading.”
Paid search: If your landing page doesn’t fire up quickly, impatient
visitors will favor another, faster one.
Email: E-newsletter subscribers might be suspicious of (or altogether
ignore) links you put in emails if the pages they launch don’t load at
the right speed. Your messages miss the mark they otherwise would have
hit.
Mobile: (link to Abby’s post) … *lack* of speed can even make some
people furious
Google formally introduced site speed as a ranking factor in its
algorithm two years ago. It also published internal studies showing that
visitors spend less time on less responsive sites and that having faster
sites can also reduce operating costs.
[http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-w
eb-search-ranking.html]
It even has a whole section of its coding site devoted to it.
Even back in 1997, when most people weren’t using high-speed Internet,
speeds of under a second were paramount when moving from page to page. A
decade or two prior to that, IBM studies from the 1970s and 1980s showed
greater productivity on mainframes when users experienced a sub-second
lag time between a keystroke and the corresponding screen.
What does all this mean today?
You’ve probably heard the expression, “Go big or go home.” I say, “Go
fast or lose customers.” How’s that for competitive advantage? Make Vin
Diesel and Keanu Reeves proud.You don’t need to follow track and field to know who Usain Bolt and Tyson 

 

Gay are, and now you don’t need to work in Internet marketing to know

 

about the importance of website speed for keeping visitor interest,

 

thanks to today’s front-page New York Times story.

 

Track and field (or Internet marketing) insiders may already know that

 

website speed has been written about before by Google and usability

 

expert Jakob Nielsen, but some of the newest findings may surprise:

 

“People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close

 

competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth

 

of a second).”

 

Our attraction to speedy websites may be subconscious, but the effect is

 

no less powerful for us not even perceiving it.

 

Incidentally, 250 milliseconds is faster than the time it takes a

 

99-m.p.h. fastball to reach the plate, but actually slower than one beat

 

of a dragonfly’s wings.

 

There’s applications all over the place:

 

General: If any web page is bad, people will leave it in a few seconds.

 

If it’s good, they could stay a few minutes. The key is what they find in

 

the first 10-20 seconds,

 

[http://www.useit.com/alertbox/page-abandonment-time.html]

Organic search:

Video: “Four out of five online users will click away if a video stalls

 

while loading.”

Paid search: If your landing page doesn’t fire up quickly, impatient

 

visitors will favor another, faster one.

Email: E-newsletter subscribers might be suspicious of (or altogether

 

ignore) links you put in emails if the pages they launch don’t load at

 

the right speed. Your messages miss the mark they otherwise would have

 

hit.

Mobile: (link to Abby’s post) … *lack* of speed can even make some

 

people furious

 

Google formally introduced site speed as a ranking factor in its

 

algorithm two years ago. It also published internal studies showing that

 

visitors spend less time on less responsive sites and that having faster

 

sites can also reduce operating costs.

 

[http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-w

 

eb-search-ranking.html]

It even has a whole section of its coding site devoted to it.

Even back in 1997, when most people weren’t using high-speed Internet,

 

speeds of under a second were paramount when moving from page to page. A

 

decade or two prior to that, IBM studies from the 1970s and 1980s showed

 

greater productivity on mainframes when users experienced a sub-second

 

lag time between a keystroke and the corresponding screen.

 

What does all this mean today?

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Go big or go home.” I say, “Go

 

fast or lose customers.” How’s that for competitive advantage? Make Vin

 

Diesel and Keanu Reeves proud.

Posted in Conversion Optimization, Google, SEO, Usability, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , ,

 

“World’s Leading (fill in the blank)”….REALLY?

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I recently attended a material handling conference.  The technologies were amazing, and exhibitors were obviously investing heavily to build brand awareness and generate new leads.

As an online marketer, a large banner which read “Worlds Leading Palletizer” especially caught my eye.

I fired up my iPad and was surprised to see that this particular manufacturer was nowhere to be found in the first 2 pages of Google, nor were they investing in PPC.  I found a weak Linkedin profile, no Facebook page, no tweets and no video…nothing!  Upon visiting the manufacturer’s website I discovered an outdated, brochure ware-like website and a copyright dated 2009.

