Clients who need website building services often find themselves lost with all of the technical jargon they hear, and designers and writers often feel frustrated by the lack of knowledge. There are a few points to keep in mind when working on website building projects for the less technologically inclined.
Don’t Assume Anything
Have you ever tried to explain a basic web action to someone who has little experience online? Even a simple statement such as “click in the text box” can be confusing. Instead, try to go slowly. Try this one out: “do you see the box in the middle of the page with the words ‘XYZ’ at the top? Move the mouse until the arrow points to it and press the left mouse button.” While it takes longer to explain and makes website building a slow process, you will find your clients are more appreciative when you take the time to explain things on their level.
Don’t Explain Everything
Let’s face it. Your clients probably don’t care how you decided to use the platform you chose for their site. They probably really do not understand what you are saying about the pros of Joomla over Drupal. The client just wants to see a nicely done site and know how to make changes to it easily. Leave some mystery to the website building process. Unless your client asks or there is a pressing need for the client to know something, it’s probably best to leave out extraneous techie information.
Don’t Let Frustration Show
So, you’ve explained what a blog is 14 times and even sent links of sample blogs. And your client still wants to know what “this blogging fuss” is all about. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Explain it again. If you have been over the same material repeatedly, you have three basic ways to remedy the problem. Offer to write down the information your client keeps asking to have explained. Sometimes when people can read about what they need to know, it’s easier. Another option is to provide links to good sites with beginner-level information. Reading someone else’s explanation coupled with yours may click for the client in a way that just your explanation does not.
An old teacher’s trick you can try is to have the client tell you what he understands from your descriptions. If your client is the one asking about blogging repeatedly, you can say “what do you think a blog is?” Non-threatening questions, such as “can you tell me how much is making sense,” can help your client tell you where the breakdown in communication is. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding early on that would help solve the problem.
Website building is a complex process. Unlike other industries, the final product is easy to see but hard to visualize coming to fruition. Few people think much about how website building happens, and especially for clients who reached middle age before ever using the Internet, the whole concept can be a bit mind-boggling.
One wonderful quality about the Internet is that it allows people to shed their concerns about themselves. That means people of all types can occupy the same space online without worrying about the stares and comments they may face in real life. That does not mean these people are without challenges, however. People with major disabilities are online in large numbers, and when website building, it is important to consider the needs of these people.
Catering to Deaf or Hard of Hearing Visitors
Embedding a You Tube video sounds like a quick and easy process when you are in the planning stages of your website building plans, but doing so can be off-putting to deaf or hard of hearing visitors. These people will not be able to comment on the video because they cannot hear it, and then you are alienating potentially loyal visitors to your site. The easiest way to solve this dilemma is to put transcripts or links to transcripts on your site for all video feeds. That allows everyone to read what happens in the video in order to participate.
Also, remember to let people know if you are playing automatic background noise. Build a banner noting that into your website building plans for people who cannot hear the music playing. Don’t embarrass them by having them let the music go on because they cannot hear it.
Helping Vision-Impaired Visitors
Helping people who are vision-impaired includes three groups: those who are color-blind; those who are blind; and those who simply cannot see well. The needs of each group are different, and you can work on website building to meet each of their needs. For colorblind visitors, try to avoid potentially conflicting colors. A blue and green design, for instance, is difficult for people who are colorblind to see. Try to use contrasting colors and be mindful of colored text over a colored background. Also, consider underlining all links to make them easier to see for people who cannot distinguish the colors.
Several Braille-type programs exist. The user will have a software program that will scroll the site and read the text. Do not include headers or important information in images when you are website building because these programs cannot “read” images. The visitor will miss out on what is on the page. Also, keep a clean layout to avoid confusion over frames and line breaks.
Finally, some people can see, just not really well. For these people, simple fonts are best. Use the basic fonts, such as Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica. Avoid curly fonts that may be difficult to decipher. Be sure to use fonts that are large enough for readers to see with a normal resolution. A 12-point font is a typical size, and going below an 8-point font will make it tough to see for some visitors.
Keeping these visitors in mind when designing your website will help you develop a trusting relationship with people who will be appreciative of your efforts to include them in your planning.
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