Web User Experience Blog

With the passing of Steve Jobs, Apple Co-Founder, I got to reflecting on what are some of the key learnings and takeaways of his design genius that he imparted on our industry and me personally.

1. Design is powerful.
Good design is powerful and something that is well-designed from the inside out has the ability to make a huge impact. Steve Jobs famously said that "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." A product that is well-crafted—whether it is digital or physical—can inspire a reaction and action from people.

2. Designs should be tasteful.
Sleek, sophisticated, exquisite, and even cute are some of the adjectives that can be associated with Apple products. Even if something works well but has no design esthetic, it will be a hard sell. Functionality and finesse weaved together are a winning formula.

3. Keep it user-friendly and interactive.
Easy to use, engaging, and fun are what keep people interested and invested. A learning curve is okay but it should be intuitive and fast. Anything new would require some degree of learning. Apple products are easy to use and there is a learning curve but they are designed with the tenets of simplicity and usability in mind.

4. Keep iterating.
To take a page from the Steve Jobs design playbook, even a good design can be improved upon. He kept improving upon his products and making what was already great even better and better.

5. Think different.
Designs that push the boundaries and don't fit the norm but are innovative and futuristic are what epitomizes Apple products. Don't be afraid to think outside the box and be creative in designing solutions that are pleasing to your users.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Same Check. New Name. No Hassle.

The VeriSign Trust Seal which you have come to recognize as a symbol of trust on websites, is undergoing a rebranding and redesign.

The VeriSign Trust Seal will be renamed the Norton Secured Seal. This is expected to happen in April 2012. All VeriSign seals will automatically update to the Norton™ Secured Seal at that time.

The design of the new seal follows the same form factor as the current seal with the circle and pill-shape, as well as the inclusion of the familiar checkmark. The main differences are in the color scheme and copy. The seal goes from the VeriSign cranberry to a golden yellow and gray.

Look for the new seal to morph its way onto a screen near you in April 2012.

To learn what it all means to you, visit www.verisign.com/norton-secured-seal.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Designing a user interface which is solid yet flexible has definite advantages. From time-to-time your interface can and will be put to the test - whether it's something that has to go-live immediately, an update to its branding, a request to accommodate something that doesn't quite fit your model, incorporating a new feature or functionality that's cool but tricky, making something work globally, and the list goes on.

There are many challenges your interface is likely to encounter in its existence and needs to be able to accommodate. Clearly, doing a full-on redesign every time you need to make a change is neither practical nor possible. The interface needs to be adaptable. And, striking the right balance between the usability of the interface and accomplishing your latest UI mission-impossible is critical to the user experience of your interface.

In the course of its lifetime, your interface is likely to be stretched to its limits, it's original rules abused and broken and new ones created, and additions made to it which can seem like extra appendages. It happens to the best of interfaces. The idea, however, is to ensure your interface can stand the test of time. As while you can't plan for what you don't know, you can design your interface to be flexible, adaptable, and scalable - to accommodate the unknown. For example, don't fill every inch of real estate with content, leave room for an extra tab, think hierarchy, and design with CSS in mind. But most of all, have fun with it :)!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The GeoTrust logo recently underwent a slight modification to improve its visual profile. It is essentially the same solid brand logo you know but with a twist. We did a 180 degree switch of the logo elements - swapping the order of the graphical "G" and logo text "GeoTrust". We found that this orientation of the graphical element on the left of the text serves as a stronger anchor for the logo text. It also helps to reinforce the "G" in the logo text by appearing at the beginning of the word "GeoTrust".

No radical change here - just improving on an already strong logo design to make it even better.

Hope you like it! See it live on www.GeoTrust.com.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last week, we refreshed the GeoTrust homepage to improve the clarity of the content for enterprise SSL. Previously, the enterprise content was being displayed repetitively through multiple pathways. However, this did not provide any additional value. Under the main banner, the content was being displayed in a content box and graphic directly beneath it.

Now, we have condensed the duplicated content into a promotional graphic to reduce the time to the enterprise SSL page. The graphic is front and center, so you will be able to quickly learn more about the enterprise SSL program. During the content revamp, we have also replaced the partners content box with a new graphic about the reseller program.

Additionally, we have revamped the content in the quick links and the existing customers boxes on the right side of the homepage. Content in the old existing customers box was already being displayed in the buy SSL Certificates box, so we removed these repetitive links. The former 'quick links' box has been renamed and now houses the links for existing customers.

The footer now displays the "Glog" (GeoTrust Blog) icon next to the other social media channels.

Let us know what you think in the comments below...

Posted by Rich Lam at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To introduce the new Trust Seal monthly service, we simplified the pricing table. The monthly service is now prominently featured as the first option so users won't miss it.

We reduced the copy in the table to make it easier to follow and understand and thereby, allowing the pricing and savings information to come across more clearly.

Finally, the tabs were also re-ordered to move the 'Pricing' tab to the first position in the tabset.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The below is the earliest known screenshot captured of what the first-ever website looked like.

This early creation still represents the basic tenets of good design and usability. For instance, it is highly readable and provides great contrast with a very basic white background and black text. There is no gratuitous imagery. It utilizes the times roman font-face at a legible font-size. There are blue, underlined links clearly defined which we have all come to recognize as clickable. The page is written concisely with information-carrying words hyperlinked - notice there are no "click here's". And, I bet it scales to any resolution, is cross-browser compatible, and is mobile-browser friendly :).

