I took the Dell and Newegg mobile iPad apps out for a spin this week. Among the sites we track, Dell and Newegg seem to be the only two companies that have jumped into the ecommerce end of the iPad app pool (update! CDW just launched its app). Since Dell and Newegg are the first, it’s time to see if they are the best. Read More→
By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Tuesday,
January
24th,
2012
Comments (0)
For the last week I have been scouring some sites for best practices. During my search I have come across the occasional moment of interest. But more often I have found great ideas that weren’t fully executed. Fantastic puzzle pieces that never create the whole picture. Missed opportunities for sites to really shine.
This got me thinking about what makes up a best practice. Here’s my take: Read More→
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Categories : POV (point of view), Strategy
By Kenna Dian · Comments (0)
Thursday,
January
5th,
2012
And the Winner Is…
Overall: IBM Global Services
Usability & Effectiveness: IBM Global Services
Content, Features & Capabilities: Accenture.com
The ripples of IBM.com’s latest site redesign reached the professional services segment this year and has rocked Accenture.com’s first place ranking. The question now is whether or not the tide will turn in 2012. Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
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Categories : Communities, Design, eSelling, Global Websites, Marketing, Navigation, Search, Support, Usability, Website Rankings
By Kenna Dian · Comments (2)
Monday,
December
5th,
2011
And the Winner Is…
Overall: Symantec.com
Usability & Effectiveness: Symantec.com
Content, Features & Capabilities: Microsoft.com
Each business software site’s redesign over the past year has caused content and features to shrink on a huge scale. But did these diets help the sites’ usability scores? At least one Website should think so. Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
Comments (2)
Categories : Design, eSelling, Global Websites, Marketing, Navigation, Search, Support, Usability, Website Rankings
By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Monday,
October
17th,
2011
So much for conventional wisdom.
For the most part, I’d rather have a root canal than use most support Websites.
Search for information and you end up with a list of a bazillion documents with truncated descriptions that read like Sanskrit.
Want to take a different path? Try ferreting your product out of a laundry list of every product the company ever made.
Or try the “follow our logical links” scenario—where you end up drilling to China.
At the end of all of this wonderfulness is the real insult. Support content that either requires an engineering degree to understand—or a wad of general purpose instructions that dance around the problem and miss the issue by a country mile. Read More→
Comments (0)
Categories : POV (point of view), Support
By Kenna Dian · Comments (0)
Thursday,
October
13th,
2011
And the Winner Is…
Overall: Cisco.com
Usability & Effectiveness: Cisco.com
Content, Features & Capabilities: Cisco.com
Site refreshes, redesigns, and company acquisitions. All were in play in the networking systems segment last year. Did these facelifts improve these site’s usability? Did HP’s acquisition of 3Com give the old ProCurve site a new lease on life? Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
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By Kenna Dian · Comments (2)
Tuesday,
September
13th,
2011
And the Winner Is…
Overall: Oracle.com
Usability & Effectiveness: IBM Software Group
Content, Features & Capabilities: Oracle.com
With two companies performing complete site overhauls–and one nudging its site into place over the past year—rankings were bound to change in 2011. So which sites were the major movers and shakers over the past 12 months? Which ones are the sites to watch through 2012? Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
Comments (2)
Categories : Communities, Design, eSelling, Marketing, Navigation, Search, Strategy, Support, Usability, Website Launches, Website Rankings
By Kenna Dian · Comments (3)
Wednesday,
August
31st,
2011
This week, we took the new Intel.com site for a spin. Let’s just say there’s more (and less) to this site than meets the eye.
Kenna Dian: Don’t Bother
Intel.com’s latest redesign is like buying an exotic car. It is visually striking, can be fun to drive, and has more bells and whistles than other cars on the road. But going exotic has tradeoffs. Choosing to pass on getting the full options package can leave the driving experience far less exciting than advertised. In fact, it may even break down–always in inconvenient locations. And the unique controls and design that seems edgy and innovative in the beginning quickly become confusing and irritating.
Comments (3)
Categories : Design, Marketing, Navigation, POV (point of view), Search, Strategy, Usability, Website Launches
By Kenna Dian · Comments (2)
Tuesday,
August
9th,
2011
And the Winner Is…
Overall: IBM.com
Usability: IBM.com
Content, Features & Capabilities: HP.com
But the siteIQ eBusiness Index is always about more than just rankings, ratings, and numbers. So what’s the story about what happened over the past 12 months? Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
Comments (2)
Tags : best practice, dell.com, emc.com, enterprise systems, hp.com, ibm.com, index, intel.com, oracle.com, website rankings
With some best practices and innovations in store.
Recently Marty Gruhn and I put IBM.com’s new mega-menu under the microscope and the results were…well…less than stellar. But a couple accidental slips of my cursor exposed some other new designs and approaches that are well worth taking a spin around the IBM.com site.
Navigation first, content second. If you click on one of the artfully hidden “all” links in IBM.com’s mega-menu (i.e. “all solutions” or “all services”) you will land on a page that is so simply designed and elegant that you will think you landed on a different site. You didn’t. This is the highest of the high levels of the new IBM.com. Sophisticated design aside, what is most notable is how the page is focused solely on navigating to the rest of the site. Broad, big-bucket links take visitors to more specific information, while the content only sets the context. Read More→
Comments (0)
Tags : best practice, cisco.com, Design, ibm.com, microsoft.com, Navigation, sap.com, Usability, website design
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Marty Gruhn on Twitter
- New case study on the way: The IBM SWG Website team is executing its cult of personality strategy to perfection. http://t.co/YuBBODwr about 13 hours ago from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Smart moves. IBM uses "Connect" tab 2 drive visitors 2 high value social media venues & LinkedIn groups to start conversations with IBMers 05:20:29 PM January 13, 2012 from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
Follow Kenna Dian on Twitter
- Online communities your thing? The Online Communities Index report is hot off the presses for Library subscribers! http://t.co/EAAgG7bi about 13 hours ago from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
- RT @SageNAmerica: Great quote from Larry Ritter RT @LCoates1: "If you don't like change, you'll really dislike being irrelevant." @ACTby ... about 13 hours ago from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
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