Web 2.0 Compliant?
I just discovered a Web 2.0 Compliance web site. Wow! We’re officially web 2.0 compliant!
Web 2.0 compliant? What a joke! (Maybe later I’ll preach on this one…)
Other Web Sites’ Traffic
Being able to measure another web site’s traffic, or even better, a lot of other web sites’ traffic, can mean the difference between 1% market share and 10%. In offline operations, most companies do moderate to high levels of research trying to identify one’s position compared to market competitors.
Online Tools
Some tools have popped up saying they’re doing just that: measuring site traffic and making the data public. The most well-known is probably Alexa. There, you will find traffic estimations and rankings for millions of web sites. The problem with relying completely on Alexa, however, is that it is only and estimation, and in my own measurements, I have found Alexa to be off in significant ways. (Specifically, my work on BYU’s School of Education web site has shown Alexa to be way off.)
To offset these problems, here are a couple of competing tools that, in my book, do a better job.
Quantcast
Quantcast.com is much like Alexa, but it provides demographic data as well. Site admins can verify their own sites to enhance the accuracy of the data, and the layout is much more aesthetic than Alexa’s clumsy design.
Compete
Compete.com also provides useful data much like Quantcast and Alexa, but it also has a toolbar for Firefox or Internet Explorer that makes accessing the data simple, without having to browse to their site (a feature I, personally, enjoy).
My favorite feature of Compete is its Trust Score. They’ve added the dimension of credibility, a measure that is only increasing in importance as the web grows. Yes, it is estimated in some cases, but the trustworthyness of a web site is at least expressed in some form, essential for when you’re trying to identify a credibly source.
Making the Data Work
Ideally, the traffic scores from these three sites would be averaged when trying to get an idea of a competitor’s traffic load. As Quantcast and Compete both grab data from more accurate sources than Alexa, either one of those are preferred over the latter.
Creating Your Own Font
I have for many years now, tried to find out how to design my own font. I’ve utilized libraries, the internet, and even talked with people to find good answers, and have been very disappointed. There doesn’t seem to be a book out there that gives a how-to approach to designing fonts. All too often, they describe typography, which is useful, but I want to know the actual step-by-step approach. I have FontLab and Adobe Illustrator… What next?
I’ve discovered a handy source that has fulfilled these questions for me, at least in part. Typophile has user boards where professional designers will critique your work and several tutorials exist that give serious help to those trying to make a go at professional type design. However, my favorite section is the Wiki How-To, which, as of yet, is the only legitimate place that gives professional instructions. (All too often, folks just tell you how to turn your handwriting into a font, which is way too amateur for my aims and what I’m discussing here.)
So, thank you to Typophile. I hope to have more interesting stuff to post here in the coming months regarding typeface design.
