Archive for June, 2011
5 Simple Tips for Creating an Effective FAQ Page
Thursday, June 30th, 2011A Frequently Asked Questions page is necessary if you’re selling something, providing a service, or giving information about a complex subject. It takes the guesswork away from your visitors who may have questions, and makes the experience that much easier. When designing a FAQ page, usability should be at the top of the list of criteria to meet – after all you don’t want it to turn into a black hole of information. In this article I will present effective techniques and solutions to designing a FAQ page, with consideration given to how visitors will use the page.
Remember that a FAQ should supplement good content, with answers to those questions also found elsewhere on the site. It’s a section of questions that visitors genuinely ask and should be arranged with care. Above all, keep it simple! Your user is more interested in finding specific information than anything else. Read on to discover how to best present a FAQ page.
Gather Appropriate Questions
In putting together questions for inclusion on your site, it’s essential they be real. Give yourself a month and collect all the questions you receive from customers in that time frame via email or direct calls.
Another valuable research technique is to ask good friends or customers to give you feedback on your products or service. What questions popped into their minds when they visited your website. (You might offer a small gift or discount to your customers in exchange for feedback.)
After getting everyone’s comments, assemble the questions and group by category. For example, questions about how quickly you ship products would be under your “Shipping” category, etc.
Takeaways:
- Write your FAQ in a “Question & Answer” format.
- Organize the questions in each category so the most important questions appear near the top.
- If you’re having trouble collecting questions, announce an open question period on your website.
Questions and answers are clearly displayed on the website for Pixelmator.
Provide an Adequate Entry Point
If you’re going to provide a FAQ page, finding it should be easy for your visitors. A distinct, well-positioned link will do the trick. There are a few good entry points which I’ve gathered:
- Main Navigation: It’s hard to miss when it’s right there with the meat and bones.
- Subsection of the help or about pages: When someone has a question about your site or company, the help or about sections are the first logical places they’ll look.
- Double exposure: Even better is if you link to your FAQ twice on your index page. For example you can include a link in both the header and footer.
A support link is displayed in the top navigation on VersionApps.
Readability
I’ve stressed at the beginning of this article how important the information in this section is, and how users are primarily concerned with scanning to find their appropriate topic for an answer. The best way to achieve customers satisfaction in this area is to provide typography with a good contrast between the background and the text itself and to address line and letter spacing.
Takeaways:
- Distinguish questions from answers, whether by color, size, typeface or decoration.
- Page length should be kept to a minimum. Endless scrolling will tire users and cause them to leave before finding answers to their questions. Make sure each question and answer pair is valuable.
Tinkering Monkey uses a different font and size to differentiate the questions from the answers.
Categorize Questions
Categories are the best way to organize a longer FAQ. Categorization aids readability, so it’s important to design a hierarchy that users can easily access. Give short, intuitive names to each category to further enhance readability and avoid confusion. You also don’t want to include more categories than are necessary, so choose them wisely based on the questions you’ve collected earlier.
- Create a “Table of Contents” at the top of your FAQ page and put the most asked questions here.
- Hyperlink them so your customer just has to click to get to the answer. Or hyperlink your categories at the top of the page.
- If you have more than 10 questions, it’s a good idea to list your questions without showing the answers directly under them, and instead include a link.
- Order questions according to priority and frequency of the query. Questions can also be grouped together by topic.
Mint.com has a well-categorized FAQ page complete with succinct and descriptive categories. Their most frequently viewed questions help guide the users to pertinent topics.
Comcast’s FAQ page, while not over the top, allows the user to click on a question and be directed immediately to the corresponding answer via JavaScript.
Provide Assistance
If a user can’t find an answer to their question, it would be a great idea to allow them to contact you directly. A question or contact form that allows them to achieve this through your FAQ page is the best alternative.
- Place the contact form prominently on your FAQ page, allowing visitors to reach you easily.
Search
If a FAQ has many categories and sub-categories, search becomes more important than ever. It’s essential for longer FAQ pages where a customer is likely to encounter lots of questions.
- FAQ search should differ from a regular site search and be clearly designated in order to reduce the amount of results that turn up.
The label of the search feature on the FAQ page of SurveyMonkey works well.
SXSW clearly designates their search field through bold typography and a catchy illustration.
