First you shape the system, then the system shapes you?

Not really. First they shape FB, then they shape you!

In a bid to have good conversations with all the friends 'befriended' on FB, a few minutes back I was engaged in calibrating the Notification Preferences of my FB account.

After my clicking some "unfollowing" buttons, FB throws a message:

"It looks like you’re using this feature in a way it wasn’t meant to be used. Please slow down, or you could be blocked from using it."

Funny this is, they've built a system in which users might end up taking up such an activity. And if FB has throw such a message, clearly they dislike such an activity or perhaps they didn't anticipate such an activity. Hurts their business, does it?

The verbiage of the warning message above is an interesting one. Read again:

"It looks like you’re using this feature in a way it wasn’t meant to be used. Please slow down, or you could be blocked from using it."

What do they mean 'it wasn't meant to'? Are they the arbiters and judges of meaning?

'Slow down'. What's that? Are they to decide how fast or how slow should I be operating the system?

As easy as it is to consume and post the rubbish that appears on our newsfeed, FB is alright if we suffer from infobesity. FB doesn't want us to get fitter however.

Interesting Things and Emptiness

In the physical-store windows of all kinds, we see different kinds of things that the shop-keeper stocks and sells. Most often some unusual or interesting things in the window attract our attention and prompt us to enter and check out the stuff.

Once past the entrance windows, we see sections dedicated to a single category of goods.

When we enter an electronics shop like Croma or Vijay Sales, we often encounter number of television screens lined up on the wall. Most often all showing the same visuals. Thankfully. You can focus on one screen. And then another without feeling like you are missing out on something.

When we go to the homepages of the big ecommerce sites, 'blocks of visuals' like TV screens described above stare at us. So what do we stare at? Would depend on what frame we are in. Looking for very specific stuff or just generally in a mood to shop. If we are looking for very specific stuff, do we these blocks of visuals help? Even if we aren't looking for specific stuff, do these blocks help?

I often find that these blocks of visuals on homepages are least helpful to me. And there are many such sub-homepages too that are not really helpful. Only when I really enter a section-page that has listed the specific goods that I really get a sense to getting closer to the thing I am looking for. And even then, I consider myself lucky if I get the stuff I have in mind. And checking beyond a certain number of listings certainly makes it less interesting to shop.

It seems to me that these portals have arranged themselves in this way since they want to offer a lot of interesting things to us in a short span of time so that we can find what we want in a short span of time. Or so that we can spend a hell lot of time browsing the interesting things so that we can eventually buy the most interesting thing. Does it happen that way? Has it happened that way with you?

Why is it difficult to write good quality content?

Just compare the number of words written on a hand-written page with those typed on a web page. Count. In a given space, number of typed words would be ten or twenty or even more than hand-written words. We are still accustomed to hand writing.

First we shape the buildings and then the buildings shape us. The laptop/computer screen accommodates so many letters and words that it must be a challenge for most to accept the empty screen space. On the other hand, text typed in big letter sizes feels really odd to read. Content writers often get shaped by the technology of the screen.

Here's a thought. The screen space, especially the width, meant for typing can be clearly and narrowly demarcated. And content writers write in that space. That's it. No gibberish. No stretching.

Indeed, it impacts the web design. But in a manner that visitors feel like reading.

Breaking the Clutter Online Through Advertisements: A Perspective

The TV Screen, The Laptop/Desktop/Tablet screen, The Mobile Screen: the three prominent screens in our day-to-day lives. And marketers/advertisers have been, and are still, vying somehow to occupy space on all the three screens. While the TV screen was fairly well-captured long back, the confidence on other two screens is at best shaky.

How was the TV screen captured? You watching some drama, some action and snap... Bang. There's a new jingly wall in front. Yes, the one view was completely obliterated to show you another. All space gone in one go. Typical interruption strategy. After the ad's done, there's drama and action again. Action-Ad-Action-Ad. It's sequential.

So what's happening on the Laptop screen? There's some spot there, some spot here. The page remains for perusal, but some space is allotted to advertisements. Which means the content-for-perusal and the ad-for-interruption show up in close vicinity and at the same time. Advertising on Web Screen is largely space-sharing, unlike on television where it is largely sequential (one-after-another).

If researches on usability and eye-scanning-on-the-web are to go by, people develop blind spots when they become familiar with the web-page in question. It means certain spaces just don't register any more. Very similar phenomenon to your behavior in places that you are very familiar with. No matter how many obstructions or projections come in your way, after a while, your movement becomes smooth enough to dodge them.

This gives rise to an inference: if page-designs (especially layouts) remain the same/are standardized, ad-spots will typically become blind spots. Bling spots are always reserved for content, in whatever form. Whether marketers know this or not, that's the reason there is so much emphasis on engagement (or conversation). And engagement would only happen through content spots.

TV Screen erects ad-walls but Laptop/Web Screen cannot.

TV Screen uses dramatic breaks during dramas to drill into the consumer's heads, Web Screen allows great conversations to be soaked up by consumer's senses.

So what do ya got to talk about? Who's doing the talking? Does he know how to talk?

How to design the First Page of your website?

Typically ads on the web are supposed to be relevant. At least that's been the cry and the claims so far. Though of course, as happens in life, so on the web; we'll take a while before we master the art of being relevant. Anyway I click on ads nonetheless out of sheer curiosity. I like discovering new stuff. So here's one such incident.

A Google ad on top of my gmail inbox threw a name of a website selling baby products. I clicked on the link and landed on the site. And as soon as the first page opened, an ad popped up offering me some discount on a certain product on the same site. I closed the ad. And I see the page showcasing various baby-products with bubble bursts announcing some offers with some of them.

I presume the site is for young mothers and probably bright colors attract. But what I couldn't quite get is the number of things calling for my attention on the first page itself. My reflective side kicked in.

I was ready to explore.

I typed 'buy baby products' in Google and decided to check out the first few sites of baby products thrown up in the search results. I noticed the similarity in all the sites. Bright colors. Lots of messages. Lots of products. Right on the first page.

Unless someone's really really clear about what she's looking for - which I don't think is often the case - these sites do not do much to help. In fact the best impact these first pages have on the visitors is perhaps adding to the lack of clarity.

I need not ponder on the importance of the first page for any website meant to do business. But I sense the first page should at least do the following:

1. convey what the site is meant for
2. induce action
3. help bring clarity to visitors' minds

The 3 points overlap obviously. But that doesn't mean that they are incorporated in the thinking about building the first page.

Here are few thoughts to aid our thinking about building the first page.

If button is symbolic of 'call to action', can the button be the message? Yes, you read it right. Repeat. Can the button be the message? The oft-studied Google home page is an example of that. The 'Google Search' button carries the message and the action. And I needn't remind how it brings clarity to visitors' minds. The lack of things on the home page leaves visitor only one main thing to do. Type. And search.

Contrast that with Yahoo's home page and we know what we are talking.

A worldwide flower-delivery portal I worked for, mainly had links of prominent countries under the heading 'Send flowers to...' on the first page. And that kind of first page has been adopted by many a site meant for flower delivery. Of course, the task for the visitor is just so crisply cut out. No confusions.

I wonder what stops book-stores on the web from making a sharply focused first page. I observe that Flipkart added more categories of products instead of building on its success as a bookstore. Obviously the first page is filled with everything now. Ditto for many many e-commerce sites that have sprung up in India.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that first page is a reflection of the company's product strategy (indirectly or directly, its business strategy too). And if the first page doesn't quite help the visitors, it doesn't quite help the business either.

--- 8 -- 8 ---
  

Want this blogger to design your website? Write to sidsoni at gmail dot com.