"The devil is in the detail" is one rule that I always abide by - dark? Perhaps....

I think it is incredibly important to make sure that every tiny detail is considered when designing a solution, else you could end up with a solution that looks lovely but when you get down to using has silly idiosyncrasies that have just been overlooked.

Now put your user hat on: you are a busy business person and you have lots of important tasks that need your attention.  One of your many tasks for the next hour is to enter you company details in to a service directory.  There are 25 people in your company.  See how long and hard you have to think before you can choose the correct company size from the drop down (see image below)?

"The devil is in the detail" is one rule that I always abide by - dark? Perhaps....

I think it is incredibly important to make sure that every tiny detail is considered when designing a solution, else you could end up with a solution that looks lovely but when you get down to using has silly idiosyncrasies that have just been overlooked.

Now put your user hat on: you are a busy business person and you have lots of important tasks that need your attention.  One of your many tasks for the next hour is to enter you company details in to a service directory.  There are 25 people in your company.  See how long and hard you have to think before you can choose the correct company size from the drop down (see image below)?

LOVEfilm really let me down the first time I attempted to register, however persevering reigned and the result - quite a nice site that makes it easy to manage your personal film preferences. 

LOVEfilm really let me down the first time I attempted to register, however persevering reigned and the result - quite a nice site that makes it easy to manage your personal film preferences. 

In my free time, I’ve lately been working with a talented and motivated bunch of people, to help build and launch a new site - www.ir2p.org.

iR2P is an initiative that aims to connect, support and motivate individuals to further the public understanding and political support for implementation of the United Nation’s “Responsibility To Protect” (R2P) doctrine, and to promote the importance of individual responsibility in this context.

The essential principle being that an individual can make a difference - no matter how small - to any issue. The issue that we draw your attention to is genocide and crimes against humanity. The United Nations and its member states undertook a ‘responsibility to protect’ the victims of these crimes yet Darfur continues, the Burmese government continue to block aid workers, and Mugabe remains in power and able to cause suffering at will. We fear that similar atrocities will continue into the future. We also fear that the international community will not live up to its obligations.

If you share our concern, but also our optimism that governments are accountable, that we can make a difference, that individual actions matter, then join our movement, sign our pledge, unite: www.ir2p.org/pledge

We will alert you to developments in the international arena, advise you on actions that you can take, and encourage you to get involved in a range of activities. We also want to hear from you with ideas, suggestions and critiques. We are building up our own capabilities at the moment but are excited by your interest and the possibility of what we can achieve together.

In my free time, I’ve lately been working with a talented and motivated bunch of people, to help build and launch a new site - www.ir2p.org.

iR2P is an initiative that aims to connect, support and motivate individuals to further the public understanding and political support for implementation of the United Nation’s “Responsibility To Protect” (R2P) doctrine, and to promote the importance of individual responsibility in this context.

The essential principle being that an individual can make a difference - no matter how small - to any issue. The issue that we draw your attention to is genocide and crimes against humanity. The United Nations and its member states undertook a ‘responsibility to protect’ the victims of these crimes yet Darfur continues, the Burmese government continue to block aid workers, and Mugabe remains in power and able to cause suffering at will. We fear that similar atrocities will continue into the future. We also fear that the international community will not live up to its obligations.

If you share our concern, but also our optimism that governments are accountable, that we can make a difference, that individual actions matter, then join our movement, sign our pledge, unite: www.ir2p.org/pledge

We will alert you to developments in the international arena, advise you on actions that you can take, and encourage you to get involved in a range of activities. We also want to hear from you with ideas, suggestions and critiques. We are building up our own capabilities at the moment but are excited by your interest and the possibility of what we can achieve together.

One of the classic "well they would say that wouldn't they" is Google's argument that it is important to be top of both natural and paid search.

Here's the standard bit of Google research on the subject, which suggests that you can treble the amount of traffic to your site by being prominent in both natural and search.

But is that still true if there is no competitive activity on PPC? According to our recent research - which is covered today in iMedia Connection- many prominent UK brands simply don't bother to bid on their own brand terms.

Last year's spat between Google and eBay led to eBay pulling their ppc spend from Google. Hitwise looked at the data and found that there was little or no impact on overall traffic through to eBay over this period.

The story would be very different for non-navigational terms, but for navigational / brand terms it seems that big brands are happy to ignore Google's advice.

But the other day during a temporary shutdown in the 'login details retention' dept of my brain I required the use of it's 'password reminder' service.

Steve Krug champions the mantra 'Don't make me think'. Have a look at this page and see if any question marks appear above your head when you try and get a password reminder...

Reset password? No, I just want a reminder. Forgotten username? No, but I have forgotten my password...

Booooooo!

But the other day during a temporary shutdown in the 'login details retention' dept of my brain I required the use of it's 'password reminder' service.

Steve Krug champions the mantra 'Don't make me think'. Have a look at this page and see if any question marks appear above your head when you try and get a password reminder...

Reset password? No, I just want a reminder. Forgotten username? No, but I have forgotten my password...

Booooooo!

Today a client asked us weither there was any benefit to having a site left or centre justified in the browser window.

This set our U.E. buds (like taste buds) tingling so we conducted a poll.

Turns out 72% prefer centre justified citing reasons such as symmetry or ‘looks professional’.

18% preferred left and 10% weren't sure.

Glad we cleared that up...