An experienced project manager should have the loyalty and trust of the senior leadership in the organization.

Projects falter when deadlines and budgets are created through means other than the estimates done by the project manager and the project team. Senior leaders often ask what the time estimate for a project is, and then they create a faux timeline based on the originals. The new timeline and budget are always shorter in length and lower budget – alwasy.

The best strategy then is to ensure that the project manager and team create a timeline and are given the authority to ensure their estimate is being used as the final project deadline.

This goes with the budget estimate as well. If a project manager and their team estimate a timeline of 3 months to completion at a price of $55,000 with staff time, materials, outsourcing, vacation and holidays, and other factors, the senior management or sales team should not change that estimate without consulting with the project team. The first job of a project manager is to ensure they have the credibility and authority to ensure their estimates are being used.

There are countless cases of competitive bidding that takes place without consultation of the project manager in order to get a contract. Getting the work is important, but consulting the team of people doing the work is essential. There may be some creative ways to lower the cost – but the team must be aware of this before the project starts. A once estimated project at $55,000 becomes $42,000 in order to obtain that contract will put the project manager and the team in a difficult, if not, an impossible position.

Project managers are the ones held to account for keeping the project on time and within budget. It makes sense to use their estimates or consult them before changes are made.

A project manager should do everything possible to ensure that their WORD will be taken seriously with respect to their profession. The best way to ensure a project is delivered on time and within budget is to rely on the project manager’s estimates and THEN senior leadership can hold them to those estimates. A project manager’s greatest strength is their ability to estimate a project’s timeline and cost – then execute that project to completion.

When two of the three strengths of any manager is taken from them, they are managing the improbable. This type of management is futile and should be addressed at the beginning and end of every project.

Whenever the case arises that faux estimates are being used, a project manager’s responsibility is to persuade senior management to the time-tested estimation processes, strategies for efficiency and reality of the project’s scope.

Do the best you can, but remember this: When faux estimates are created and then project managers move the heavens and earth AND meet the bogus timelines and estimates, they will no longer have credibility, other than in the execution of those projects. This will create an unsustainable working environment which will cause increased turn-over, greater costs and missed deadlines as a result. And the type of company that creates an environment like that is not sustainable.

Should you focus on articles, blogs, videos, power-points, pictures for content that search engines prefer?

The type of content that search engine prefer is USEFUL content.

Articles
Articles do better than blogs as long as the articles are formatted optimally for SEO. I believe articles are a bigger draw because they are more scarce than Blog posts (more on that later).

An article is usually longer in length than a Blog post, so the content should be more useful to a person wanting to learn about a particular subject. An article has more opportunity for keywords used in the content and tags, metatags can be used in the same way.

The issue with articles is the length of that article. It must be kept somewhat short 800-1,200 words or people will not read it. Writing for the web is extremely important with articles as well. It must have good information and people must AT LEAST find it “skimmable” and printable. This keeps the content user-friendly and attracts people to bookmark the page or site.

More time and care is required for articles, so the temporal nature of a Blog post should be avoided. Articles should be posted prominently and regarded as a scholarly writing, well-researched and edited for brevity. This creates credibility and authority.

PowerPoints
PowerPoints are not very effective since it is much more compelling and educational to make a video Blog(VLOG) of a PowerPoint presentation. People would rather watch a person speaking about the PowerPoint, than just viewing the outline. The interesting content is usually not contained in the PowerPoint slides themselves, but rather from the speaker talking about the content contained in the slides. If PowerPoint files themselves were extremely helpful, speakers would no longer need to exist. In presentations, the slides are handed out as “take-aways” but are seldom referred to again. It is the speaking and presentation that is most compelling. This is the type of content that will be bookmarked and linked to. So my recommendation here is to create a video presentation including the PowerPoint.

Pictures
Pictures provide little education and can not be indexed well, unless it is extremely interesting (see indexed.blogspot.com). This website won a webby award and I purchased the book, which was very educational and interesting.

Pictures are usually the least effective of all mediums – again, usually. It depends on the subject matter and presentation style.

Blogs
Everyone has one. They are easy to create. Most blogs have a readership of 1, however, if the content is USEFUL and you tweet the Blog after posting; traffic, followers and loyalty can be built. My blog receives 4Xs the traffic after I tweet it. However, the key for a Blog and all other content is usefulness. Many people say that a person should Blog every day, but it is more important to Blog content that is wanted and needed or at least provides an interesting perspective on a good topic.

