Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them (Interactive Technologies)

T

tabbed pages, simulating onscreen, 273

tabbed panels

designing for the Web, 276

not provided as a standard HTML control, 273

with poorly separated labeled tabs, 274

Tab key, moving the insertion point, 128

tab labels. See also tabs

connecting to corresponding panels, 276

not connected to the corresponding panel, 274-275

not separated, 274

separating, 276

table cells , making left alignment the default for, 260

tabs. See also labeled tabs

current not indicated, 275

designing for the Web, 276

flaws exhibited by, 274

marking the current, 276

navigation bars simulating, 233, 234

task analysis, performing before Web page design, 78-79

"Task Completed" pages with no way out, 117-118

task flow

agonizing, 73-78

bloopers likely to degrade, 78

task-focused search functions, 166

task-support bloopers, 43-79

technical jargon, avoiding for search controls, 165

technical writers

assigning to write software text, 206

making responsible for text, 211

putting in charge of reviewing all text, 217

responsibilities of, 283

TechReview.com, inconsistent label alignment, 143

telephone calls, volume increased by conflicting information, 28

templates, generating pages from, 141

ten-point minimum font size , 253

terminology, design rule for, 213

terms, mapping one-to-one onto concepts, 213-214

Terrible Tabs blooper, 273-277

testing

category names on representation users, 28

category schemes on typical users, 24

for identical options, 60

releasing Web applications without, 283

text for readability, 253

text on users, 206

of this book, 303

websites for organizational artifacts, 88

websites for usability, 37

text

avoid centering, 260

avoiding embedding in images, 253

avoiding long passages of, 196, 198

camouflaged, 255-257

centering, 258

as the dominant form of information on the Web, 195

ensuring the legibility of, 254

examples of cutting needless, 198

minimizing in websites, 238

on patterned background, 255

poor contrast with the background, 255-256

providing too much on websites, 196-199

pseudo-Latin for mocking up websites, 39

repeating in adjacent links, 196, 197

repurposing for the Web, 230

with the same color as the background, 255

size dependent on operating system and browser, 249-251

size dependent on screen resolution, 251

styles of capitalizing, 217

testing for readability, 253

tiny, 246-253

underlined non-link, 226-228

text and writing bloopers, 195-220

text fields. See also data fields

augmenting with data choosers , 123, 124

ensuring input focus for specific, 141

intolerant, 124

overuse in Web forms, 122

structuring, 128

text input focus, setting, 139

text labels, accepting clicks only directly on, 230-234

text-only duplicate links, 101

text-only links as the exception to multiple navigation schemes, 92

text resolution, 254

"text search" versus "keyword" search, 161

textual links, 222-224

with alternative designs, 240

in navigation bars, 232

scannability of, 196, 197

underlining, 222, 225

textual summary of an organization's purpose, 19

ThePattySite.com, legal disclaimer in fake Latin filler, 40

ThisDayInMusic.com, invalid default date value, 138

ticket-ordering form, resetting, 47, 48

TicketMaster.com, dead-end paths on, 72, 73

TicketWeb.com, one radiobutton, 147

tiny fonts

excuses for displaying, 251

in forms, 247-248

in links, 248-249

Tiny Text blooper, 246-253

title case, 217

titles. See page titles

Too Much Text blooper, 196-199

toolkits. See user -interface toolkits

TowerRecords.com, text input focus not set, 139

transactions

requiring data for the current, 56

Web not designed for processing, 53

Transitlnfo.org. See San Mateo County (California) Department of Transportation's TransitInfo search page

travel-time menus

with complete options, 66

lacking important options, 64

Travelocity.com

making all active buttons look fully saturated , 272, 273

travel-time menus from, 64, 65

using color saturation to focus users' attention on buttons, 269-270

triple negative in an error message, 196

true duplicate links, 93, 95-96, 101, 174-175

type-in fields. See also data fields; text fields

providing user-friendly, tolerant, 127

when okay or even necessary, 124

Typos And Grammos: Sloppy Writing blooper, 217-220