Twenty years later from when this web page first went live, it is still a winner in terms of ease of use and usability.

(Image sources: info.cern.ch and BusinessInsider)

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We just launched a redesign of the Code Signing Certificates landing page. Our key objectives were to bring the products above the fold, reduce page-to-page clicks where necessary, and surface the requirements for each signing product. We had heard from our customers that we needed to increase awareness of the purchasing requirements and process.

We increased the width of the content area by virtue of eliminating the right channel. We added an interactive banner at the top of the page and integrated the code signing intro video which was previously relegated to the right rail. The banner communicates the value proposition of choosing Symantec over other Code Signing providers. Additionally, we implemented our custom corporate font using the @font-face CSS property which was being tested internally.

Code signing products now display horizontally in a single row, which allows users to view the various code signing certificates available from Symantec. We have also surfaced the system requirements and enrollment process information which was previously buried in the product details page. Now, users will clearly see what is required for each product type before going through the purchasing process. Each product tab will have this information accessible next to its features overview.

Further down on the page, we've integrated value-add info such as customer case studies in an auto-rotating carousel, links to supporting info, awards won, and calls to action for new and existing customers.

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Posted by Rich Lam at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We all know about using SSL for encrypting logins and ecommerce transactions. But that protection doesn't usually extend across other parts of the same websites.

With the release of the Firesheep extension for the Firefox web browser, its developer Eric Butler has raised awareness of the vulnerabilities of users' Wi-Fi sessions to hijacking, side-jacking, and MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks.

To understand this issue and how to protect your websites and yourself, we have put together a page which addresses how to Protect Against Firesheep Attacks with Always-On SSL.

As you will see, there is nothing sheepish about our Firesheep page. What I like about this page is that it is visually informative and engaging. We tilted the pendulum on the image-to-text ratio on this page compared to most other pages on VeriSign.com. In this case, it's effective for better underscoring the content and issue in question making it clearer and easier to understand and consume.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Overview:
The VeriSign Seal is an important offering for the company as well as a symbol of trust for many online. As we started to offer more ways customers could get the seal, it introduced some confusion. Customers can either buy the seal by itself or buy an SSL Certificate which includes the seal.

Problem:
The VeriSign Seal page has two main goals - one, to help customers understand the two options for getting the seal and what the differences are; and two, to help them install the seal. The modifications we made the the existing page did not seem to be addressing this clearly enough. The first call to action on the page was to install the seal which seemed to suggest you could simply install the seal without purchasing it. And, the second call to action was to buy SSL Certificates which seemed to be divergent from the subject of the page as it didn't provide enough context as to why it located there.

Solution:
As a result, this section of the page was redesigned to clearly address the goals of the page and needs of users. Following the concept of a new versus returning user, we split out the content between new customers looking to buy a seal versus existing customers who had already bought a seal and simply needed to install it. This transactional box provides the two options for buying a trust seal and an explanation of the main differences between the options. The content is positioned as answers to questions "Need a VeriSign Seal?" and "Ready to Install Your Seal?". The seal installation language and label on the call to action button were simplified to more user-friendly language. Instead of things like 'create script' and 'get the seal installation script', we've opted for "Ready to Install Your Seal?" and "Install Seal".

The column headers of the table which provide a deep dive of the options for buying a seal, now provide more context. Instead of jumping directly into SSL Certificates, it now provides information as to how buying an SSL Certificate helps you get a Trust Seal - i.e. "VeriSign SSL Certificate Includes VeriSign Trust Seal" and instead of just "VeriSign Trust Seal", it now reads "VeriSign Trust Seal Only" making clear that this option gets you the Seal only and no SSL encryption.

See the changes: VeriSign Seal!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About a week ago, we added new interactivity to the third banner on the GeoTrust homepage. Upon clicking on the projector graphic, visitors are presented with a modal overlay featuring an embedded video on how more Alexa top 1 million domains are using GeoTrust. It's an infotaining and engaging video. Enjoy!

Posted by Rich Lam at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In June of last year, the RapidSSL.com website got a new look and feel. What we did not change, however, was the RapidSSL Seal. Finally, the time has arrived and today, we have released a new, updated RapidSSL Seal.

The new seal design follows the brand color scheme of the website - brown, orange, and yellow - in that order. Our goal was to create a fresh, sleek, modern, and easily recognizable seal that looks and feels like an integrated part of the updated RapidSSL brand.

The dimensions remain the same enabling current customers to easily replace the old seal with the new. The seal is still animated - rotating messaging on the security it provides to websites including encryption strength and warranty. (This new version updates the encryption strength description to up to 256-bit and adds a notation about our new 2048-bit root.)

The new design main elements are the RapidSSL logo for brand recognition and a padlock for an immediate visual clue of security. The brown and yellow background shapes mimic the website box treatments with a combination of cinched and radial-edged corners. The hairline outline provides a solid border around the seal and makes it easy to stand out against any background. Despite the small profile of the seal, the high contrast colors enable text legibility.

We want our customers to proudly post their seals on their websites so their customers feel more secure and their businesses ultimately benefit.

Posted by Izabella Csaszar at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Serving up the @font-face property is still fairly rare on corporate sites, yet this treatment has been gaining popularity across the Web over the past year. Using @font-face replaces the need for creating graphics or flash to display a non-standard Web browser font.

Incorporating the custom font onto the VeriSign Authentication website is an opportunity to improve the user experience without taking away from the visual experience for users.