Videos
Most people use Videos to create traffic to their site from YouTube. It is an SEO strategy that has worked for several years. It is expensive, editing is time-consuming if done right, and the results are of an indirect nature. Again, depending on the topic, videos can be a good tool, but search engines do not regard the content itself as meaningful, only the number of views it receives and backlinks to your site (say to the Blog or article of the same subject).

Again, I reiterate the importance of USEFUL content as the most important. Not necessarily USEFUL to the masses, but as least to a niche audience.

Awhile back I programmed my cell phone’s speed dial to include all three of my wife’s telephone numbers as #2, #3, and #4.

I accidentally programmed the numbers incorrectly. They were not in alpha-numeric order, as I would have liked. In other words, her Cell number was not number 2, Home was not number 3, and Work was not number 4. This order would be optimal, but I didn’t want to take the time to re-order them.

So how do I remember which is which?

I quickly realized my mistake and created a way for me to remember which telephone corresponded with my speed dial programming mistake.

I tried to discover how the current order WOULD make sense and soon realized that the numbers were in order by the amount of time my wife spends next to each phone. So the order went something like this:

• #2 = home (12 hours)
• #3 = work (9 hours)
• #4 = cell (3 hours)

A creative solution to a relatively simple problem. Thinking creatively in the paradigm of information architecture is an important characteristic. This solution, to me, was simple and has saved me frustration in trying to remember which number is which, especially while driving (keep the hands on the wheel).

You’d never see this type of order system in an IA book, but it works for me and kept me from dealing with the usability nightmare of re-ordering the numbers.

- Hope this helps

The creative types have long been known for their quirkiness. They are not always on time to work or meetings, they rarely focus well in non-creative endeavors, and they can “sometimes” be opinionated or difficult to work with.

Here are 5 ways to help support the creative genius:

1. Provide as much information as possible about the project from the get-go
Nothing can be as frustrating as hearing the words so often heard by designers, “I’ll know it when I see it.” These words provide nothing of value to a designer when beginning a project. Provide some background to the project, the target audience, the goal that is hoped to be reached. Discuss your affinity to certain colors, benchmarks within the industry, or commitment of the company.

Or better yet, ask the designer what he or she would like to know in order to give them a starting point for the design project. Then, provide them with everything they need.

2. Give the designer as much time as they need
Creativity is a delicate thing. Sometimes a deadline will jump-start the creative process, but usually it hinders it. It takes time to brainstorm, to conduct research, to fiddle with design concepts. Allow a designer to fail from within, that is, to have the freedom to attempt different techniques before submitting a concept. A designer must have ample time to think about, conceptualize, practice, edit, delete, and try again – different design elements until they are satisfied that they have done their best.

It may require a week or a month, but if a truly unique, professional and creative design or idea is required, rushing the process rarely helps.

3. Do Not Allow EVERYONE to have a say in the design
Few people should be allowed to be on a design committee. In my opinion, five qualified people should be on the committee, at the most. No other people should be allowed to see the design concepts or comment on them. Choose the right people to be on the committee in the first place and be satisfied that this is the APPROVAL TEAM. The company lives and dies with this team.

Here is why: You will not satisfy everyone. In fact, even the greatest of designs can be criticized by someone. If you are looking for anything close to 100% approval from all stakeholders – stop the project and reevaluate. Begin by addressing the following question: What are we committed to and are we willing to settle for a compromise or a fantastic design.

Someone once told me the definition of a camel. Camel: A horse that was built by a committee. You will always get less when there are more people with a say in the matter. Choose 3-5 qualified people and that is all – be satisfied with the result.

4. Provide useful feedback
Meet privately amongst the committee team members to evaluate the designs. Two meetings should take place. Once to review the designs and to comment on them. Your initial reactions overall experience of each design concept.

The second meeting should occur after each person has reviewed each concept in detail and made comments. Each team member, during the second meeting, will make their comments known to the other members and those comments will be noted. Then, create agreement amongst the team members.

Creating agreement consists of what the GROUP can agree is acceptable, not acceptable, desired changes, hybrid concepts and the like.

5. Limit the number of design iterations to four
Creating a line of demarcation creates two things: urgency and proficiency

Urgency – Designs and Creativity can be pontificated on for eternity. Creating a limit of four iterations ensures that eternity is not required nor accepted. A decision must be made by the 4th iteration. APPROVAL is required by this stage. Four iterations is a generous number, by the way. Most companies list 3 iterations as their limit without further monetary investment.

