Aside from developers, visitors will be accessing your site to learn about your product, or to download/demo it, because they were referred to it from another source.  The second type of user is here to grab the app, install it, and fly out.

Never make your users search for a demo or dowload button. Lead them through the steps they should be taking to get to the information they need.

Developers who come to your site will tolerate small links to source code, but the average visitor will not. If they have issues with the app, they’ll run back for support. Make sure they can find it! If not, they’ll try looking for help from other sources such as blogs and forums. If you provide a support forum, they’ll be more likely to stay on your page while looking for help, and you’ll be able to better understand your users through their comments.

Provide an experience flow that gives the user immediate direction from the first step onto the page. A series of later steps that are given to the user exactly when needed. It should be fun for them - as easy as a dot-to-dot. At the end, they should have a clear picture of the services your product gives, or they should have already downloaded and begun to use it. The user should not see or care about step two until step one has been completed.

Case Study: PicLens Firefox Plugin Landing Page.

With dark grey backgrounds, and cheery, pastel colors, this site has great readability. Yellow (the natural color of attention) used sparingly, and with extreme care. Grey is neutral, much better than black. Light blue could be <h3>, pink <h2>, and yellow <h1>. The download button is light blue, massive, and somewhat three dimensional, allowing it to pop right out of the page. It’s like oil painting with attention.

The website knows that the user has Firefox installed, and that Firefox’s pop-up blocker script will interrupt the download process. PicLens handles this issue brilliantly by drawing the user to the top of the screen with a trip of text with a  yellow background to direct the user’s attention to the problem area, and how to solve it.

Overall, the website is arranged like a good piece of art. The focal point is chosen to be the Firefox logo, then the install, and then the Demo. Everything runs 1-2-3. Just like a dot-to-dot. I had a great user experience while installing the program, and I enjoyed using it. Kudos to the B2C team that created the PicLens page.

IA Summit: Re-experiencing information
04.14.2008 by LukeW

At the 2008 IA Summit, Lucas Pettinati presented some of his learning’s redesigning the Yahoo! registration process in his Re-experiencing information: Dealing with user-submitted data talk.

* What is the context for registration? People want instant gratification. It’s fairly easy to switch providers –low barriers to entry for online services. People will lie to protect their identity. Remembering account details is difficult.
* In order to establish an effective design, need to embrace user needs & leverage their natural behavior
* Different structures for user registration. Pre: needs unique identifier. Post: encourages return transactions. Immersive: promotes usage. Part of the way you use the product.
* Connecting with the user: build trust so can get factual data within the system
* Error & help text: fun, approachable angle to ease people into it
* Only ask necessary questions
* Only need unique identifier for communication: aol, gmail, etc.
* Banking & Finance: needs identifier for increased security
* Commerce: no meaningful ID needed for commercial transactions
* If going to use a unique identifier, make it easy for people. Use email or a common ID method for registration if you do not need a unique identifier
* Respect your user’s locale: get message to international users that a localized version of site content is available.
* Use CAPTCHA wisely: Provide audio version for the visually impaired, allow user to request a different image, Use CAPTCHA to protect commodities like usernames
* Online circle of life: register, user, forget account information
* Build a relationship prior to or with registration
* Be personable: use humor if appropriate
* Explain the value of questions if they may be seen as out of context
* Use an immersive registration process when possible

Account recovery mechanisms

* Email: quickest, assumes people have control over email
* Challenge/response model: prone to repeated errors because people lie, works best when information is up to date
* Forensic: confirms account activity and details in order to reset password: verifies actions only known by the account owner, safest method, most difficult to implement
* Email recovery: put the user in the control. Need to ask for email address from user. Confirm where it is sending
* Challenge/recovery questions change over time.
* Users want to retain privacy and may be worried about ID theft
* Put the user in control of account recovery
* Remind users that their account may contain old information
* Use human support when possible