Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, not more difficult. As usability-conscious designers, we can make our users’ lives easier by thinking about the way people interact with our websites, providing clear direction, and then putting the burden of sorting out the details in the hands of the computers—not the users. It’s that last part that we’re going to focus on here. We’ve all heard and read about big usability mistakes time and time again: “Don’t use images or flash for navigation,” “Don’t use Javascript for links,” and I certainly hope we’re all applying those lessons in our work. It’s often the smallest usability quirks, however, that create the biggest annoyances for users, especially when it comes to HTML forms. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be off to a good start. Use the right field for the task With so many form elements to choose from, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages, it can be difficult to decide which elements to use in a given situation. Use radio buttons, checkboxes, and select boxes appropriately: for radio buttons or checkboxes, use the <fieldset> and <legend> tags to group the elements logically under an obvious heading. This grouping keeps the form manageable to users, as it can be broken down into smaller pieces in their minds. Jakob Nielsen provides these guidelines for use of checkboxes versus radio buttons: Radio buttons are used when there is a list of two or more options that are mutually exclusive and the user must select exactly one choice. In other words, clicking a non-selected radio button will deselect whatever other button was previously selected in the list. Checkboxes are used when there are lists of options and the user may select any number of choices, including zero, one, or several. In other words, each checkbox is independent of all other checkboxes in the list, so checking one box doesn’t uncheck the others. A stand-alone checkbox is used for a single option that the user can turn on or off. Source: “Checkboxes vs. Radio Buttons.” For fields in which a single selection is required and there are a large number of possible options, consider using a drop-down select box to conserve screen real estate. The barrier between what makes sense as radio buttons and select boxes is somewhat of a gray area and will depend on context. If you wind up with five or more radio buttons, Follow

It’s unfortunate that there are so many corporations, entrepreneurs, minipreneurs and internet marketers who are investing heavily to market and grow their businesses yet they don’t stand a chance no matter what they do. Wouldn’t you want to know why you put so much effort into marketing your products, services or websites and continually seem to get far less return than you would expect is possible? Certainly anyone going through this frustration would, and that’s why it’s so important to understand what a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is and how it applies to your business. UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITIONIf you’ve ever chased venture capital financing for a business idea you or your team have had, you will understand what we mean by “your 30-second elevator pitch”. I recently attended a business ventures fair in our city. This is a twice yearly event where aspiring entrepreneurs get 30-seconds to pitch a roomful of venture capitals and angel investors on the merit of their idea. It’s tougher than most people could ever imagine, to organize all of these elements into a few sentences – 1. Your target market 2. The #1 benefit your product or service provides to your target market 3. A description of your product or service 4. What makes you unique in your marketplace Of course, you cannot deal with each of these criteria alone, your Unique Value Proposition must be based on an idea that includes all of the criteria above before you can develop your UVP. In other words, as you invent or re-invent (in the case of an existing business) your business, you must base that business on your UVP rather that trying to cobble it together after you have already launched. You can have the brightest minds in the world, the most savvy marketers and sales team, kick-butt products and services and even the hardest work ethic in your market, that all means NOTHING without a strong UVP. Even more deceptive is the fact that internet marketers or entrepreneurs can achieve some early success without a strong UVP fooling them into a false sense of business success all the while teetering on the edge of ruin as the competition closes in around them. WHAT IS A UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITIONIn all of the economics, business and marketing training I’ve been exposed to over the last twenty or so years, there is frighteningly little emphasis placed on the Follow