And here’s what really blew me away…

When I searched for “world’s leading palletizers” on Google, 6 of the Top 10 rankings in Google proclaim that they are the world’s leading palletizer.  So much for claiming a unique differentiator!

It’s safe to guess that this manufacturer probably invested at least $20,000 in this conference (with a 20×20 booth, heavy machinery brought indoors and 8 employees staffing the booth).  And the “World’s Leading Pallatizer” banner probably set them back a few thousand dollars too!

So what can B2B marketers learn from this?

Perception is reality.  If you claim to the the “World’s Leading _____”, then your online visibility must resonate with that message.

Where do you start?

  • Update your website!  Invest in Web 2.0 and be a trusted source of information in your industry
  • Invest in SEO strategies (involving on-page and off-page activities) to heighten organic visibility
  • Explore the power of strategically managed PPC to target your message
  • Get your social media house in order.  Don’t just claim your social media properties, but contribute to the conversation as well
  • Create and promote internet videos.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures.  Show the world your stuff!
  • If marketing budgets are tight (is yours?), reallocate budget dollars to support online marketing.  According to Pew Research, online marketing outperforms traditional marketing by a 4:1 margin

Conclusion

The world has changed, and online marketing evolves on a daily basis.  Keep your offline and online messages consistent in order to convey a clear, compelling value proposition.  If you brand your company as a “world leader” in 2012, then your website can’t look like 1997!

Posted in Online Marketing, Search Engines, SEO, Web Design | Tagged , ,

 

The Spiders Have Eyes

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It’s been well known for some time that Google Image Search can recognize many images.  You can try it yourself by opening two browser windows and dragging an image from one window to the Google Image Search bar in the other window.  Google will try to identify the image and show you identical and similar images.  This works even when there is no associated identifying information in the image “alt attribute.”

One useful way to use this image search tactic is for comparison shopping:  If, for example, you go to Target.com and drag an image over to the search bar, Google will display all of the other vendors that sell that item.

I recently analyzed a site that sells t-shirts that would occasionally get traffic from the keyword “t-shirt model.”  Since the word “model” was nowhere on the site, it was assumed that the word “t-shirt” was driving this traffic.  However, by dragging the front-page image of a man in a t-shirt into the image search bar, Google classified the image as a “t-shirt model,” thereby confirming that Google is using image recognition to classify Web content and search results.  Just for clarification, this image did not contain a description or alt attribute that mentioned “t-shirt model.” In fact, the image alt attribute only mentioned the brand name of the shirt.

Knowing that Google uses images to affect text search results, you should keep a couple of key points in mind:

  1. Make sure that the images you use on your site are relevant to the content. Minimize backgrounds to assist Google’s algorithm in identifying your image. Text within images can also be recognized by Google, so make certain any words in your graphic or image are relevant to your content.
  2. Continue to use descriptive alt attributes. Although the spiders have “eyes,” those eyes may be color-blind. A blue shirt was identified as a green shirt, and a green shirt as an orange shirt. If color is critical to your product, make sure you include that in your image alt attribute.
  3. You may consider using custom images if you want Google to identify your site as having unique content. Don’t make the mistake of developing unique written content and then use a stock image.

“Content is king,” and images are considered part of your content, so make sure that the images you use on your site are not an afterthought.

***


Posted in Content Creation, E-commerce, Google, SEO, Web Design | Tagged , ,

 

Web Design Best Practices: Navigation/Mega Menus

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You may or may not be aware, but navigation is one of the most (if not the most) important elements of your website. With navigation, you wouldn’t be able to, well, navigate your site! It is what will make or break the usability of your layout.

Best Practice
Since this is as much about best practices as it is about alternative styles of navigation, we will start it off on this note. The key is not to overwhelm your visitors with too much to choose from.  It is proven that if people are presented with too many choices, they will feel overwhelmed and may not select anything at all. Having too much to select from will deter your visitor from proceeding and of course, will decrease conversion rate! Best that you keep the category titles as simple as possible and avoid using more than 7 items.

Rollover Navigation
If you have a lot of content, then your navigation will most likely be broken into multiple tiers. This is most easily rationalized as sub-categories inside of a greater representative category. If you have too many items to display in your 1st-tier navigation, you may have to flesh these out into categories, and possibly even then some. If this is the case, than you might greatly benefit from a rollover or fly-out style of navigation.

