Web User Experience Blog

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (0)

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 (8)

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 (0)

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)