Proficiency – The quality and thoughtfulness of the team’s comments will be improved if everyone knows they have a limit to the amount of design iterations. The team members will be prepared for each meeting, their comments should be supported by institutional knowledge, customer preference, artistic evaluation and so forth. The quality of the feedback will be improved.

Quality feedback is what a designer is looking for when presenting design or creative concepts. Designers are extremely prideful of their work, but they also take feedback better than most other professions. They must do this or they do not last long in the industry. Everyone is a critic, even if they are wrong – so provide quality feedback and your designer will have information they can work with in order to make the next iteration even better.

Note: if you find yourself in a position where the first iteration is nothing like you had hoped, it is important to understand the option of stopping the project with the designer you chose. Do not wait and hope that the second or third iteration will be better that the first. If you find that the designer has not come close to your initial visions of the design or creative project – choose another designer. This will save the designer and your team a lot of heartache in the long run.

- I hope this helps

–30–

You are thinking about starting a new business and want to integrate your business name with a fairly easy-to-recognize domain name, but someone has already leased it.

You search for cute alternatives and may even try the dot NET, dot TV suffixes – but no luck. These companies already thought of that and have leased all the options OR at least the top three (.net, .org, .com).

Such is the world of domain names. Horded by marketing companies that either want to resell a domain name or just use them for a small bit of advertising money. The perfect domain name for your new company could cost $5,000 to transfer to you.

Then an idea comes to you in a flash: Why not try using a Dash in between your company words?

carpetsellers.com becomes carpet-sellers.com
chicagoattorneys.com becomes cook-county-attorneys.com
jimslawnservice.com becomes jims-lawn-service.com

You review your options and low and behold you finally find something. Not quite what you were looking for, but still does the job.

As domain names and companies find the world of supply and demand increasingly lop-sided, options like the dash will become more utilized.

An added hint for better search engine optimization, try using keywords in your domain name – it always helps your Google rankings (see below).

chicago-carpet-sellers.com
chicago-dui-attorney.com
chicago-lawn-maintenance-service.com

You’ll get better rankings with the domain names above since they all have GEO-LOCATION and the SERVICE being offered. Few people will search for a DUI attorney without entering the city, state or county in which they reside. It does not good to review DUI attorneys from California if you live in North Carolina.

Therefore, additional domain names that list the geo-location PLUS the product or service being offered is a low-cost, high-return strategy when choosing domain names.

Hope this helps

If you think creativity must be the invention of a idea that has never been thought before, you may be missing an opportunity.

Creating something that is an amalgamation of two different things entirely is an excellent way to begin the creative juices flowing. Incorporating a bit of one thing with another has produced many wonderful things. Remember the commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? “You put your chocolate in my peanut butter, you put your peanut butter on my chocolate. Two great tastes that taste great together” And who doesn’t love this delicious candy

You and I may not invent the next big thing, but we can sure create value and money by combining ingredients that work. It could be two technologies, two words, or two services.

Pat Riley, back in 1988, trademarked the term “Three-peat”. A reference to winning 3 championships in a row. He made millions on the clothing sales from sports apparel makers after the Chicago Bulls won three championships in a row.

A simple play on words was indeed Creative and he made a nice profit.

The great thing about Project Management is that it is rarely an invented methodology. I think for the most part, it is identifying management approaches to a project environment.

The PMBOK is less new information than it is an amalgamation of several different disciplines, applied to projects and project management.

However, in real life, you ask? Let’s take a look.

Going to work in the morning: You have an idea about how long it might take you, but since you reviewed the weather the night before and saw that it was going to rain, you know that you should leave a bit earlier than normal – since people often drive slower in the rain. There maybe an accident or two, as well. You decide you’ll wear a raincoat in order to not get your dress clothes mess-up and you’ve decided to bring your suitcase for your workpapers.

In the A.M you listen to the traffic report and hear that your normal ride to work is clogged with traffic so you decide to take the “scenic” route that typically has less traffic.

You just conducted a rough plan of your project (getting to work), identified risk, estimated time, allocated resources, created a contingency plan.

Lots of jargon, for what people do everyday.

Now, let’s take a look at something a bit more difficult. Yesterday my wife and I were trying to decide how we could accomplish her going to work on her day off (today) for a few hours, dropping off my daughter at school, getting my mother-in-law to the hospital at 11:30, doing the grocery shopping – Project Monday.

Normally, my wife does all that while I create great answers on Linkedin (LOL). However, since she needed to work in the A.M. how could we do this?

