When Google first created its beta (first draft) home page and set up a test to see how well it would work, there was a problem.

“[Our beta testers] would sit in front of the Google screen for 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, a minute…Google was perplexed.”

Interested in what the problem was and how easily it was fixed? Read the article:

What You Never Noticed About Google

Read more . . .

Here’s a great ready-made To Do List of quick improvements you can make to your website. Definitely one to bookmark. I know I’ll be working through them. I may not agree with 100% of them, but most look pretty spot-on.

Here are a few items from the list:

• Keep background colors and images at a minimum. Backgrounds are often less than visually appealing and can make your site load slowly.
• Reduce choices. Avoid overwhelming your visitor with lots of different options.
• Stay consistent. Check to make sure that colors and design are in the same general scheme so that visitors know they’re still on your site.
• Validate design in alternative browsers. See how your design renders in browsers like Safari, Opera and Firefox to make sure that it looks right no matter who is viewing it.

101 Five-Minute Fixes to Incrementally Improve Your Website

photo credit: booleansplit