One thing that I find tremendously irritating is trying to select an item from a drop-down menu, then accidently moving your mouse pointer off of the newly expanded area. As soon as this happens, it disappears! This angers your site visitors and can/will cause them to give up and leave your site. Developers, please always include a mouse-off time limit. Even something such as a .25 second delay will prevent things like this from happening.

In some cases you may have 3rd-tier navigational items. Once you get to this point, you really have to analyze your current site architecture and question whether or not there is a better way to do it. In most cases, either your site map wasn’t optimally arranged and needs some pruning, or you need a new solution to help address this problem. This is where the mega-menu can be of some use.

Mega-Menu
You might be wondering what exactly a mega-menu is. Well, let me break this down. We have your standard navigation, which is located on the 1st tier. If you require multiple levels, then your rollover or fly-out navigation comes into play. Now if you must use 3 or more levels of links, then a mega-menu might work for you.

Typically with these, you have your 1st-tier category, which is a part of the navigation that will always be displayed in the header of your website. The awesome part about mega-menus is that you can combine and display your 2nd- and 3rd-tier navigation without requiring any excessive rollover menus.

Now this certainly isn’t the optimum solution for all sites with a lot of content. The best thing you can do is to take another look at your site architecture. Do some research and take a look at what your successful competitors are doing in order to help influence your decision.


Keep It Simple
Most importantly, keep it simple. People don’t want to think. Large, fleshed-out navigation with tons of choices is not always a good option. This should be used sparingly and only if absolutely necessary.

Posted in Usability, Web Design

 

Want Your Website to Make Money This Holiday Season? Give Customers What They Want – and Fast

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The 2011 holiday shopping season is well underway, and online retailers are certainly reaping the benefits.

But trust me, you aren’t going to get a chunk of those sales just by having a website. If your Ecommerce site isn’t prepared to provide the holiday shopping solutions customers need – and quickly – you’re going to be left in the dust.

Online consumer attention spans are continuing to decline. If your customers can’t find what they need from your website in the first few moments of being on it, they are going to leave and search for a simpler solution.

This SLI Systems webinar emphasizes just how important it is for Ecommerce websites to give customers what they want, right when they want it:

On one hand (and I’m warning you, these are a little scary):

  • The average amount of time consumers spend on websites is DOWN 30% vs. 2008
  • Average number of page views per session is DOWN 45%
  • Bounce rate has risen to 35%

But, on the flip side (there is hope!):

  • The amount of online ordering sessions has DOUBLED since 2008
  • Well-optimized Site Search converts visitors 4.7 times higher than visits without search

What’s the moral of the story?

Getting customers to the products they want on your website as quickly as possible is the key to increasing online sales and beating out the competition this holiday season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Image provided by Jim Morrison Films on Flickr

 

Posted in E-commerce, Online Marketing, Online PR, Usability, Web Design | Tagged , , , ,

 

HTML5 Throws Down with Flash

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If you know anything about Web development, then you know HTML5 is one of the biggest things to hit the web since Flash itself. It’s been well over 10 years since there’s been such a drastic expansion that merited an updated code name. HTML5 is a set of Web standards that makes it easier and more efficient to introduce heavy multimedia and graphical content onto your website without relying on outdated plugins and APIs.

With its introduction into the modern Web, there’s been a lot of debate as to whether or not it will replace Flash. HTML5 does nearly everything that Flash can do; however, it can be done directly on the battleground, as opposed to the importation of a Flash document. Here are some of the benefits…
No longer rely on Flash to watch videos. HTML5 is intended to become the new standard for displaying video online. You can easily manipulate your video player with JavaScript and CSS in order to create a more cohesive layout. It’s desirable due to its ability to display video without using the Adobe Flash plugin. It aims to be a more efficient video platform, managing all aspects of content ingestion, encoding, player feature customization, and dynamic playlists.

Provides direct support for animation and interactivity. From basic movement to extraordinarily attractive 3D animation, HTML5 is going to replace Flash at some point – this seems inevitable. This is due to the fact that it is just as simple to use as Flash and can be scanned by a search-engine crawler. You can even transfer your Flash files to HTML5. Adobe acknowledges the advancement in technology and even released its own animation software alongside Flash, Adobe Edge. Although Flash performs faster in benchmark testing, if you have a limited amount of interactive content, HTML5 is the way to go.