Summary
While not the most glamorous part of any given site to design, the FAQ is where a user goes when they have a question about the rest of the site. With this in mind, it’s pivotal that you address usability concerns in the design of the FAQ. Putting careful thought into how your users will use your FAQ’s is of the utmost concern, as you intend to have these visitors stick around for the duration.
1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog
An introduction to distance-based searching in Sphinx
Thursday, June 30th, 2011A friend of mine emailed the other day to ask how I implemented distance based searching and ordering on my old employer’s web sites. Instead of simply replying to him, I thought I’d write up a blog post as its been a fairly long time since I posted about anything and as I cant see myself doing anything like that again in the near future, it would be a good way to help retain the information.
Concepts
The concepts we’ll use are fairly simple. You will use several tools and technologies together to provide this service to your users. Keep in mind, this is not a HOW TO on installing and configuring Sphinx. This post assumes you can handle this part of the tasks on your own. I am happy to help with problems in the comments though.
MySQL
MySQL will be used to store your locations. I wont be going through versions, table creation, column creation or storage types etc. It really doesn’t matter as Sphinx will be handling all the spatial calculations.
Sphinx
Sphinx is a search engine. It powers a lot of big sites and I have been using it to power the search at Skylines Australia for many years. A new version 2 has recently been released (albeit still in beta) but we will be using 0.9.9 in this post.
Data
Now, geodata can be an expensive thing to obtain, but a wonderful free resource geonames.org have downloads for many locations which makes it affordable and easy. Australia’s file is here. Thanks Geonames!
The file is simply a tab separated file and is easy to parse (beyond the scope of this post.) But because I am so nice, I have converted it to sql for you all here. 
The Setup
MySQL Setup
Create a database and import that linked SQL file above. You’ll now have a table named suburbs in that database. This is pretty much all you need to do for MySQL.
Sphinx Setup
Once Sphinx is installed (pretty easy based on your system; Redhat based OS can use Yum, Debian can use apt, Mac can use Macports or maybe Homebrew) you will need to copy the sphinx.conf.dist to sphinx.conf (in the directory it is in, or you can move it to /etc/sphinx.conf) and open it in a text editor.
This is a very basic config with only minimal changes. Things to note are the RADIANS() function calls in the sql query and that we store the radians as float attributes. Anything you want to filter on in Sphinx needs to be registered as an attribute. This config should be pretty straight forward.
Now we can start searchd and index the suburbs
$ searchd
$ sudo indexer --all --rotate
Hopefully you had no errors, or if you did, they were only permissions errors (or you didnt create the /var/data directory.) If no errors, lets move on.
To test the index, lets do a quick search using the Sphinx command line utility.
$ search -i suburbs ‘manly’
This is saying search the index (-i) suburbs with the term ‘manly’ and hopefully you see something like this;
Elwood /var/data: search -i suburbs 'manly'
Sphinx 0.9.9-release (r2117)
Copyright (c) 2001-2009, Andrew Aksyonoff
using config file '/opt/local/etc/sphinx/sphinx.conf'...
index 'suburbs': query 'manly ': returned 6 matches of 6 total in 0.019 sec
displaying matches:
1. document=159, weight=1, postcode=1655, lat=-0.589921, lon=2.640392
id=159
suburb=Manly
state=New South Wales
postcode=1655
lat=-33.80000000000000
lon=151.28330000000000
This row shows you what Sphinx is returning (The first row prefixed with 1) you can see the unique document ID (the first column in our sql statement in the config) the weight (various ways to weight records in Sphinx, wont get into that here) and also the attributes we registered (postcode, lat, lon.) The following rows are provided by MySQL using our second query in the config (sql_query_info = SELECT * FROM suburbs WHERE id=$id.)
So, now that its working, we’ll write some PHP so we can utilise the Sphinx API.
PHP Setup
Set yourself up a virtual host or put your code somewhere where you can access it, you can use php over the command line if you’d like.
In the Sphinx archive (you may need to obtain this from the Sphinx site if your package management doesn’t provide it. Using Macports, the archive was in “/opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/sphinx/”.) extract the archive and go to sphinx-0.9.9/api. You’ll need to copy the sphinxapi.php file into the directory where your test app is.
NOTE: There are other Sphinx API’s available including a pear one (http://pear.php.net/sphinx.)
