Six Basic Web Design Reminders

Here's a summary of some web design reminders that all webmasters should know, yet sometimes get overlooked in all the haste and details of building a website.

1) Design sites so they look and work properly on all browsers.

2) Design sites so they look and work properly at any resolution.

3) Be sure your sites still function and look right if a css call fails.

4) Be sure your sites still work when security-conscious users disable Java, Flash, scripting, etc. in their browsers.

5) Be sure your sites still look and work right if embedded objects fail (or are blocked per point #4 above). Don’t rely too heavily on plug-ins and widgets. Use trinkets sparingly for highlights, not the majority of basic content.

6) Keep your clients focused on their customers, not themselves. Gently remind them that the website isn't being built for their own amusement or to impress their buddies or competitors, but for their customers, future prospects, the public, or whatever the case really is.

Stats: Javascript Enabled or Disabled

Another stat about the visitors to our highest traffic domains.


Javascript is generally enabled by default, but can be disabled within your browser settings. It is often used to determine which ads to show on a web page, set formatting and layout styles, and gather information about user activity.

So why would it be enabled or disabled?

Disabling it can considerably speed up web page load times, prevent piles of third-party advertisers from tracking things, and eliminate spyware & trojan risks.

Java is a two-way street, it sends data back to the server about the settings and usage of the browser and computer being used. Simply by looking at a web page without clicking on anything, Javascript is running.

"Java exploits" are currently being used quite often to piggyback trojans into computers. (Cell phones and PDAs are at risk too, because they are powered by Java and it can't be turned off. Blackberry/iPhone/cell hacking has become a new goldmine of identity theft because everyone stores all their phone numbers, contacts, emails, account logins, photos, and other personal info on them.)

We've also made the interesting observation that sites offering higher-ticket specialty products and services have noticably higher rates of Javascript disabled (upwards of 30%). Should we assume these people are more security-aware in general, and/or more tech-savvy?

Are the above stats surprising? Higher or lower disabling than you'd expect?

Stats: Browsers Used By Visitors To Our Sites

Here's a current look at the browsers being used by visitors to the heaviest traffic sites that we operate. No big surprises with Internet Explorer leading the pack, followed by Firefox.


Without saying too much about our clients, trust me when I say this traffic is very broad in scope. These statistics reflect traffic to sites in many unrelated industries, with very different target audiences and user demographics (from highly educated specialists to random consumers, and from world-wide to Peterborough-specific).

How Many Social Network Sites Do We Need?

I keep discovering "social networking" sites that hardly have any members, even those that have been around for several years. And I don't mean industry-specific or niche sites, but wide open networks. Are they not marketing them, or are they just truly lame?

Another thing I've learned is that most social networking sites have a majority of fly-by visitors, and generally less than 40% regular users. So it would appear that many people are curious about the current social networking hype and go check out these sites, yet few of them find reasons to come back. Look at it this way, if a site claims a million visitors a month, you can bet that at least 60% of those are one-time visitors who will never return. Facebook and MySpace are solid, with 55-60% regular users, and 25-35% fly-by visitors. The remaining percentages are hard-core users who are on every single day.

I'm assuming in the next year or two there will be a purging of these sites, where a few of the successful ones will buy the decent smaller ones, and the others will simply disappear because they never worked. Just like tech companies in 2000, and banks in 2009.