Passive Voice Is Redeemed For Web Headings

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for October 22 is now online at:
  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passive-voice.html
		
Summary:
Active voice is best for most Web content, but using passive voice can let
you front-load important keywords in headings, blurbs, and lead sentences.
This enhances scannability and thus SEO effectiveness.
			
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User Experience 2007 conference

  > Barcelona, November 4-9
  > Las Vegas, December 2-7

31 full-day tutorials
2 keynotes: e-commerce, the state of usability

Full program:
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events

DEADLINES next week:
  > Save €150 by advance registration for Barcelona: Nov. 2
  > Save 10% by early-bird registration for Las Vegas: Nov. 3

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FIELD-TESTING PRODUCT RELIABILITY

I got a nice bag from Briggs & Riley for my upcoming trip to Europe. An
enclosed brochure says that "If your luggage is ever damaged (even if it
was caused by the airlines) we'll fix it, free of charge. By examining
every damaged piece, we see how to continuously improve and refine our
bags."

Studying why things go wrong is one of the best ways of making things go
better in the future.

For example, an e-commerce site should research why customers return
purchases. Often, you'll discover that your product pages are at fault,
for making users order the wrong stuff. Fixing the website will not only
reduce costly returns processing, it will also increase your conversion
rate, because most users won't buy if they're uncertain of what they will
get.

Beyond looking at mistakes, field research is one of the best ways of
improving any design. That's why we have a full day on "Real-World
Insights: Ethnographic Field Research" at the User Experience conference,
with Christian Rohrer, eBay's Director of Customer Intelligence for
Products.

  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/ethnography.html