In this experiment, we converted the fonts into multiple web-friendly formats (e.g. WOFF, EOT, TTF, SVG) for cross-browser and mobile support. The next step was to apply our various font weights (regular, light, medium, and bold) to see them at different sizes. The result was that they looked great at larger font sizes but were not as sharp at smaller sizes. As in the screenshots below, the anti-aliasing of Web fonts will display differently for Windows and Mac users.

Posted by Rich Lam at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There's a new "About Us" page on the site. This landing page was redesigned to reflect the changes we've recently undergone.

This section is very standard in that it provides information on who we are and what we do, provides in-links into the latest and greatest news about the company, awards we've received, our social media spaces to stay connected, and our global websites to serve you locally.

The page is designed to be clean, clear, and scannable. There are a few key messages which needed to be effectively communicated - about VeriSign Authentication, the acquisition, and the divestiture. By grouping similar information together, balancing the information hierarchy, and applying visual treatment, we were able to lay out the content in an easily consumable manner.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's a brand new year and a time for new beginnings. And with that, we are debuting a brand new homepage for VeriSign.com and putting forth a brand new face to the world.

As the company, brand, and user experience evolve, so is the homepage in response to these changes!

Design - More Visual and Intuitive
With the redesigned homepage, the end goal is to get the page working even harder in meeting the needs of our users. Through the use of thoughtful design and content, we have made changes to further improve the usability and usefulness of the homepage.

While the page is still structurally the same, it's the elements in the page and their layout which have changed. The overall design is a little punchier than the previous iteration, there a little more injection of color, and the page elements are clearly defined and more accessible.

Navigation - Reduced Number of Clicks
The major changes lie in the top navigation bar, the main banner, and the area under the banner. The top navigation bar now houses mega menus with text links categorized based on role and task, as well as promotional tiles to highlight specific areas of interest. We've also integrated a number of functional elements such as a partner login utility, the ability to search for support help, and a search function to check the status of your purchase orders. By maximizing the menu real estate, we were able to improve the usability and usefulness of the menu system by surfacing more relevant content and functionality, and reduce the number of clicks to the same information.

The main banner changes include improved functionality and messaging. Each of the four banners now auto-rotates through the individual messages as well as allows for manual rotation. The banner is also now programmed without the need for any external viewing plugins.

The screen real estate under the main banner is overall more user-friendly. It is more accessible, more compelling with larger and more impactful imagery, and less copy heavy.

Other changes include a brand new logo identity in light of the acquisition of the VeriSign Authentication business by Symantec, and the clearer positioning of the Trust Seal at the top right of the page header.

Content - Saying More With Less
Overall, the volume of content is lighter. While we are bubbling up more to the surface, there is less copy delivered in smaller, more scannable, and digestible chunks.

Check it out and let us know your feedback: www.VeriSign.com.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A brand new design of the Trust Seal landing page was launched yesterday! The new page is designed to be more inviting, informative, and actionable and ultimately improve the user experience. While the previous version of the page was clean and clear as part of the initial launch of the product, the next generation page is markedly evolved. The new layout is more dynamic, the color palette more vibrant, and the content more engaging!

More dynamic and engaging page! The main feature of the page is a social selling banner. This rotating banner at the top of the page features testimonials from actual customers explaining how the Trust Seal has helped their businesses. It provides instant proof points to visitors from their peers as to the value proposition of the Trust Seal thereby, allowing them to learn about the product, evaluate it, and make a buying decision.

The progress bar beneath the banner visually reinforces how the Trust Seal can help visitors accelerate their businesses. Iconography, color, and enlarged text add emphasis and visual interest to the message.

The video provides another medium for visitors to learn about the product in an engaging manner by listening to and watching a quick tour of the product.

Social media links to learn, share, and keep in touch with the Trust Seal Team and the community of users are also made easily accessible at the bottom right of the page.

Minimal copy for maximum impact! We've maintained - as with the previous iteration of this page - as little copy as possible. The aim was to maintain the integrity of this page as a gateway page into the more detailed explanatory pages and to communicate the main salient pieces of information without overwhelming visitors.

Check it out!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The VeriSign seal is seen more than a half billion times in a single day by Internet users. Additionally, more than 100,000 websites are now displaying the VeriSign seal - this is more than six times that of the second most popular security mark.

Once you have your seal, the next question is where do you put it on your site to maximize its impact. The optimal placements for the seal on your website are:

1) On your homepage near the top of the page where it is clearly visible without the need to scroll, so your customers instantly know they can trust your site.

2) On your payment pages where customers are transacting on your site.

3) On your form pages where customers are submitting their information.

4) Across your site in the header or footer, for example, so customers have the confidence at all times that your site has been verified by VeriSign.

Get more info on where to place the seal.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We've made some changes to the GeoTrust Website!

Cooler imagery + Multimedia + New messaging = New brand personality!

GeoTrust has always been an inexpensive, convenient, and reputable brand. And to further reinforce this, we've updated the site.

You'll now enjoy new content, new imagery, new lower pricing $$$, and more educational information such as in the resources section.

The imagery now reflects new photography integrated with hand-drawn elements. This new imagery strategy supports the content tone and personality. As well, the style is more real and puts a human face to the brand making it more personal and informal in nature.

The homepage now features an animated multi-message banner which effectively communicates multiple key takeaways at a glance while efficiently utilizes page real estate. Video featuring real people has also been incorporated to tell the GeoTrust story in an infotaining manner making the overall experience user-friendly and easy.

