Ease of Use
Can people find what they want?
Can viewers move through your site without losing track of where
they are?
Can viewers get a clear and immediate understanding of your
product and service?
Compatibility
Making it possible for all viewers to access your
data is important.
Most Internet users do not use a "State Of The Art"
browser, let alone is Microsoft Internet Explorer the only
browser, plus not all computers are high-end Pentium class machines.
To make it worse, only about 13% of users are on high speed
connections most are still on dial-up connections.
TV commercials are not made that say "your TV can't be older than
60 days to see this"; radio doesn't announce that the
next spot is best heard only in surround sound. But there
are many Web Sites that virtually proclaim advanced requirements
before the user can view or 'enjoy' the visit. Since all browsers
will display the same page differently, the problem is complex.
We create sites that can be used by any browser. This translates
into more users that can view your content. This will present your
company in the better light: that you want their business and
understand their needs.
Performance
Performance can be measured by how long it takes to load your home
page and navigate the site. An easy snare is to be on the very edge
of technology with loads of graphics, audio, video and motion. Why
a snare? Simple, because most users still get their information
from the Internet with analog modems. By keeping your pages smaller,
you provide pages that people will wait to see the first time and
return to again and again to hear your message and learn more about
your products and services. This is one way to makes your site STICKY.
The larger graphics, sound and motion can be offered to viewers
as an option without slowing the opening pages to the typical
viewer. This is particularly important when you are offering your
site to users with very broad connection speed capabilities.
We can and do build very rich media sites, but we do so with
graphics that load quickly. We can break up large blocks of data
with designs or structures that are easy to use and maintain.
Thus, you achieve high performance with a lower bandwidth
requirement.
Content
Content is King but it is not the only thing of importance on the
list. Your site needs to be far more than what you publish on a
tri-fold brochure.
We create Sites that can be used by viewers not knowledgeable in
your business. Content must be representative of your business, but
not strangle the user. All viewers should be able to navigate
through your site to locate that which they want or need.
We avoid the dead ends and under construction frustrations that
upset most viewers and present your company as one that knows what
they are doing.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is sometimes referred to as the pipe between you and who
you are communicating with. The bigger the pipe, or the greater
the bandwidth, the faster you can communicate or exchange data.
As the weak link in a chain limits the weight it can hold before
failure, the slowest point in your communication path dictates the
speed of your communication.
The communication weak link can be anywhere along the path to
your users computer. While the Internet continues to grow at an
incredible rate, traffic (number of users) is increasing at a rate
just greater or close to the rate of the increase in available
bandwidth. With traffic and bandwidth increasing at the same
rate, the appearance of high speed is diminished for the user,
particularly those on dial-up connections.
For these reasons, hosting your site at a location with access
to mega-bandwidth is becoming increasingly important. We offer
collocation services that provide flexible and scaled access with
our data throughput of up to 10Gb/s (10 Gigabits per second).
Simplicity
The time it takes to download your page or the 'Time To Content' is
very important. Image may get your user's attention, but it is
content and ease of use that get people to come back. This is what
makes a site 'STICKY'.
If you have but one chance at a viewer, you must capture there
attention within 5-6 seconds, no more. Slow-loading graphics will
turn anyone off. If the page isn't fully visible in those few
seconds, research shows the user will click away. If you are only
delivering content to returning visitors, a clean easy to use site
is far more important. Remember for either visitor the Time To
Content is very important.
We build sites with all the graphics, motion and audio you demand,
however, the point is only that 'rich' sites require bandwidth
available to the user. If your target market is the consumer, you
will need to take their connection speed into account when
determining the 'richness' of the content of your site,
particularly the home page.
Visual Appearance
It is not how you look, but how you do it that
matters most on the Internet. Appearance is important, however, if
the site is easy to use, performs well and is full of helpful and
needed content, then appearance becomes less critical.
![[Prime Needs]](images/bann-pri.gif)
