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 want to hear from you! We make changes to VeriSign.com daily in an effort to improve the user experience of the Website. As you navigate the site, let us know if you experience difficulty finding information, accomplishing your task(s), or anything else. The site is here to serve you and we would love to hear from you on what we need to do to improve it for you.

Leave a comment, email me directly, or use our feedback link on the site.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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)

Do you work for or own a company that has a current, live Website? We're conducting a usability study with people who work on and/or make decisions related to their site. We're looking for a very broad range of participants, from non-technical business owners and Web professionals to highly technical Web developers.

Usability studies are conducted in our corporate offices in Mountain View. We offer $100 for one hour of your time and feedback.

IMPORTANT: If you're currently unemployed, please answer the questions based on the last or most representative previous job(s) you had.

If you're interested, please click on the link below to answer a brief set of questions:

If you're a business-oriented, NON-technical professional, click here.

If you're a technical Web professional, click here.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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)

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)

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)

Imagine trying to purchase something on a Website and getting a message that the secure connection has failed and the site is using an invalid certificate. Would you think twice about proceeding or even abandon your purchase? Probably, yes. That is what happens when a site has an invalid SSL certificate. It may be that the cert has expired or just wasn't setup correctly.

And what does this do to the user experience on these sites? Well, not a lot of good. It doesn't instill much confidence in the user; not to mention, it can inhibit the user's ability to access your site altogether. It also presents a security threat as the user's information may be vulnerable and prone to hacking and phishing scams which can become a liability for the company. It can also result in downtime for the site. In the end, both the company and customer loses. So, to prevent this from happening to your site, keep those SSL certs current.

Posted by Reshma Kumar at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)