September 26, 2012, 11:02 pm - James Farrer
Over the last week I've been making some minor adjustments to my site here. Most of which you'd never know about because they are on the administrative side of things. After having thought numerous times, "I should make a link from here to there" I decided to make the changes. In a few places around the site I have added links and rearranged things to save a few clicks.
While this is a fairly minor thing from a code perspective, it makes a significant improvement in the flow of things while using the site. It has been a stark reminder of the importance of the little things in website development. That's not to say that all little things are important, but that some little things are far more important than many of the "really cool" complicated things in the background.
Proper placement after some good testing (preferably by real users in as close to real circumstances as possible) can go a long way in improving the flow through the site. And from my own experience I am reminded of how important that flow is in creating a positive experience on the site. Streamlining the common tasks to make them easier (fewer clicks) and more intuitive (less searching for the link/button/page/etc.) will go a long way to making other lives a bit easier.
On this little site, that doesn't mean much, but in the things I do for work, over time that can add up for the hundreds, if not thousands or more, users of the work that I do. And hey, taking away a little bit of stress and giving back a little bit of time can be a great gift. I know I appreciate it.