Web 2.0 is now. Web 3.0 is tomorrow. And everyone wants to get on the bandwagon before anyone can even honestly define either one. All great and fine, but there has been a huge push to include more and more interaction in web sites. Again, this is great. Until you reach overload.

Designing a Site with WOW
Do visitors come to your site and think ‘WOW’? Its not an easy task to accomplish. However, as the web grows, and more and more sites are added daily, the need for a wow site increases. Competition has become strong, and you need to step up.

The Basics of WOW
There are a few things that really can make a site wow. First is design. That unique design and branding that lets your visitors know who you are, and what to expect. The right colors, style, theme etc create the first aspect of wow. The second aspect is layout. This is the next item a visitor is likely to notice, within the first initial seconds that you create your first impression. A smooth layout that is easy on the eyes and draws your users to your content creates wow. The last two elements are content and navigation. Immediately after their first impression, they are going to start reading. Then, they are going to start exploring, assuming you’ve hooked them.

What does Simplicity have to do with WOW
Simple. Everything. Well, maybe not so simple.

• Simplicity in design – Art is about drawing the eyes around the canvas and directing the viewers eyes where you want them to be. Sites are no different. A cluttered site will only serve to cause initial confusion, and possibly enough to drive them away
• Simplicity in layout – The position of your items should be even, well spaced, thoughtful and concise. Line up your elements in a way that creates a free flowing space. Blocks of information should have either the same width or height, or both. It should be easy for users to differentiate between the elements of your page.
• Simplicity in content – There is no need to overload your users. Feel free to provide pages that they can dig deeper into, and there are those that will, but your landing pages should be concise and accurate, meaningful and well planned.
• Simplicity in navigation – Users should not have to guess how to navigate your site. You can accomplish all of the above, but if when they attempt to move to another page, they become confused, you lose your WOW effect.

Simplicity in the Wild
Here are a few examples of where you can find great minimalist sites that demonstrate an amazing WOW factor while maintaining simplicity – something that is a true art in web design.

http://minimalexhibit.com/
http://spyrestudios.com/20-examples-of-dark-minimalist-website-designs-with-great-typography/
http://spyrestudios.com/light-clean-designs-using-minimalist-color-scheme/

And here you will find a great article on the how of creating a minimalist site. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/12/minimalist-web-design-when-less-is-more/

By no means am I saying that you should necessarily strip your pages down to this style – but if you look at these designs and find yourself inspired, if you feel the blood in your veins, the pressure in your chest, and the cells in your brain firing non-stop, then perhaps it is time to think about a more simplistic, and more WOW, approach to your site.

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Truthfully, what use is a website if it doesn’t encourage your visitors to come back for more? Even if you don’t have a changing product line, bringing your visitors back to your page refreshes your business in their minds. This is a great tool in increasing visitor interest and referrals.

Ease of Use
We’ve already discussed a number of items that create ease of use. Proper navigation, headers, titles, etc. Pages that are difficult to use are often seen by a visitor as ‘not worth their time’. If you ignore ease of use you have to work exponentially harder to create useful content that will bring them back anyways.

Updating Content
Even if you don’t have a changing product to bring users back, use another means. A blog is a great example. Use it to discuss different aspects of your products, customer relations, company policies and interesting and related content. Don’t be afraid to show your visitors some personality.

Targeted Content
This is more or less an extension of updating content, with a focus on static content as well. First, you need to ensure your static content is targeted – it needs to relate to you, your business, your product. It needs to present the ideas that you want it to present. Updated content is very similiar, but with a little more flexibility. My last post was about browser security and IE. Not directly related to web design, but since my site is technology oriented, and my visitors use web browsers (there’s a surprise!) I felt that it was useful and quality information. Take the time to encourage feedback from your visitors, find out what they like and don’t like, what they want. Find out what content brings them back, and set your sites on it.

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I am taking a break from my current series to address the recent happenings with the attack from Chinese hackers.

IE Vulnerability
Translated excerpt from the German statement on IE:

“In Internet Explorer, there is a critical yet unknown vulnerability. The vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious code via a specially crafted Web page into a Windows computer to infiltrate and set up. The last week became known hacker attack on Google and other U.S. companies has probably exploited the vulnerability.” (Source)

Another excerpt:

“Microsoft claims the security risk can be limited by setting the browser’s security zone to “high”, although they admitted this limits functionality and blocks many websites.

But the BSI insisted that such measures were not sufficient and urged internet users to use alternative browsers.

“Using Internet Explorer in ’secure mode,’ as well as turning off Active Scripting makes attacks more difficult, but cannot fully prevent them,” it said in a statement.”(Source)

Basically, if you use IE, then you could get hacked.

Why Pick on IE?
All browsers have vulnerabilities – its a fact. So why pick on IE? There are a couple of reasons. Internet Explorer has a poor track record – they tend to have more vulnerabilities, and patch them slower than other browsers. Why? Because they already control the market. Other browsers HAVE to keep their patches up to date, or risk being completely obliterated.

What are the alternatives?
Firefox, Safari, Camino and others. There are plenty of other browsers that have shown themselves to maintain security and show true concern for their users. Firefox has been foremost in that field. A recent report shows that now 40% of web viewers in Germany are using Firefox (Source).

Do I really need to worry?
The answer to that is – your call. This vulnerability actually allows hackers to take control of your computer systems. These hackers didn’t just attack unwitting internet users with no effect. They attacked a large number of US corporations who have dedicated IT teams to protect against those kinds of attacks. Now that the vulnerability is known, other hackers may try to take advantage of it, and use it on the public at large.

Moving to a new browser will not guarantee computer security. But it will help. Using a secure browser, as well as using anti-vurs, firewalls, and smart browsing techniques can save you a lot of time and headaches.

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