Conventional wisdom says that you don’t want site visitors to have to use more than 3 clicks to access the item they want, whether it be content, or a product in an online store.

While this rule makes sense, when it was researched, it actually was found that it was not the number of clicks that users found frustrating, it was the inability to find what they were looking for. Read Three Click article.

Despite the fact that this is a fascinating study for people in my profession, it does remain that users want to find the information they are looking for without difficulty. Using only 3 clicks is a technique that can be helpful.

It is also important to make sure that your site is logically laid out, and intuitive. However, what is intuitive to me, may not be intuitive to you. This emphasizes how critical usability testing is, even if it is informally done.
Ask yourself (and your friends and relatives) these questions:

1. What will people want to find when they come to my site?

2. How easy is it to locate?

This will go a big way in easing your visitor’s frustrations.

The internet is supposed to be platform-agnostic, designed for anyone on any platform to be able to access the information provided. But, some people, using an arrogance and ignorance that is incomprehensible to me, build websites and services that can only be accessed by Windows Internet Explorer browsers.

I proudly use a Mac. Why in the world would I want to subject myself to using an inferior platform that carries potential liabilities such as worms, viruses, trojan horses, spyware, malware and all sorts of other damaging features? Why should I put my data at risk in such a manner? And, I won’t even go into the other things I detest about Windows such as how ugly it is, how inefficient it is, and how excruciatingly slow it is.

The point here is that websites and the offered services should be accesslble to all. It is foolish to shut out people on Macs or Linux or other platforms. It might interest you to know that Mac users tend to be better educated, make more money, be more web savvy, and are more likely to buy goods online than their Windows counterparts. (Read this C/Net article.)

If anyone is trying to sell you services that are Windows-only, or even Mac-only, you should strongly consider looking for another service provider, because otherwise you will lose clients and business and sales.

Case in point: I signed up for this online event: eComXpo. It is a virtual tradeshow that looked interesting. I was even planning to pay for the $50 online courses, either for myself or for some of my staff. It allowed me to signup using my Mac, but the day before the event, I received an email telling me that only Internet Explorer 5.5 or above on the Windows platform was allowed.

Well, phooey on them. Not only will I not attend, I’ll recommend that others not attend either. And, I sure won’t spend my $50 for their services.

This tradeshow might have had a lot of great information, but I’ll never know. So, I guess, in a sense, we both lose. But, at least I don’t have to deal with Windows, and for me, it’s worth any loss I may potentially incur. (Besides, how great can this tradeshow be if they’re this dumb in their delivery technology?)

Update: I have written to the eComXpo folks, and they were kind enough to reply:

From Meredith Brogan, of the support team - Thank you for the email. We understand your frustrations and thus are taking steps to allow our software to be used on FireFox and Macs in future versions.

We appreciate your honesty because this will help us grow to accommodate a wider range of people across the net.
And, from John Grosshandler, eComXpo Event Director -

Lynne,

Thank you for ccing me on your email.

I have read your blog and really agree with all your points.

As Event Director of the event, and a big Mac fan, it’s a disappointment to me that our show doesn’t currently support the many loyal Mac fansout there.

While your points about the internet being for everyone are of course true, there are realities for a small business like ours that have forced us to make many hard decisions, including which platforms we are
able to design for, and test. We have chosen to focus on an excellent experience for the majority of internet users, and then once we’ve achieved that goal, expand it to other platforms. It serves our
interest to support the broadest number of users, so we have the same goal as you.

Thanks again for ccing me as this direct input is valuable and appreciated.
If anyone chooses to email them about this situation, their email addresses are:

meredith@inxpo.com and john@ecomxpo.com

This tip is simple, costs little or nothing, and will seem very, very obvious. But, you’d be amazed at how many times I’ve gone to websites and read content that really needs editing. We’re not all great writers, after all!

First, make sure your content is concise, and says what you need it to say. You don’t want to ramble on and on - reading on the internet can be difficult and most folks are in a hurry. If you don’t get to the point quickly, they’ll go somewhere else.

Next, make sure you’ve checked it for grammar and spelling. If you can’t get someone to read it over for you (always to be preferred), then at least try reading it out loud to yourself. If you hesitate or stutter, look again and make sure that what you’ve written makes sense. Frequently your web designer will help you in this area if you ask.

Remember, your website is your public face to the world. What you write reflects strongly on your company!