Navigate the new changes and let us know what you think!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For ease of access, we have added a 'Buy' button to the very top of the Trust Seal landing page. This helps to ensure that it is easily visible and accessible to users and that it doesn't get missed further down the page where a user might be required to scroll to see it. This also serves to facilitate quick and easy access for the returning user who has already done their research and knows what they want. So, rather than force them to wade through the content again, the action button is at the top and forefront of the page.

The page subtitle has also been updated to reflect a more meaningful and relevant message for customers at a glance i.e. who the product is for and how much - "Perfect for Small Businesses at $299 a year".

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been working on better differentiating on our site standard hyperlinks from link tips which render a popup callout bubble. What's your vote?

QUESTION 1:

Option 1: Do you prefer the 'help' cursor onmouseover for link tips?

Option 2: Or the 'text' cursor onmouseover for link tips?

QUESTION 2:

Option 1: Do you prefer the solid underlining for link tips as well as standard links?

Option 2: Or dashed underlining for link tips?

Leave us a comment with your vote!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

With the expanding options online for top-level domains, we have added to and refreshed the gTLD services section of the site.

Using a tabset layout to showcase the various new gTLD options and provide information for applicants, all the content is aggregated into a singular view with tabbed panes making it easy to follow. And anchoring most panes, is a graphic to the top left to reinforce the tab content and draw the eye in the desired direction. We have been finding that splitting the content area into dual columns where appropriate, is beneficial from the standpoint that it not only decreases the length of the page but it also follows more of that magazine layout which has become a little more popular online. Additionally, through the use of boxes to break up the content, hierarchical text treatments, and the subtle use of color, the content is parsed out for ease of scanning and consumption while still maintaining the integrity of the subject matter.

Visit site: VeriSign New gTLD Services

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are happy to announce the launch of the redesign of the RapidSSL.com Website today. This launch marks the culmination of overhauls to the branding, information architecture, content, and look and feel. Like its namesake, the goal of the redesign is to make the site rapid - simple, quick, and easy for users to get in and out. Users will be able to quickly determine what their options are and get what they need. The site itself is flat by design to facilitate this quick and easy access - with success measured by users spending the least amount of time on the site yet still achieving their goals.

The new brand identity for RapidSSL is bold and distinct and includes, among other elements, a new color palette, logo, imagery, and typeface. In the case of RapidSSL, brown is the new black! It is the dominant and primary color of choice followed by bursts of yellow and orange. The color palette application is blocks of flat, uncomplicated color. The imagery strategy reflects the simplicity and speed themes with the use of streamlined iconography and no photography, simple dual-toned and pill-shaped buttons, and basic boxes with a combination of cinched and radial-edged corners. Throughout the site, all cinched corners are pointed in the same direction to the right as a play off of the speed metaphor. It is also worth noting that the official typography is 'Interstate' which is used for highway signage and is reflected in the RapidSSL logotype and buttons.

Coupled with a wide-screen layout, clear navigation system, and large air-y text, our goal with this redesign is to help better facilitate and service your SSL needs.

Check out the site and let us know what you think: www.RapidSSL.com.

AFTER:

BEFORE:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We recently rolled out the redesign of the VeriSign Internet Defense Network section of the site.

A key goal of the redesign was to enable users to learn about the service and ultimately, sign up for it. In terms of the look and feel, we wanted to make the pages visually rich and engaging. As a result, you will see the use of large graphics, some injection of color, over-sized text, and multiple videos. This is a good mix to play up or down certain elements, make the content more interesting, and allow users to consume the content in multiple formats - i.e. reading and/or referencing the graphics, and watching the videos.

A cool utility we deployed for an enhanced user experience was the ability to zoom-in on graphics. Users are able to to click on certain images to view enlarged versions of the images in an inline popup. This way the flow of their experience is not disrupted by being taken off the page and outside of the context of the content they are viewing.

Check it out and let us know what you think: Internet Defense Network Redesign!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We recently completed the full site redesign of the Watch.TV website. In November, 2009, we launched Phase I which was essentially the homepage. It has since changed substantially as part of this redesign.

The goal of this round of the redesign was to reflect the visual spirit of .TV [Dot TV] by making it more engaging through the use of visual communication styles to provide visitors with multiple paths-to-product and minimal copy through which to traverse. With the use of video, imagery, and information design, the site is intended to tell the story of the value of a .TV domain name and help users easily navigate to actually get one.

The design is a little unique for us in that it is edgy with the use of black and vivid color-coded pages. There are a number of dynamic elements as well as multimedia and social media content streams. There is a subtler recurring theme of digital motion bars used as a design element in the local navigation and top page banners to further reinforce the nature of the product. In general, the pages are top-heavy graphically and content-wise with the end goal being to get users to what they need as quickly as possible so they can spend more time on their very own .TV website.

Check it out and let us know what you think: www.Watch.TV!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

VeriSign turned 15 on Monday! And as with any milestone, we like to celebrate the present but also look back on the journey. Here is a retrospective of the evolution of the Website. Note: some of the images on the pages are missing.

JUNE 1997:



FEBRUARY 2004:



TODAY:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Internet Trust Index has reported a modest level of trust amongst U.S. online adults of 61.5 on a scale of 100 - with zero representing no trust and 100 representing absolute trust in the Internet. This is interesting as getting a pulse on how users perceive the Internet could be valuable for a number of reasons. It provides some insight into what activities users are likely to engage in online, whom is most active online, and where demographically. From a design perspective, this can help guide decision-making with regards to driving feature sets, look and feel, and even communication design. This can also help with regards to technology considerations such as decisions to implement trust marks on a Website such as a trust seal, green bar, or other markers.

