MnLINK Users Group to be held Nov 2

The MnLINK Users group Conference on Nov 2 at Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park, MN will have an impressive and very intriguing roster of presenters. For more information go to: http://www.minitex.umn.edu/events/conferences/mnlink2007.aspx

Workshops coming in November

Watch the NLLN Calendar of Events for information about upcoming workshops in November. Jym Wroblewski, State Library Services, will be offering an LSTA grant writing workshop in Detroit Lakes on November 6. Registration, time, and location will be available soon on the NLLN webpage.

That same week, NLLN will be offering an Advanced Destiny Users Training workshop, also in Detroit Lakes. Watch for registration, location, and time — available soon on the NLLN webpage.

Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill? (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)

Blah-Blah Text: Keep, Cut, or Kill? (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) This was sort of a wakeup call for me! 

From OCLC’s Abstracts:

According to Web design expert Jakob Nielsen, the introductory paragraph(s) found at the top of many Web pages is “blah-blah” text: a block of words that users typically skip when they arrive at a page. Instead, their eyes go directly to more actionable content, such as product features, bulleted lists or hypertext links.

The worst kind of blah-blah has no function; it’s pure filler—platitudes, such as “Welcome to our site, we hope you will find our new and improved design helpful.”

Kill the welcome mat and cut to the chase, he suggests!

People read very little on Web pages. Don’t waste word count on generic, feel-good material. It’s not going to make customers feel good anyway. They care only about getting their problems solved as quickly as possible so they can leave your site.