Far worse are the sites which have decent information, claim to want to appeal to a broad audience, but then fail to deliver by making their information hard or impossible to navigate, or present it in a form likely to deter all but the most dogged user. Every web user has been there, to a site that we know has the news report, virus warning, program download or software driver that we want. We have clicked on the links from most to least likely, used the site search engine and the site map, and then given up, totally frustrated. The days when a typical user was an enthusiast, entranced by the new medium, are long over. Much activity on the Net is now task-oriented.
People have a job to do and they want to do it online with a minimum of hassle.
In an age when users, especially loyal repeat visitors, are the most valuable commodity on the Net it is extraordinary how many sites make them feel unwelcome. Dr Jakob Nielsen, as he showed in his article last month in Computimes, has some stiff prescriptions for site managers. Keep old URLs working for two years after a site reorganisation All websites are always under construction. There's no need for a little construction worker logo to tell people this Avoid metaphors and leading-edge technologies. The points above are just some examples from a book that is crammed full of good advice.