Also notable is how Google is communicating this feature to users; In lieu of mentioning OpenID, Google is using the phrase “Sign in with a Google Account.” This is similar to Yahoo’s messaging, “Sign In with a Yahoo! ID”. The choice is likely influenced by the Yahoo! OpenID Usability Research, which concluded that users do not understand OpenID, but do support using trusted providers such as Yahoo! for authentication.

I’m refreshing my site’s design and spent some time today making minor tweaks. When I make the switch the site will still utilize Wordpress, but it will continue to be crippled by a theme I hastily cobbled together a few months ago.

My next priority with the design is to make the source files (PSDs and code) available for download as a fully-functional Wordpress theme. Expect a September/October release to include:

• beefed up CSS with an em-based layout
• multiple palette choices
• enabled widgets for easier Wordpress customization
• dynamic navigation menu highlighting
• stable viewing in legacy browsers

UPDATE: Wait a second, the color palette I selected makes the site look a little too UHaul. Add that to the list of things to modify.

Shortly before the enhancement launched, additional features were requested by the project’s stakeholders. They suggested that the search form was not “visual” or “emotionally compelling” enough to increase donations. Their desired solution was the typical request for something interactive, engaging, and of course included Flash. Such a request would require resources beyond the scope of the project, so instead I suggested using an image map as a quick and easy prototype to roughly accomplished the desired effect.

The project was launched with both the form and map interface. After the redesigned page spent a few months in the wild I installed Crazy Egg, which provided a visual representation of the page’s click density. Crazy Egg allowed me to observe how each interface was performing in real-time.

Outcome

I can’t say I expected to see such a drastic difference, but users overwhelmingly preferred the form over the map. The feedback will now inform how I tweak the both the map and the form. If I don’t eliminate the map entirely, I will definitely modify the instructions; both “roll over” and “Partnership Projects” are not user-friendly terms. I’m very happy with the form, but will likely reorder the fields based on their usage.

I hope some day soon Google will work out those remaining issues with indexing external resources (e.g. HTML, XML, and SWF files). I’d also like to see better support for web pages loading Flash files via JavaScript. According to Google, Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript.

Peace Corps {teens} was launched in July 2007 to attract a new audience of American teenagers and to promote local volunteerism and future Peace Corps service. The website allows Peace Corps to share ideas and features Peace Corps Volunteer profiles, blogs, photos, music, recipes, and trivia from around the world. In addition to the teen-oriented website, the Peace Corps maintains targeted websites for teachers, kids, and 50+ Volunteers.

Typically when I create a graphic with multiple visual states I use a single sprite with the sliding door technique. Yahoo simplifies the process by creating only one graphic for all sprites. When new graphics are added to the site, they can be appended to the bottom of the existing master sprite graphic without interfering with existing x-y reference points.

The issue stems from how Flash is referenced within a web page. Traditionally Flash was detected by HTML using either <embed> or <object> tags, however both tags have accessibility and plug-in detection issues, and <embed> is invalid XHTML. These methods can cause some browsers and screen readers to misinterpret or entirely ignore your Flash content.

My favorite solution to this problem has been Bobby van der Sluis’ Unobtrusive Flash Object (UFO), but it was recently deprecated and replaced by Geoff Stearns’ SWFObject 2.0. Like UFO, SWFObject is a DOM script that detects the Flash plug-in and embeds Flash objects. It’s JavaScript API provides an amazing and complete toolset for embedding SWF files and retrieving Flash Player-related information. It has its roots in the web standards community and is designed to support W3C standards-compliant, accessible and search engine friendly web design. The handy JavaScript detection determines whether Flash content or alternative content should be shown and avoids outdated Flash plug-ins break Flash content. The example below illustrates how simple it is to detecting Flash and add alternative content.