In a flash, I crashed the project. Crashing is putting more people on the project. I decided to help with a few of the items. I would drive my wife to the train, which was on the way to my daughter’s school. Drop off my wife, take my daughter to school. I would then go home, wait until 10:45, drop off my mother-in-law at the hospital where my wife would be waiting for her. Then, when ready, they would call and I’d go pick them up and if the time was appropriate to pick up my daughter, we would pick up my daughter on the way home.

A little fuzzy feeling came over my wife when I presented this to her. It was easy, it worked and most importantly Project Monday: Accomplished – so far.

Dependencies are common in project management. You have to do A before B can be done. However, artificial dependencies are created on accident during projects a lot of the time. For example, in website development, people concentrate on the design of the site first – even though that is much less important to the success of a website than other factors like CONTENT.

So, while tweaking the design for the 4th iteration, the database guys can be finishing up the architecture of the database, creating the queries and such that can be plugged in later. Then when the design is done – boom in a few days of programming, the content is ready and the site can begin to be tested. Waaalaaaaah! The client is amazed!!!

In everyday life, many things can be done in parallel. We do them everyday. I’m sure you’ve done this: Catching up with friends on the phone while driving. Reading a book while, well, just sitting there, we’ll say.

Last year I listened to 4 audio books while in my hunting stand and ended up creating several good ideas for clients for having listened to them. Not possible if I decided to just sit there and waste the hours. I used that time productively.

Family: How many times have you heard this during the holidays: “Everyone bring a dessert” instead of one person making all the food. “Joe is bringing the green beans and the cake.” “Marge is bringing the POP and the Chips.”

That’s paralleling tasks in the real world. There are many applications to PM. I hope this helped.

I have had several first days on the job. What has worked comes fairly easily and not always with experience, although my experience has proven it correct.

During my time in the printing industry, I had the fortune of being trained by an excellent teacher and mentor. Robert Engerski was his name. He mentored a lot of kids, many of whom invited Mr. Engerski to their weddings some 10-15 years after graduating high school.

Robert Engerski is a legend among the graphic students at Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana.

His advice during my internship was simple and powerful. He said, “Keep our mouth shut and your ears open.” I have followed his advice to the letter and have never been let down. Of course, you have to ask questions, but the benefit of listening before speaking produced mountains of results and insights.

You learn:

1. Who the real leaders are
2. What the work flow is
3. Where the bottlenecks are
4. Who can be trusted (gossipers beware)
5. Who is related to whom (nepotism exists)
6. How best to communicate and to whom
7. The agenda of others

Speak little, Listen often, Act always.

Most website companies and managers have a shell of a plan when building or re-building a website. Website managers know inherently what needs to be done, but document very little. In short, they approach a website redesign by the seat-of-their-pants.

Here are 5 steps to ensure that the project will begin with an excellent plan and will finish on time.

1. Detailed List of Requirements

If you have ever been involved in moving residences, you’ll remember that it is rarely the large items that take the longest, it is the nick-nacks and other small items. We move the furniture, dressers and stereo in the first 2 hours, but towards the end, the little items get hurriedly thrown into garbage bags and squeezed into the back seat.

Website managers have a good idea of about 80% of the work involved in a project before it starts. It is the other 20% that gets them in trouble – the little things. Spending a few days with top leaders, the marketing team and others within the organization to ensure EXACTLY what work will be performed is a necessity.

Once agreement is created on the requirements necessary for success, you must cut-off the possibility of scope-creep. I do this by creating a new project, which I call Phase 2.

Eliminate Scope Creep by Creating an Automatic PHASE 2
Communicate and get agreement on the following: Anything outside these requirements will be completed in a PHASE 2 designation of the project. In other words, after the redesign is launched, the additional tasks will be performed just like another project. This accomplishes three things:

1. The original project gets completed on time and within budget
2. Additional features are welcome without limitations on the original project
3. This practically ELIMINATES scope creep from the get-go

Completing a project in this manner reassures the stakeholders that you are competent, reliable and organized. Phase 2 designation also sets expectations of results. Creating additional phases based on desired features keeps the attention on progress instead of the anxiety involved in a rushed website overhaul with unnecessary additions to the project.

The sense of completion by everyone involved in large projects can not be underestimated.

2. Estimating Time – Thoroughly

Creating an approximate project duration and cost of a website project can be done within 5 minutes by an experienced website professional. It is called Analogous Estimating. This type of estimate can be communicated very easily by referencing past projects or similar website launches. However, deadlines must be hit and milestones must be met, so a details are necessary to ensure all requirements are met within a set time-frame and the project stays within budget.