The first few results look like this;
[186] => Array
(
[weight] => 1
[attrs] => Array
(
[postcode] => 2000
[lat] => -0.591083705425
[lon] => 2.63908100128
[@geodist] => 1.90258026123
)
)
[188] => Array
(
[weight] => 1
[attrs] => Array
(
[postcode] => 2000
[lat] => -0.591083705425
[lon] => 2.63908100128
[@geodist] => 1.90258026123
)
)
[189] => Array
(
[weight] => 1
[attrs] => Array
(
[postcode] => 2000
[lat] => -0.591083705425
[lon] => 2.63908100128
[@geodist] => 1.90258026123
)
)
And thats it. Once you have set Sphinx up and write your indexes, it can be seriously powerful and can provide many great searching possibilities for your application.
This has been a very shallow dive into Sphinx and was only intended as a simple showcase of how easy it is to have Sphinx do great things.
Will be happy to answer any questions (that I can) in the comments.
Crowdstar: Mobile UI Artist
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011Full-time
(Burlingame, CA)
CrowdStar is a well-funded, global leader in the social gaming industry with a community of more than 50 million gamers. CrowdStar is home to some of Facebook’s most popular, fun and entertaining games, including Happy Aquarium, Happy Island, Happy Pets, Hello City, Zoo Paradise, and It Girl. CrowdStar, a Youweb incubated company, has quickly become one of the largest and most successful developers and publishers in social gaming. CrowdStar recently raised million in strategic funding led by Intel Capital, Time Warner Investments with participation from China’s The9 and media mogul Aviv Nevo’s NV Investments.
Our U.S. offices are in Burlingame, CA on the Peninsula, next to SFO Airport. We have a company shuttle from San Francisco and we’re just 2 blocks from Cal Train. We’re next to dozens of coffee shops, restaurants and stores in the area. We offer medical benefits, free parking, and free lunches & dinners in the office.
We’re looking for a Mobile UI Artist to create dynamic, functional and compelling user interface for a variety of mobile games. Must have a strong design sense and a proven ability to work in a variety of styles. We work at a fast pace, so the ability to work quickly and manage time well while delivering quality work is essential. The Mobile UI Artist will work closely with a team of producers, artists and product managers so good teamwork is imperative.
Responsibilities:
* Translating game design documents into clear user flows and wireframes
* Designing fun, dynamic UI look & feel for mobile game products
* Translating and adapting existing game UI into mobile format
* Creating all final UI assets and working with programming team to implement
Required:
* Experience designing UI for web and mobile devices, preferably in games or mobile entertainment media
* Strong foundation in user experience design and creating wireframes
* Expert 2D graphic design skills – and a strong foundation in typography, color and layout.
* Experience implementing and animating UI or other interactive designs in Flash* Must have interest in games!
Desired:
* Strong illustration skills – Vector icon samples a big plus!
* Ability to work within an already established art style
* Experience creating logos and branding
* Love of creative collaboration and ability to take direction well
* Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing
* Strong time management skills and ability to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
Please apply here: http://www.crowdstar.com/careers/?nl=1&jvi=oRHEVfwR,Job&jvk=Job
Apply:
Job posting from: Graphic Design Jobs
New Google Toolbar PageRank Update – June 2011
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011Yesterday, the 27th of June, Google has updated the PageRank Toolbar values. This happens almost 5 months after the previous update which took place on January 20th. It seems that even after the Panda 2.2 Update, Google is not willing to give up on PageRank, despite the predictions of many SEOs.
In order to find out [...]
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What is the Google Caffeine
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011What is the Google Caffeine
Google is renowned as the king of the major search engines, principally because of heir patented algorithm that is used to index and rank the entire web effectively. Each couple of months Google makes a couple of major changes to keep this algorithm related and powerful. In fact, all year long Google is consistently tweaking their practices to maintain professional site owners on their toes. For months now Google has been speaking a couple of main infrastructure change that will reshape the way in which Google search results are delivered. This transformation has been deemed “The Caffeine Update.”
What’s This Update Going To Do?
It is important to be aware that the caffeine update is not going to alter the way the Google website online looks or behaves. In fact, Google has acknowledged that most individuals will not even discover the difference. The caffeine replace is basically an entire cleaning and revamping of Google’s “submitting cabinets.” In different words, Google is changing the way it shops and catalogs information to be able to broaden its already massive database. What is just not clear is how this variation will impact search engine outcomes and rankings, if at all. Nonetheless, there have been preliminary tests executed which present no distinction within the search outcomes of Google’s default search engine and the beta version of the caffeine update.
