Improving User Experience through Improved Web Design and Database Performance - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 621

Trust
A web site must be able to gain the confidence of the consumer and
establish trust as a basis for all transactions. Hackers that hit web sites
with too many messages or erroneous data heighten security concerns for
all users of the web. Hence for companies that intend to do business on the
web this issue is of key concern. Companies must publish and adhere to
their privacy policy on the web. They must not solicit any information from
the user that is not directly relevant to complete the business transaction.
This information must not be used to support email or other web market-
ing campaigns without the permission of the users. Web sites must also
employ adequate technology to prevent the misuse of information col-
lected from users.
WEB SITE DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
A web site is not just a company's address on the web. It is a home. It is
the only “face” of the company that an online consumer may ever see.
Hence the importance of good design in putting up a web site cannot be
underestimated. This section reviews some of the key points that compa-
nies should consider while designing their “homes' on the web”.
The Business Objective
The web site must be a part of an overall corporate strategy to acquire
and retain customers. In this respect it is important to clearly establish the
business objective for building a web site before one goes about designing
it. This has a direct and immediate impact on the content of a web site.
However it also impacts factors such as technology used, investment
made, and the time to completion.
Companies could choose to make their web-site a primary mode of infor-
mation dissemination e.g. Autobytel acts as a single source of information
on all models of cars. Other companies could make them the primary mode
of transacting business and generating revenue, e.g. Amazon wants the
customer to complete the purchase of the topics online. Companies could
use the web site as a launch pad to generate excitement about a new prod-
uct or service they are planning to introduce and use it to gauge the market
potential of the service or product.
Ergonomics
The issue of ergonomics in web site design is becoming increasingly
important. This involves a company paying due attention to factors such
as the visual appearance of the web pages, the presentation of content in
the web pages through the use of text/images/video & audio, the ease with
which a user can navigate around the web site and how intuitively the web
site is organized. Companies will also have to pay attention to the task of