Every tiny detail counts

"The devil is in the detail" is one rule that I always abide by - dark? Perhaps....

I think it is incredibly important to make sure that every tiny detail is considered when designing a solution, else you could end up with a solution that looks lovely but when you get down to using has silly idiosyncrasies that have just been overlooked.

Now put your user hat on: you are a busy business person and you have lots of important tasks that need your attention.  One of your many tasks for the next hour is to enter you company details in to a service directory.  There are 25 people in your company.  See how long and hard you have to think before you can choose the correct company size from the drop down (see image below)?

Nice 'New' feature

LOVEfilm really let me down the first time I attempted to register, however persevering reigned and the result - quite a nice site that makes it easy to manage your personal film preferences. 

I think the 'New' feature works well and is in a great location.  I also feel that the priority list is simple and effective.

Well done LOVEfilm, next thing to sort out is the page refresh when adding a film to your personal list and also the search / browse facilities.

Registration by stealth

Where it suits the business model and objectives of the site, I will often encourage clients to opt for registration by stealth.

The main idea behind registration by stealth is that, simply put, registration can often become a blocker to users using a site.  Registration by stealth looks to remove the formal 'registration' call to action and instead focuses on gathering the important bits of information (that the business requires) as the customer is using the parts of the site that they feel are important.

The result is a site that allows the user to move quite freely around the site and then provides them with a very quick and simple form that effectively registers them.  An example is www.justgiving.com where you can sponsor without registering then right at the end of the payment process the user is presented with a cleverly designed box that ask 'Save this card  for future use?', if the user then chooses to enter their password and verify their password - voila! the user is registered without any fuss.