Will it Have an effect on Ranking?
As of now there have not been any indications that the web page rank of websites will probably be affected, especially considering the test that have been performed by search engine optimization professionals previously year. Thus, site homeowners which can be anxious about losing rankings due to the new update have nothing to fear. Google understands the significance of web site rankings for on-line enterprise owners and marketers, and isn’t taking steps to thwart honest search engine optimization efforts. There was some hypothesis as to whether the caffeine update will affect the rating of tangible match area names.
Many individuals consider that due to the the MayDay update that affected long tail keywords the caffeine replace will elaborate upon this concept and injury the rankings of long tail key phrase domains. As of now there have been no research performed that substantiate these claims and concerns.
Will Google Tell Us About The Adjustments?
Sadly, Google could be very secretive about algorithm adjustments as it does not need the general public to make makes an attempt at manipulating Google search results by deciphering their patented algorithm. Thus, there is restricted data out there about any Google update. Nonetheless, Google does launch limited details about the essential modifications which might be made throughout an update.
Nonetheless, it’s likely that most of the revealing info will be found months after the update throughout exams performed by particular person advertising and marketing and search engine optimization firms. If you are a webmaster that owns many web sites you could possibly begin performing evaluation and checks that would yield some invaluable details about the modifications throughout the coming months.
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How to Decorate Your House And Not Lose Your Savings
Monday, June 27th, 2011Hiring decorators used to be the normal thing to do. Some people are still able to hire decorators. For the rest of us, decorating our homes is something that we see as unaffordable. Many people put off decorating their homes until they have more money because they think that home decorating is too expensive a project to begin. It is quite possible to decorate an entire home without ignoring your budget! Read on to learn some of the ways you can easily decorate your home while sticking to a small budget.
Ignore the expensive galleries. Don’t worry about buying original art just yet (though you could always make it yourself). Take some time to find prints of your favorite artwork. Prints are less expensive than original works of art. Art prints are cheaper and easier to deal with than original artworks. Prints are even easier to frame than original paintings-you can do the framing yourself (which helps save money)! Frame the print yourself by buying a frame from a sale rack-this saves you money on the frame and the act of putting the print inside of it. You can do this on the weekend or the evenings and you won’t have to worry about rushing to pick up your art before the framer closes and you won’t have to worry about how you are going to afford that painting you love so much by your favorite artist. Paint your rooms a new color. Choosing lighter (neutral) tones when you repaint will allow you to choose and change your color scheme simply with a few accessories. Clashing isn’t an issue when you use neutral paint colors for most of the walls in your home because they go with just about everything else you will use to decorate. Leaving most of the walls neutral but painting one of the shorter walls in a different shade is a good idea as well. This is a popular form of decorating. An accent wall can be created in as little as an afternoon and doesn’t usually require much paint. Using accent walls means that when you decide you want a color scheme change you only have to paint a single wall instead of having to re-paint your whole room (or whole house).
Check the classified ads in your area or use online classified sites like Craigslist. It’s easy to find great deals through the classifieds and Craigslist. Some simple surfing could you net you enough to decorate your whole home in just a matter of a few hours. You could even save time by placing your own ad listing the types of decorative items you are looking for. This can save you lots of time because then people can come to you with what they’re selling. Proceed with caution! Be sure to look at each item you want to buy before actually giving the seller your money.
Great deals can be found for your home decorations. There are deals to be had both through the internet and offline as long as you don’t forget that, just because something is new, doesn’t mean that it is better than something older. Sometimes “used” items can be a goldmine. Sometimes you already have everything you need on hand. Don’t forget to simply repurpose something that is being sold at a discount. You can find great deals all over the place; just keep your eyes open. You can take as much time to look around as you need to. It is absolutely possible to decorate your home cheaply and beautifully.
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The 10 most common Landing Page Optimization mistakes
Monday, June 27th, 2011The first thing that most people think when they want to boost their online sales is to increase their website traffic. Thus they focus on getting more links, achieving better Search Engine Rankings, investing more on advertising, sending more emails and newsletters, finding more affiliates, becoming more active on Social Media and using other ways [...]
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The Best in Water Purifiers
Sunday, June 26th, 2011This article teaches you all about water filtration. It discusses the different options you have when you install one of these systems.
Latest Articles in Technology Category on EzineMark.com
Deep Sea Diver
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
by Katie Hazard
Created for DIGM 265.