The recently released Internet Trust Index (pdf) provides a gauge of consumer confidence on the Web. The results are compiled from a survey of U.S. adults designed to understand their Internet-related behaviors and attitudes. The survey measures nine different criteria to explore consumer's online activities, experiences, behaviors and concerns. It characterizes major Internet user groups to arrive at why some groups trust the Internet more than others and what are influencing factors. The results are sometimes surprising.

Here are some key findings:

• Though equally active online, men and women tend to engage in different
  activities. Men check sports scores more often, while women engage in
  social networking more. Women are more concerned about being online than
  men when conducting financial activities and releasing personal
  information online.


• Users in the Pacific region are more likely to engage in a wide range of
  online activities. Across all regions, up to half or more of overall users would never engage in such activities as online dating, social networking, adult content, virtual networks, managing stocks online and logging into work remotely. However, the Pacific region (compared to Mountain and West North Central regions) is less inhibited to engage in these activities, most likely due to the West Coast's more tech-savvy contingency.


• Trust in the Internet is highest in West North Central, New England and
  Mountain regions, and lowest in East South Central and East North
  Central regions.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

We launched our brand new VeriSign Labs Website a week ago. The site provides a view into VeriSign's innovation and technology research and the researchers behind it.

One of the design goals of this site redesign was to make it clean, clear, and professional without being overly intimidating or buttoned-down given the target audience which is comprised of mostly the tech community. It needed to be easily accessible and information-driven and without too many bells and whistles.

You'll notice the site utilizes a great deal of white space and rich graphical and photographic imagery such as on the Projects and People pages. There is also rich media video on the homepage which balances the reading-requisite portion of the page. The homepage captures certain key elements in that it explains what the site is about by way of the banner at the top of the page, it provides an overview of Labs to the left of the page, and it serves as a portal gateway into main sections like Projects, Collaboration, and People.

The navigation system achieves a design goal of being devoid of self-referential clickability. This basically means that when the user is on a page, the menu item for that page is not hyperlinked to prevent the user from clicking on it which would simply re-load the same page they are already on.

Check out the site and let us know what you think. Also, learn about some of the cutting-edge research being done at VeriSign Labs.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We recently did a redesign of the Identity and Authentication Services section of the Website. Not only are the taxonomy and content revamped, but the design look and feel has been improved. The landing page layout is less boxy, the value prop and key content are more clearly defined through the use of more CSS-driven text formatting and more visual icons, and the free trial is scaled down but still prominent and pops.

The four product landing pages follow a similar format with the anchor image top left to draw the eye, compliment the content, and break up the text; a promotional banner or item, and the individual product listing with a scannable overview blurb and link to the product specific information page. Rounding out the page content is the option to contact us for more information if needed and flanking the right side of the page is that option as well clearly labeled as 'Contact Us'. The right channel also houses other supporting information and related content.

The streamlined pages and content flow are intended to improve the discovery and consumption of the content. Let us know what you think.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the launch of the VeriSign Trust^TM Seal last week, we introduced a new section to the Website dedicated to the Trust Seal. The Seal enables Websites to communicate that they are a trusted site to do business with and that does not compromise consumer safety.

The site pages utilize a balanced combination of multimedia video and rich graphics to visually communicate the content.

The Product Details page provides a tabset overview of the key information relating to the seal.

The Where to Put Your Seal page illustrates via screenshots specific recommendations on where to position the seal on your site.

And, in case you have questions as to which seal is right for you, there is an at-a-glance comparison table on the Compare VeriSign Seals page with key differentiators and inline explanations.

A persistent element across the pages which follows the content of each page is the "What would you like to do?" box. This provides users with easy and always-available access to options available to them.

So if you haven't already, check out the new VeriSign Trust^TM Seal and what it can do for your Website.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Little late in posting this but the new VeriSign.com homepage is officially live. It was made official before the new year after conducting tests to determine which of several designs was performing best. The winner was determined after examining usage and analytics patterns from visitors to the site over approximately a quarter. We conducted A/B tests on a couple of new designs along with the original homepage.

With the redesign, the intent is to improve your overall user experience by updating the look and feel of the design so it is more pleasing to the eye, surface more relevant content, and improve the overall usability. We know that our users are busy and that their time is valuable, so we've strived to optimize the homepage so it is more gateway-oriented - allowing you to learn about what you need to faster and get you to where you need to faster so you can ultimately be successful. Navigational elements, entry points, and content was written so they are scannable and intuitive to enable quick and easier access.

Here is an overview of the page:
1. The new country site selector is an in-page popup pane which allows you to select the site you wish to visit directly from the homepage without leaving the page.

2. The top level navigation bar has an onhover color change effect to indicate menu items are active as well as downward facing carats to visually indicate that there are flyout menus for sublinks. These links provide valuable deep links into specific content areas.

3. There is now a full-page interactive flash banner which houses multiple overarching messages which helps you learn about issues relevant to you and how VeriSign helps you solve them.

4. For users looking to transact, there is a clearly defined and improved space for this purpose beneath the flash banner.

5. In the center well area, there is a section for learning about the latest product promotions, events, announcements, etc. This component is in the form of an interactive auto-rotating scroller which is also self-directed.

6. To the right of the promotional area, we have an accordian which we are using to surface task based as well as role-based navigation and quick links to other destinations on the site.

