Recently I came across an article on CMS Usability by Sydney based CMS guru James Robertson. In his article, “11 usability principles of CMS products” he outlines the key principles a CMS should have to be truly usable.
A usable CMS will:
- minimise the number of options
- be robust and error-proof
- provide task-based interfaces
- hide implementation details
- meet core usability guidelines
- match authors’ mental models
- support both frequent and infrequent users
- provide efficient user interfaces
- provide help and instructions
- minimise training required
- support self-sufficiency
While reading through his article I found myself nodding in agreement and more surprisingly thinking that we’ve come pretty close in meeting these principles with our own CMS. While we didn’t start out with these exact principles in mind prior to development, it’s clear our own frustrations dealing with a combination of usability and technical issues across a number of CMS platforms led us to develop a CMS that is closely aligned with these same principles. In many respects it’s a little scary how close we’ve come.
Now, as the owner of a CMS, it’s easy to start believing your own sales hype and get carried away. However, our own research and more importantly, feedback from users support many of these principles.
I hope to meet James from Step Two Designs soon and get his feedback on our CMS to see if he agrees. I’ll report on his findings here in the near future.
Sensis says they do…
A recent issue of B&T Magazine details how Sensis is investing more in its print product Yellow Pages than it has in many years. While online advertising has been on the rise at the expense of traditional advertising, Sensis is balking the trend with increased spend on paper advertising.
Using ‘metered ads’ (a US system), Sensis found that 65% of people made a purchase from a sample of 400 Yellow Pages print directory ads - a mighty conversion rate by any standpoint. Read the original Sensis media release.
Online users more likely to browse the Yellow Pages!
So the Yellow Pages convert… but who uses the print version of the Yellow Pages nowadays? According to Bruce Akhurst, Sensis’ chief executive, you’d be surprised:
“The fact is that regular internet users — people using the internet at least weekly — are more likely to use Yellow print directories than the rest of us”.
Weekly Internet Users Disagree…
Oh really? Just to be sure we surveyed the office to see if Sensis’ data reflected our reality - After all, going by Mr. Akhurst’s quote Amplify employees would qualify as ‘people using the Internet weekly’.
Our findings: Only two out of nine Amplify folk were daily users of the print yellow pages.
Do you use the Yellow Pages?
A poll of only 9 people of course means nothing. A poll of statistical outliers like the good people working at Amplify – well that REALLY means nothing. Mainly because we use these directories as laptop stands for workplace ergonomics. That said, we’d like to know what your search habits are. Do you use the Yellow Pages in print or do you find what you’re looking for using other means? Let us know!
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Where do you look first for a local business or service?