More efficient coding for introducing audio. Until the development of HTML5, there has never been an accepted standard for playing audio on a website. Even today, most audio is played through a browser plugin such as Flash. This will likely become a thing of the past with the arrival of HTML5. Now, in order to insert audio, all you need is a simple and easy-to-understand audio element.

This is just a small taste of some of the new functionality that HTML5 offers. From a business perspective, the more efficient the website, the better the chance of conversions. Make sure your design company is taking advantage of the latest design technology, and if they aren’t, you can be sure that Fathom does. As this amazing code continues to develop, expect to see a lot more hype on HTML5!

Posted in Usability, Web Design

 

Google Introduces GoMo Initiative

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More and more people are browsing the Web from their mobile devices. The percentage of site traffic from mobile devices continues to rise every day, and visitors expect to land on pages that are optimized for mobile. Having a website optimized for mobile devices is no longer an option; it’s a necessity. Consider that this week, Google launched an initiative called “GoMo” to aid businesses in mobile website development.

On GoMo, business owners can learn why mobile sites are essential, get mobile best practices and review case studies. The 10 mobile best practices are especially impressive, because detailed visual examples are provided for each guideline.

With Google’s “GoMoMeter,” you can see how your current site looks to mobile users. This tool is extremely useful because it allows you to choose what type of business website you have (i.e. online-only, lead generation, brand-driven, or multichannel), and then it presents questions to help Google determine your site’s overall mobile-friendliness, which is a score based on loading speed, images, text, and navigation. Furthermore, you can download a PDF of your full GoMoMeter Report, which includes personalized analysis and advice for making your website more mobile-friendly.

GoMo also connects you with various mobile developers who can help, if you’re ready to “Go Mo.” You can easily sort through the list of vendors by annualized cost and development timeframe. Currently, there are a dozen vendors ready to help you develop a mobile strategy and launch your site. The list of vendors includes Google Site Builder, which is a free tool presenting you with a very simple user interface to quickly create a professional-looking mobile landing page.

GoMo’s “Build Your Site” section also presents two other Google services. The first, Google Places, encourages you to claim your business on Google, which will help it stand out in local search results. The second, Google Mobile Ads, is a part of Google AdWords that serves as a pay-per-click method to drive traffic to your mobile site.

Finally, the GoMo Agency Guides offer information that helps agencies help their clients understand why a mobile strategy is essential for any company conducting business online. The GoMo Agency Guide PDF download presents a GoMo action plan, client Q&A, 10 mobile best practices, agency resources, and a great-looking infographic showing how consumers use mobile.

We here at Fathom are also experienced in creating mobile websites as well as developing them for e-commerce and Google paid search campaigns.

Posted in Google, Mobile, Web Design | Tagged

 

World Usability Day: Join Fathom and NEOUPA at Dave & Buster’s

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If you like pool and Pac-Man as much as you like socializing with usability professionals, then we’ve got the event for you! Next Thursday, November 10, is NEOUPA‘s celebration of World Usability Day (WUD)—(registration link). The daylong local event takes place at Dave & Buster’s in Westlake, with a morning hands-on workshop featuring Dr. Susan Weinschenk‘s research on unconscious mental processing and its implications for website design.

After Dr. Weinschenk shares practical applications of the latest neuroscience research, the rest of the day’s schedule includes:

  • Afternoon breakout sessions (including Fathom’s Patricia McCune on email usability and Kurt Krejny on social media success)
  • Event drawings
  • Social hour with cash bar & optional gameplay–what I’m calling the WUD “after-party”–officially until 8:00 p.m.

By the way, NEOUPA stands for “Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals’ Association.” The event costs $130 for non-members or $99 for NEOUPA members.

Register for WUD here.

Fathom is proud to be a “gold sponsor” of this local celebration of the 7th annual global WUD (not to be confused with WMD).

Read more about usability and Internet marketing on this blog or follow all the WUD updates on Twitter with the hashtag “#NEOWUD11.”

***

Image courtesy of Casey Fleser via Flickr.

Posted in Conferences and Events, Fathom Company News, Usability, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

 

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