7. At the bottom of the page, there is a News ticker to keep you up-to-date on the latest news from VeriSign. This element also auto-rotates as well as allows for manual rotation.

8. We have 'Feedback' links in the header and footer of the page for easy access and in case you miss it in either spot.

Overall, there are more Web 2.0-esque features and functionality on the page. There are more bells and whistles intended to enable interactivity and functionality. We strived to carefully balance form and function. The elements have been pulled together in a cohesive and synergistic manner to enhance - not encumber - the user experience.

Check it out at www.verisign.com and let us know how it is working for you. Would love to hear your comments.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We recently added some visual uplift to a few of our SSL pages to augment the textual copy. Given that different users consume content differently through a combination of text and/or graphics, we wanted to ensure we were designing for this. For instance, for those of you wondering How Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Works, we have put together a visual of the three ways SSL protects your Website and customers, along with diagrams of how encryption and authentication works.

The information page on E-Commerce, Trust, and SSL now has some additional graphics and a bold, can't-miss graphic of key stats.

(Sources: Synovate/GMI Research, September 2008; Javelin Strategy and Research, March 2009)

As well, the Server-Gated Cryptography (SGC): True 128-Bit SSL Encryption page has also benefited from a little visual reinforcement.

By iterating on the presentation of the content through a mix of text, graphics, and diagrams, our goal is to present the content in a more engaging, interesting, and easily consumable format. As a result, we hopefully get these pages working a little harder and better in informing and educating users.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just launched the redesign of the watch.tv homepage last Monday. One of the elements that we had a lot of fun putting together was the digital media frenzy animation at the top of the page. There is a good amount of Web 2.0 features such as video, links to our social media spaces, integration of twitter and blog feeds, and an interactive carousel slideshow. The rest of the site will be catching up shortly. Check out the video below:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The new homepage design which we are testing out was on display at Analyst Day in New York City on Thursday. The day ended with the VeriSign Team ringing the NASDAQ closing bell.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We have rolled out a new header and footer on the VeriSign.com site.

We simplified and streamlined the options. For example, we combined the country site identifier and the worldwide site selector into one utility. Using an in-page popup, users can now navigate to another country site from the page they are on without going to a new page to select the country site they wish to visit.

The search utility has been consolidated into a single unit encompassing the 'Search' label, text field, and search button.

On- and off-states have been added to the top-level navigation. The pull-down menus on the navigation have been freshened up and the links and hovers made blue to denote them as more actionable.

The footer has been pared down and includes the standard footer links and the VeriSign Secured Seal to verify the authenticity of the site.

And, the 'feedback' () link in the header and footer with the rotating cross-hair icon allows users to easily provide their feedback as they navigate the site. Look forward to your feedback.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have rolled out our new homepage redesign today! Select users will see the new page initially; some may see different versions of the new homepage as we are conducting tests. The final redesign will be switched over in the coming month when it will be available to everyone.

The goals of the redesign include improving the usability and usefulness of the homepage. Our hope is that it helps you to be more successful and productive as a gateway to accomplishing your tasks.

What hasn't changed on our homepage:

• Positioning of the contact us and worldwide sites links, and search utility.


• Top level navigation menu functions in the same way with dropdown menus.


• We didn't really remove anything although we improved the content.

Here are the main changes you can expect to find:

• Interactive banner: An informational section to learn more about Internet-related issues which affect you and your business and how VeriSign can help.


• SSL Certificates box: Quick and easier access to select and manage certificates.


• Featured items: Carousel slide show highlighting products, events, and more.


• Quick navigation: Accordion panels allowing you to self-select based on your role (Information for), task (I need to), or simply jump links into popular/key sections (Quick links).


• News bar: News ticker to get the latest VeriSign news.

Test drive it for yourself and let us know what you think: www.verisign.com.

Stay tuned for future posts on the new homepage!

REDESIGNED HOMEPAGE:

CURRENT HOMEPAGE:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As part of our effort to provide rich and varied content, we've been incorporating more video on our site. The goal is to ensure you are able to view video without having to leave the Web page you are on - whether it is launching a new browser window or launching an external media player. But the positioning/placement of the video directly impacts the scale of the video. For example, if we are placing a video in the main content well of a page, embedding the video achieves our end goal; but if we need to place a video in less forgiving real estate like the right channel of a page, it renders the video unviewable and utlimately, ineffective as the video interface becomes much too small deeming the picture undecipherable and textual content unreadable.

So, our solution around such spatially challenging cases has been to provide a graphical promotion of the video which onclick launches an overlay on the page with a larger version of the video embedded in the overlay so users can clearly view the video. This way, users are not taken away from the originating Web page. And, once they are done watching the video, they can close the overlay and return to their regular browsing.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We are looking at adding a more prominent feedback link to the VeriSign.com Website. We would like to get your thoughts on the behavior and positioning of this link. The link will potentially look like this: [+] Feedback.

What's your preference?

1) Rotating [+] icon versus not rotating?

2) Would you expect to see the link at the top, bottom, or right of the Webpage? See below screenshot.

3) Would you like the icon to scroll with you as you scroll up and down a Webpage OR stay put but always in view?

Let us know your thoughts. Thank you.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We have officially launched the redesign of the Domain Name Services section of the VeriSign.com Website. Some of you got a preview and deemed it a "great improvement".

The redesign is leveraging our new page designs which we have been rolling out across the site. The local navigation, information architecture, and content have all been improved and updated. The user interface is utilizing richer graphics, color, and interactive elements on the pages.

