Biggest Mistakes

The reading relates to user-focused design in many ways. The first principle that Flanders spoke of is that the reader does not care about the author or the process of making the website. The user only cares about how the website can help him/her. This involves gaining information, donating, searching for entertainment, or to be apart of a community. This is what Norman wrote about in his book "The Design of Everyday Things". The product should be user-friendly and user-focused, or else the goal will be missed. The topic of user-friendly also connects to the Emotional Design, where Norman speaks of behavioral design, where function is key. Visibility is important in terms of physical design, and it is also important in terms of website designs. Another key point brought up in Flanders article was the "heroin content" on a website. The same thing goes for the products. If companies figure out how to constantly update functions, they will create a heroin effect, similar to iPods.

The most important points have been mentioned already somewhat. The fact that users don't care about how much work goes into the website, nor the creator of the website is indeed factual. The heroin effect is also important because I deal with that everyday. There is a certain website where I get all my fashion and entertainment information from a certain website and I check it everyday to see updates. Also, the excess use of flash animation is very annoying, so using it in moderation is important.

My list would have to entail knowing that the user comes first and making sure that they can interact with the site and leave feedback. The most successful sites on the web allow the users to comment on the design or contact the user. Also, the constant updating of information will cause the users to always come back to see what is new. Using flash animation in moderate use is important. Another important feature is making the website compatible with all web browsers, because from personal experience, when a website is not compatible with my particular browser, I just forget about it. Lastly, the use of navigational links are important. They will make or break a website.