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LexiConn – March 2008 Newsletter
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In this Month’s Newsletter:
* Website Quality
* ShopSite 9.0.3 Released
* Featured Client: cycleluggage.com
* WordPress Upgraded to 2.3.3

Website Quality

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Many websites have several flaws that the site owner may not even realize exist. This is often the case because the owner is generally very familiar with all aspects of their website, and hence can navigate their site without any issues. In order to have an objective opinion, you should have a friend/colleague go to your site and offer their thoughts. Specifically, you should ask them to find certain things on the site and note how easy or hard it was for them to find.

Another thing to consider is cross-browser compatibility. It is important to view your website in both Internet Explorer and Firefox (as well as other browsers if so desired) to ensure that the site displays properly, as coding errors may appear in one but not the other. Site depth is another important concept, as you want to be sure all of your content can be accessed without having to click on too many links to reach the desired destination. A site map and/or a site search should also be available, especially on larger sites.

Furthermore, your links should be clearly labeled with appropriate anchor text so that users know where the links will take them. Similarly, your clickable items should indicate that they are indeed clickable, i.e. it should be obvious which buttons/links are clickable through the use of either color, underlining, etc.

As per content, be sure that your site is succinct, as well as informative. Text size and page load times are also extremely important things to consider when designing any page. Specifically, the text size should be large enough that users won’t have to adjust their browser (for those that know how), but not too large that endless scrolling is required. As per page loads, be sure that all images are optimized for the web, and that there are no coding errors that would cause slow loading.

For a list of fifty questions regarding evaluating website quality, reference:

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/50-questions-to-evaluate-the-quality-of-your-website/6400/

ShopSite 9.0.3 Released

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ShopSite has released version 9.0.3, a maintenance release that fixes a number of small issues. All clients who were previously running version 9 will automatically be upgraded to 9.0.3 – no request is needed.

A full list of all the changes and fixes can be found at:

http://support.shopsite.com/kbase/view_answer.php?questionID=S5527

If you are running an older version of ShopSite, and would like to upgrade to version 9, please fill out the request form located at:

https://lexiconn.com/lexiconn/shopsite_v90_upgrade.html

To learn more about ShopSite, reference:

http://www.lexiconn.com/ecommerce/shopsite/index.html

Featured Client: cycleluggage.com

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This month’s featured client is cycleluggage.com. They feature brand name motorcycle luggage and luggage accessories at discount prices. The mission of the site is to help motorcyclists outfit their bikes with luggage.

http://www.cycleluggage.com/

For more detailed information on this month’s featured client as well as a listing of all past featured clients, please go to:

http://support.lexiconn.com/news/viewforum.php?f=4

WordPress Upgraded to 2.3.3

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The WordPress blog one click install from the LexiConn Account Manager has been upgraded to the latest 2.3.3 version. This version is a security and bugfix release. All new installs of WordPress through the Account Manager will be at this version.

If you are running a previously installed WordPress blog, you will need to manually upgrade to the latest version if so desired. If you would like LexiConn to perform the upgrade for you, please contact us, and we can assist you.

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As always, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Complete contact and support options can be found at:
http://www.lexiconn.com/support.html

Sincerely,
- The LexiConn Team