I laughed out loud when I saw Jakob Nielsen's latest Top 10 Web Design Mistakes list from the latest Alertbox. He STILL harps on pages that link to themselves.
While I think it's confusing to click a link that doesn't take me anywhere, but instead just refreshes the page - I'm in the minority. A look at this Cre8asiteForums thread (When Not To Phone Home ) shows that most people opt for consistency and if that means leaving in a page link that links to itself, so be it. In fact, some people think it's a helpful tactic that improves user interface usability.
Jakob Nielsen's new list has many things that I also see in my work and heartily agree with, especially regarding confusing navigation and poor organization. He has some interesting things to say about the abuse of Alt tags.
You can view the list here >>> Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003. It never hurts to inspect your site(s) to find ways for improvements.
Not mentioned in his list but something I like to remind clients is the value of communication with your online customers. When I ordered something for Christmas from a small business, and they ran into a snag with the order, they immediately contacted me to try and work out a solution. I had the option of cancelling the order but chose not to because of their thoughtfulness on my behalf. Amazon, too, has sent me emails nearly every day regarding tracking a large order I placed with them. I always know the status of my packages.
Overall, Mr. Nielsen was pleased and conveyed this message: "Many of this year's top design mistakes actually indicate a happy phenomenon: we are making progress in Web usability."
To which I say congratulations on the good work and may we continue to learn, improve and have fun with our sites next year!