Once the project is confirmed, a detailed list of every individual task must be accounted for, including every page on the website from the online forms, to the “thank you” pages. This includes PDF designs (will the logo change on old content?). Personally, I make a list of every page that exists on the site and log it on my task-list with an estimate of the time I think it will take to transform it within the new design. Each and every page that exists is logged. To get a good solid list, I refer to the taxonomy of the site, list each page, and review every link within the site. This can take as long as two days on large sites.

The following is a typical list includes in my estimating process:

• Content Pages
• Include Pages
• StyleSheets
• Script Pages
• Supporting Pages (thank you page)
• Dynamic Pages/Action Pages
• E-commerce
• Newsletter & Press Releases (logo changes
• Old PDFs (remember branding)
• Other non-web documents

3. Peer Reviewed Estimates

Peer reviewed research is the standard in science for a reason – to ensure all aspects of a research project is addressed, previous research done on the subject is taken into account AND that sound research methodology is affirmed by other scientific professionals. Approaching a website project is no different.

The people that should review your estimates are those that are actually doing the work involved. The designers, programmers, database professionals, marketing, content experts, editors and hosting/network professionals. Never take into account that your estimates are accurate, because they will NOT be. They are a rough draft, at best. Your peers will appreciate that you consulted with them, they will feel they have a stake in meeting the deadlines that THEY helped create and their suggestions will make you look good when the project is launched on time.

Each person involved should have a list of the website tasks and your estimates. It should be presented as a ROUGH DRAFT of the project, that will not be final until all professionals involved review it, make necessary changes, provide any and all information that will affect the project and “sign off” on the project task list. This document can then be transformed from estimate to PROJECT PLAN.

4. Contingencies

Speak internally with management about personnel and hiring options that may be involved given the worst case scenarios. Learn what the budget allows if a programmer resigns in the middle of the project? What if someone gets hit by a bus? Do we have everyone’s job description and a staffing service on-hand? Always remember that people get sick. Holidays are celebrated. Motivation ebbs and flows. Efficiencies increase and decrease depending on many factors including hours worked, length of project, salary satisfaction, job satisfaction, results of annual reviews. Bring all this information into account and plan accordingly.

I often ask during critical times in a project if anyone plans on being sick in the next week. This question is met with laughter, but when hyper-critical tasks need to be accomplished to hit a milestone, nothing is a bigger de-motivator than an unplanned absence.

People do get sick, but when you ask a group if anyone plans on being sick, it also eliminates the desire to take a sick day for fear that the group will think they are not committed to the project. Laugh, but this technique works. I have yet to have someone take a sick day or ANY day off after asking that question during a critical time.

Request from your staff that they handle any personal matters before a critical milestone is met.

On the day of a launch, I failed to remind the team that they were expected to stay late in case the site did not launch by the end of the day. A programmer announced that she had to leave at her normal time on the day of a launch because her dog had to be taken outside to use the bathroom. She lived an hour away. The site was not fully up and running and my main programmer couldn’t stay.

The result was that she worked from home for 2 hours that evening, but this is the type of thing must be considered as a “worst-case-scenario.” Staff must be available. Critical decision makers must be accessible. Contingency plans must be created to ensure a project completes on time. I learned my lesson. Never take anything for granted especially the obvious. People will roll their eyes, but it is better than your supervisor rolling hers when the project doesn’t launch.

5. Progress Review and Communication

Progress Review
It is said that the best way to ensure that a person does not gain weight over a period of years is for that person to weigh themselves daily. If two, three or five pounds is gained, it is quickly noted and action can be easily taken to ensure the trend does not continue. In fact the weight-gain can be reversed in a short amount of time and done with little effort.

Much like weight gain, project status must be analyzed daily. Updates by staff should be made on the project task list for all to see. This ensures that everyone is aware of the progress being made, if the project is ahead or behind the intended schedule, it should be made public.

If this is followed, the project can easily be brought back on schedule if the team is behind by only four to five hours. If a project is analyzed every 2 weeks or on Fridays, the project can be at-risk of being late by as much as four-five days before it is caught.

Communication
Entire libraries can be filled with communication book. How to communicate, how to read body language, how to write effectively, and the like. I’ll break down communication into two parts: Over Communicating and Under Communicating.