For example, new search filters allow customers to find registrars and render that information dynamically:

Contextually relevant content is displayed inline using a show/hide functionality without the need to leave the page:

And, the landing page is now utilizing a cleaner, clearer, more organized, and visually rich layout:

Test drive it and let us know if you like it!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is a window into our world. It is what I like to call our organized chaos. We are constantly in the midst of a myriad of projects with a long queue still waiting to be attacked.

In our Web Design Team, we like to create project boards of workflows and mockups of work-in-progress projects. It helps us to visualize at a glance, the full landscape of projects we are working on. Although, we are constantly looking at things online - and which for our purposes is the ultimate litmus test - having the screenshots wallpapered around our offices makes them readily available to reference and discuss. We sometimes even maintain some of the iterations or options for pages so we can view the progress and which can also be super beneficial for comparative purposes.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We are very excited to announce the launch of the redesign of the Partners section of the VeriSign.com Website.

The redesign leverages our updated look and feel, richer graphics, and an improved information architecture and taxonomy of the site content. The intent is to provide a much cleaner, usable, and useful site. The content has been more clearly laid out, compartmentalized, and streamlined. We have utilized lots of white space, graphics to break up the textual content, tabsets, and tables. The end goal is to improve the usability and user experience of the site so that anyone interested in becoming a VeriSign partner can easily learn about out partner programs and enroll, and existing partners can access the partner portal.

AFTER:

Visit Partners Website

BEFORE:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am happy to tell you that our homepage evolution process continues in an effort to meet the needs of our increasingly sophisticated and varied users. We have been conducting usability tests on the redesign of our homepage. And as always, the tests were incredibly useful for uncovering a lot of helpful and interesting findings to inform and guide our design. The tests were also great for validating our direction on certain elements and smoking out issues.

We were all pretty stoked about the tests and the results and look forward to getting your feedback as well when the page goes live. Thank you to our test participants for their invaluable feedback.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Participate in a usability test and receive $100 for 1 hour of your time! In our ongoing effort to improve our user experience, we are looking for participants for a usability test upcoming shortly. The tests will be conducted in Mountain View.

We are looking for all types of people: people who do a broad range of business related work from beginners who are just starting out in the field through highly advanced business professionals (sign up); people who do a broad range of Web-related technical work from beginners who are just starting out in the field through highly advanced technical professionals (sign up); and people who do a broad range of activities online, from new users who have just started online activities through very advanced users (sign up).

If you are interested, just click the "sign up" link above that corresponds to your persona and complete the brief questionnaire. If you qualify, we will contact you. Thank you.

(Image source: http://www.experiencesolutions.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/usability-testing.jpg)

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We are redesigning the Naming section of the VeriSign.com Website and so far the tweets on the street are positive:

# fmichlick @Verisign to Revamp its Naming Services website, screenshots looks like a great improvement. To be launched in mid-July. 4 days ago from HootSuite # domainnamenews @Verisign to Revamp its Naming Services website, screenshots looks like a great improvement. To be launched in mid-July. 4 days ago from HootSuite # domaincocoon @Verisign to Revamp its Naming Services website, screenshots looks like a great improvement. To be launched in mid-July. 4 days ago from HootSuite

Here is a sneak peak. This is not yet final but a representation of what the new site will look like.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Research indicates that the majority of users are unable to spot phishing Websites. In a study commissioned by VeriSign in the U.S., researchers asked users to identify fraudulent phishing sites from images of Websites placed side by side. A whopping 88 percent of users frequently missed the most obvious "tell tale" indicator which was the misspelling on the site which would have identified the phishing site.

How do you ensure that your online user experience is not affected by fraudulent sites? Here are VeriSign's top five tips to distinguish a real site from a phishing site:

1. https:// in the URL: The "s" in https:// means the site is encrypted,
so the information you enter is secured. While some phishing sites
do have a secured Web address, many do not. Therefore, site visitors
should be on the lookout for missing security on sites that should
have it.

2. The padlock icon: To be meaningful, this icon must appear in the
actual browser interface and not inside the content of the page itself.

3. Trust marks: Simple visual cues in the form of popular logos can show
that a Web site is authenticated and secured, and that a company is
reputable.

4. Check the Web address: Be suspicious of any site with an unknown domain
that contains the name of a well known site in the latter part of the
Web address.

5. Green address bar: Signifies that a site has undergone extensive
identity authentication so that you can be confident it is the site it
claims to be.

And, to test if you can tell tell the difference yourself, take the Phish or No Phish Challenge.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You may have noticed that our imagery style has been undergoing a bit of an evolution. While we have traditionally had a very strong and unique black and white photography style, we have started to kick it up a notch with the introduction of a hint of color. The result has been subtly eye-catching. Would love to hear your thoughts. Let us know what you think.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 2:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I get asked a lot about user interface (UI) and design elements for our sites. While we create styleguides for all our sites, these documents can be overwhelming, cumbersome, and not as easily distributable. As a result, I thought that putting together a Website with site guidelines would not only be more appropriate for the medium, but would also make it more widely accessible and usable.

We've been working on it for a few months and are very excited to announce the launch of the VeriSign UI & Design Patterns Library. The site is a resource of Web Style Guidelines and Design Patterns for the VeriSign family of Web sites. It also covers social media UI & design guidelines for new media such as video, blogs, microblogs, social networks, podcasts, RSS, wikis, and forums. The Library provides resources from solutions for common UI problems to social bookmarking execution.

