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Web Standards

For my website, the web standards that I was able to use were XHTML-transitional standards. I also incorporated CSS 2.1 and PHP files into the creating of my website. These standards were all utilized and tested to make sure that they were used correctly. I tested and used web browsers Internet Explorer 8 and also the latest edition of Mozilla Firefox.

Usability

Here is a list of concepts that were mentioned in the, Don't Make Me Think text, in my website.

• One of the things mentioned in the book was the importance of making things obvious to click on in your website. There are many websites that you go to, where the user does not know what he or she can click on. In my website, it is obvious on all that you can click on. Specifically, everything that you can click on in my website is underlined and the text has a purple color to it. I do not have the color purple anywhere in my website, other than clickable text, and so it is easy to know what to click on.
• Another thing that the book mentioned was the importance of making things clear on your website with hierarchy. All throughout my website, there are many different sections that have different headings or some even a different font, in order to show structure in my website. This is important because user's need to know what the purpose of the page or context they are looking at. It needs to be obvious by some type of large, bold title, or whatever different way you want to express it. I used a lot of h1, h2, and h3 headings that really made this come into play.
• Another thing that the book mentioned was the importance of having navigation in your website where different pages fell into the right sections for users to find and navigate to the right page they are searching for. In my website, there are different groups or sections on my homepage that a user can click on. Once in that particular section, there are other sections they can navigate to, to find exactly what they are looking for. It is a way of keeping things organized and more user friendly.

SEO

I was able to go to the Google website and actually register my URL address with Google. With this they added my URL to their list of potential results to pop up when future employers are trying to look me up and find out more about me. I also went to another search engine company, Yahoo, and registered my URL with them as well. Having two big search engine companies is a great start to getting potential employers to type in my name and find more relevant information about me. In trying to find a job, I want these employers to find this website before any other social network profile that I have or something that would be irrelevant.

ROI

When it comes to increasing profitability for my site, using the web standards that I did and running tests on them to make sure they comply, makes it so much easier for me to know that I am developing my site the right way. It creates value to the site because these rules that are placed there help my site to be used by anyone on most browsers, and make it more user friendly to use. It is compliance with the rules and that can add profitability. I also believe the concepts I mentioned from the text add profitability because they are all concepts that are very basic but very beneficial to making things run smoother and easier to navigate and use on my website. The easier it is to use and more organized it is, can add more profitability for me because the users can not think so hard when on my site and find what it is they are looking for, and be inviting for them to come back, knowing they didn't have a hard time using my website. The SEO adds profitability by getting my website out there. Registering my URL address on two main search engines is just the start of adding popularity to my website but it is a great start. The more often I can continue to add more and more to have it pulled up as a result, the more and more I will have future employers happy with what they come up with, when trying to find my name.