The Un
usually Useful Web Book
12 steps to web site success
top 10 reasons web sites fail
introduction
what this book is...and isn't
what we've learned about the web
Section 1. planning your site
Chapter 1. deciding what to do
what works on the web
writing a mission statement
stating your goals
setting goals for a company site
deciding what goes on the site
take action! writing a plan
why bother writing a plan?
the basic product plan
Chapter 2. naming your site
choosing a name
registering your name
choosing a suffix
Chapter 3. sizing up the competition
identifying competitors
evaluating competitors
Chapter 4. getting to know your users
learning about your users
profiling your users
estimating audience size
visualizing your users
predicting what users will want
understanding user needs
understanding user behavior
take action! making money
the revenue models
considering your options
why pick just one?
5 online revenue models
making money from product sales
making money from advertising
making money from user fees & subscriptions
making money from match-making
online payment options
Section 2. designing your site
Chapter 5. designing for the web
designing for the user
designing for web conventions
designing for HTML
designing for different systems
designing for speed
Chapter 6. organization & navigation
site organization
structuring your site
documenting site structure
site navigation
global and local navigation
creating a navigation system
12 navigation systems
naming site sections
take action: usability testing
what you can learn from usability tests
usability testing on the cheap
Chapter 7. visual design
front door design
color on the web
creating a color system
making color work on the web
typography on the web
Chapter 8. understanding design technologies
html & xhtml
stylesheets
plug-ins
client-side scripts (javascript)
server-side scripts (asp, php)
java applets
how'd they get that look?
understanding xhtml
understanding tables
understanding frames
understanding stylesheets
understanding javascript
understanding flash
understanding php
Section 3. building your site
Chapter 9. building for the web
building for speed
building for compatibility
building for reliability
fixing a broken site
building for accessibility
building your site to last
building the backend
Chapter 10. how web sites work (a primer)
how web pages are built
3 ways to build a web site
picturing how html works
building your first web page
how web pages turn into a web site
Chapter 11. preparing images & multimedia for the web
understanding compression
how compression works
understanding memory
images on the web
choosing an image file format
preparing images for the web
audio on the web
choosing a format for online audio
preparing audio for the web
video on the web
choosing a format for online video
preparing video for the web
take action! improving site speed
how slow is too slow?
a speedy site in 6 steps
Chapter 12. adding applications to your site
choosing the right technology
developing software for your site
developing the application
Section 4. maintaining your site
Chapter 13. monitoring & evolving your site
studying your site
sources of traffic to your site
measuring traffic
creating a traffic report
typical traffic patterns
a year's forecast
evolving your site
take action! increasing traffic
getting started
attracting new visitors
keeping visitors around longer
bringing visitors back more often
Chapter 14. promoting your site
word-of-mouth strategies
email strategies
choosing an email strategy
setting up an email list
linking strategies
online advertising
where to advertise?
targeting ads
types of ads
cross-media strategies
take action! improving your search rank
first understand how it works
then make a plan...
if all else fails ...
getting listed in search engines
improving your rank in search engines
Chapter 15. managing a web project & team
managing a web project
managing a web team
assembling a web team
structuring your web team
expert advice
the experts
Index
