In the spirit of my post about the HOME button, I’ve also decided to take on the question of linking visitors from site A –> B. It’s my honest belief that a website shouldn’t trap the user by tossing all external links into a new browser window. To my surprise when I posted this question question to the LinkedIN community an overwhelming number of comments were in favor of popping up new windows for any links which take the user outside of the main site.

I believe I can break web users into two major groups;

Shorties – Those who are savvy and understand how to use shortcuts.

Mousers – Those who rely only on left-mouse clicks and are still learning how to use the right mouse button.

I don’t believe we should cater to the Mousers. There is a browser back button for a reason; to return you to the page you were just on. I’m not buying the bullshit argument that users will click on a link and forget how to get back to your site. I do however think that when you force new windows upon the user you run a greater risk of the user closing your site, in which case they lose the ability to click BACK.

Let’s just agree to keep it consistent and stop the madness of new browser windows UNLESS the user willingly right-clicks or opens them in a new tab…..by choice.

For years we have always done milestone approvals either by verbal approval or simple email confirmations. When I used to work at Refinery (now G2) we tried doing the legal / contract version of project approvals. I found that method to be cumbersome and difficult to quickly deploy. We’ve decided to try something new and I think it’s worth sharing. We’ve decided to use Wufoo. Using this service we can share pre-developed approval forms which log client acceptance along the development process.

I’ve blogged about Wufoo in the past. I think these guys are one of the most underated Web 2.0 companies out there. Their interfaces a rocking and their shit just works real well. We’ve setup about 14 pre-defined forms, which can be shared with our clients for approvals which take less then 30 seconds to read and submit.

Here is an example.

Here is what we are hoping to achieve with this shift in our process:

Deliberate Action. It’s too easy for a client to just give verbal approval, or reply to an email. Filling out a short form is a deliberate step which requires the user to read before taking action. It falls outside the normal workflow enough to be memorable.

What am I Signing? A short explanation helps the client understand the impact of what they are signing without all the legal mumbo-jumbo of a contract. It’s enough to explain the point and nothing more.

What’s Next? Once signed, what does that actually mean to the client. This is a friendly reminder of the next steps which will be taken on the project along with a statement about what it means to give approval to this task.

Get to Know Us. A quick “Thank you” followed by a “Did you know?” We see this as another opportunity to interact with our clients in a way which helps us better know each other.

I sincerely hope you try using Wufoo to replace the old sign & fax forms of the 80’s. I’d like to hear the results if you do make the switch.

With all the latest social networking sites and rss feeds and ultra-niche media available on the internet there is an unprecedented ability to consume exactly the information that we want. If I like american muscle cars, classical music from German composers and the point of view of a news blog out of Kentucky that is all that I ever have to see. I don’t have to watch the local news to get the weather and traffic. I don’t need to be exposed to music that I don’t like. I don’t need to know that Volvo just introduced a new sedan. Through my specialized social networks I can connect with people just like me from all over the world.

Before the internet, media was relatively limited. If Johnny Carson had a great show the night before there was a pretty good chance that a bunch of other people at work the next day would also be talking about it. The majority of people in a town read the local paper. National news came from Rather, Jennings, or Brokaw. Radio choices were limited, so you might have to listen to a lot of different music to hear your favorites.

The internet opens up amazing possibilities for communication and personalization of media and gives a voice to anyone who has something to say. This is fantastic, but I have begun to wonder what we have lost? I can have a community of people across the globe, but have I lost community with the people around me? If I don’t need to hear a point of view that I don’t agree with, will I choose to?

Recently I’ve been intrigued by the personal statistic service over at Daytum.com. In brief summary Daytum is a service that allows users to quickly generate graphs about anything they’re interested in. It then publishes them in a beautiful interface for others to see.

This new service got me thinking about how awesome it would be to have a detailed statistical overview of one’s life. I’m not talking bare bones stats, but rather in depth detailed statistics. I.E. cups of coffee consumed daily, total number video game hours played, the longest period of time spent awake, the number miles driven, the amount of jokes told, the amount of jokes flopped, etc.

Well, interestingly enough it was pointed out to me that the head graphic designer behind Daytum actually has compiled some yearly statistics of his life. You can check them out over at Nicholas Felton’s site.

Looking at Nicholas’ statistics made me start to wonder, how would you track these sorts of things? I imagine some of it would have to be guess work, maybe sitting down once every two weeks and going over your four or five big categories. “What was my average amount of sleep this week? How many girl’s numbers did I ask for, how many did I get? How much time did I spend reading?” Then, over the course of the year you could keep these life stats tracked in a service like Daytum. Or you could tweet them to a private twitter feed. Then at the end of the year you could run all this information through an excel sheet and see exactly where you stood. Granted it would be a definite time commitment, but I think it might be worth it to see an overview of your life in statistical format.

I’d be curious to know if anyone else has other good ideas for how to document these sorts of things, perhaps a good iPhone app? Leave your ideas in the comments or hit us up on Twitter @imulus.

Update: Edited spelling mistakes of Feltron vs. Felton, oops.

I’ve been in this industry since ‘94, but acting in a client facing capacity since ‘99. During that time I’ve always noticed that there is a seasonal frequency to the number of RFPs, RFQs, referrals and new business opportunities. Typically, it goes like this. January is slow, Feb thru May is the busiest time of the year. Followed by a bit of a lull during the Summer, but then it picks up again in September and starts chilling out around Thanksgiving. Then the last minute stuff is rushed before the holidays coming along.

Thus far, this year is no different (I just jinxed us). The work is still coming in and after talking with several industry colleagues, they are saying the same thing. Our industry “seems” to be somewhat resistant to recessions due in-part to several factors:

• Cutbacks usually first trim off marketing & creative type jobs; however that work is usually then outsourced to agencies and web firms.
• The smart companies go after market share. These are the companies who’ve set themselves up to take advantage of rough economic times and they pounce on the chance to out maneuver the competition to eat up market share.
• Slow economies force businesses to re-evaluate who they are and what they want to be. At times, this causes them to focus on revamping their public image… ie website.

I’d be interested to know if any other agencies around the country are feeling the same way?