These guidelines are intended to avoid re-work and re-invention and allow for more standardization and efficiency. It's of value to user interface designers, graphic designers, and developers who are creating and working on our Web properties globally. External agencies we work with can leverage it to guide them in the design of our Web creatives. And, Web producers and project managers can use it as a quick reference guide.

This site is currently for internal use only but we are working to make it externally available in the near future. This would enable access for external designers and design agencies engaged by VeriSign.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

We recently redesigned the Code Signing section of the VeriSign Website. This was yet another step for our site in the migration to a more updated and improved user experience. The redesign utilizes a wider page layout which opens up the pages and makes it cleaner, clearer, and better maximizes the screen real estate. The information architecture, navigation, and content of the site were simplified and streamlined to improve the usability. The treatment and presentation of the content were improved upon for easier scanning and consumption. And, graphics and multimedia were incorporated to provide richer and more useful content along with a cooler, lighter, and fresher color palette.

And, in case you were wondering what code sign is, how it works, and why you need it, check out the site.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Internet Archive, the Wayback Machine, was recently in the news for the opening of a new data center to house its repository of archived Web sites. Wayback reportedly has three petabytes of archived sites in its massive database of 85 million sites dating back to 1996. The site allows you to go back in time to see what sites looked like at a snapshot in time. It is akin to looking at old, embarrassing photos of yourself. I decided to take this virtual stroll down memory lane in light of our upcoming homepage redesign and here is we looked in the early years. Note: some of the images on the pages are missing.

JUNE 1997: The Formative Years



FEBRUARY 2004: The Teenage Years

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As you navigate our VeriSign Website, you will notice that we are migrating away from our previous site design to a newer design. The previous site layout was narrower, left aligned, had a two-columnar page layout, and the local navigation was situated in the right channel.

In the redesign, we saw opportunities to open the site up, update the look and feel (LAF), and define the content areas more clearly. You'll notice from the new layout that we have increased the site width and centered it to better optimize the screen real estate. The header houses our logo, courtesy navigational links at the top right, search utility, and global navigation across the top in the VeriSign cranberry hue. The pages are a three-columnar format with clearly defined and traditional left navigation and right marketing channels. In the main content area, we have breadcrumb links for orientation, page titles, and a utlity navigation for bookmarking, emailing, and printing strategically positioned for contextual relevance.

We are also utilizing radial edged corners for a softer effect, gradients, and larger font sizes. We have updated the color palette to a softer and cooler look and incorporated more 3-D icons and imagery giving it a more Web 2.0-esque LAF. The finished effect is a cleaner, clearer, and more easily navigable design. Let us know how it works for you.

AFTER:

BEFORE:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The survey to gather external user input for the VeriSign homepage redesign has ended. Thank you to everyone who participated and provided their feedback. This is very helpful to us in learning what works, what doesn't work, and what you would like to see on the VeriSign homepage.

We have parsed through the survey data and here are some of the top findings.

What You Like:

• There is love for the VeriSign brand


• Homepage is easy to use and user-friendly


• It has a clean design

What You Want:

• A little less content


• Streamlined animation elements


• Make it even cleaner and simpler

We are strong advocates of what's good for the user is good for VeriSign and are working to incorporate your feedback. We have gathered and analyzed a lot of additional data and are moving into the wire-framing step. Thanks everyone and if there is any other feedback, please chime in! Will keep you posted.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may have noticed that we redesigned the utility navigation on the verisign.com site back in the latter half of 2008. This is the navigation which appears at the top right of the content area of pages.

The previous iteration of the utility nav was comprised of the standard 'print' and 'email' functionalities and the related icons were a flat gray. In the redesign, we added 'bookmarking' - but not your traditional Web 1.0, browser bookmarking functionality where users can save pages to their favorites; we opted to add social bookmarking or otherwise referred to as bookmarking 2.0 functionality. This allows users to not only add pages to their browser favorites; but, to also add and share on social bookmarking sites like Google, Yahoo, Digg, and Delicious. This way, users are able to save pages for their own personal use or share with others on the Internet.

We also updated the look and feel of the icons making them more 3-D and blue - which is a trend and is in keeping with the standard Web convention of blue clickable links, giving them a subtle and more actionable effect.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We are redesigning the VeriSign homepage domestically and internationally and as part of that process, would like to get your feedback! The goal of the redesign is to have the homepage better meet your needs - our customers. We are also looking at updating the look and feel, surface more relevant content, and make the page more navigable to help you get to what you need - easier and faster.

We have put together an anonymous survey so you can let us know what you think of the current homepage. Your input is valuable to us as we strive to continually make improvements aimed at better serving you. We encourage you to participate and provide your feedback as soon as possible to ensure your voice is heard. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey by February 19, 2009. Take the Survey!

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've just redesigned the Blogs landing page which serves as a directory listing of the blogs we have at VeriSign. You'll notice that the page is a lot more visual and utilizes a columnar layout in the content area getting more content above the fold and into your initial view for quick and easy access. We incorporated some cool headshots of our ace bloggers and branded RSS buttons for feed subscriptions. We are also utlizing some Web 2.0 design elements - in addition to the Web 2.0 functionality this page supports - like radial cornered edges, gradients, larger fonts, social bookmarking utlity navigation, and lots of white space to achieve a clean, clear, and current design. Now, we just need to redesign our blogs :)! Check it out and let us know what you think: http://blogs.verisign.com/.

AFTER:

BEFORE:

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)