If you were going to make a communication mistake, would you rather under communicate or over communicate? I choose to OVER COMMUNICATE. Mistakes are rarely made when over communicating AND you can always decrease communication without a high risk of a project delay. Lack of communication ALWAYS creates project delays or re-work.

This does not mean having long drawn out meetings, but rather a project manager serves themselves and the project well if they communicate on a one-on-one basis with each individual more than meeting with a group. This keeps efficiencies and project communications UP while minimizing the waste involved in always having to meet with the ENTIRE team. Since most of what needs to be communicated can been done in 5-10 minute increments with the necessary folks involved, it also allows fewer and shorter meetings when they are necessary.

I have used these 5 steps for over 15 years when managing projects and people. My experience is that if these steps are followed, there are few things that can negatively impact a project’s time-line. My website projects finish on time and within budget because of this – and not because of some inherent intelligence or special magical powers. I prepare diligently, receive feedback and commitment, create contingencies, communicate with staff and leaders and always refer to the project time-line as the standard.

I hope this helps your next project.

In the world of usability, there is an adage: “Give the user everything they need to succeed, but do not force them to act unnecessarily.”

We abhor the online form that rejects our submission because of an ill-formatted phone number entry. As usability engineers, we accept the responsibility of displaying an example for the formatting we require (e.g. xxx-xxx-xxxx). This is the minimalists view of usability.

Top-tier usability engineers would implement a better strategy. Top-tier usability engineers would allow the user to input a phone number in any format they desired and then have the programmers create back-end code that re-formats the telephone number behind the scenes, thereby eliminating any inconvenience to the user.

As web developers, we create sites with scalable browser widths to allow our applications to fit well on any size screen resolutions. This is accepted as standard practice and has allowed a more inclusive audience. Browser and version disclaimers are no longer necessary. We create JavaScript that allows the user to take control of the site’s text size at their will. Small, medium, or large type can be chosen and changed with a single click.

Today, good web developers build websites that allow everyone to use them – without hassle.

However, there is still a practice in existence that takes charge of the user’s browser and then re-sizes that browser to accommodate the application, instead of creating the application to submit to the browser. Company micro-sites are the biggest violators of this practice, but they are not the only ones. The user’s perception is that for a split second, they lost control of their computer. Their internal dialogue, if announced over a loudspeaker might sound something like this, “What just happened? What did my computer just do, what did they do to my computer, why did it do that? Was I just hacked? Oh, maybe I hit a wrong key. Everything seems to be ok, but now I do not trust this site.” The user’s computer seems to have been hijacked. At least it seems that way for a few seconds.

In a word, IRRITATING.

Like a salesperson, grabbing your arm in the entry way of their store. He leads you aggressively to parts unknown while saying, “Ok, come right here and I’ll show you something that you didn’t ask about, but we think it is really cool.” We are left irritated and guarded, if not downright unwilling to continue. Granted, it might be the coolest thing we’ve seen or it might be the exact item we were looking for, but you risk losing sales and repeat customers by this aggressive tactic.

Computer users fear their computers will be hacked while online more than any other issue with computers. Whether it is a fear of a malicious person gaining access to private information, using their computer as a proxy-server, installing unwanted advertising, or just plain nosing around – users are rightfully cautious and skeptical of having their computers act in a way that is beyond their control. Again, rightfully so.

On the web, a browser size reset is the equivalent to being hacked; at least the perception of being hacked. Users do not like their computer or browser doing anything they did not intend. Unintentional manipulation is frowned upon, to say the least.

I would be curious what the abandonment rates are on sites that act in this manner. Also, I am equally curious what the benefits have been for those companies. Direct marketers are extremely analytical people. A boost of .5% in registrations or sales will justify the 20% that abandon the site because of the same technique used.

In a matter of usability, I consider hijacking a person’s browser to be a violation of the inherent trust they have given you by clicking on the link provided. I believe that it does more harm than good. It is an act of digital aggression that most people will not tolerate.

To create an atmosphere of trust, the likes created by Amazon.com over the last 13 years, users must be in control of their computers. It is up to usability engineers to create user-friendly and accessible applications online. If an application requires a larger browser window, simply direct the person to a one line statement:

This application operates more effectively if your browser window is expanded slightly, may be continue?
Yes No

This is a simple solution that creates trust because it requires that the user give permission. It is about respecting the domain in which the user is operating (their monitor and keyboard). I’ll bet dollars to donuts this simple technique would cut abandonment rates down by 20-50% AND increase whatever purpose the site was meant to serve, either increased sales, registration conversions or repeat visitors.

I’ll bet you.