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Implementing the printer-friendly style sheet CSS files are linked to the document inside the <head> tag. There are different ways of doing this, but the most common way is through the <link> tag. For instance, this single line of code might be used to reference the CSS file for the browser display: <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/design.css" type="text/css" ➥ media="screen,projection" /> There are several important attributes. The rel and type attributes tell the browser that the link is for a CSS file, and the media attribute dictates where the style sheet should be applied. In this example, the CSS file is intended for screens (basically traditional browser windows) and projection environments (which is the term for browsers that operate in kiosk mode 8 ). Linking a dedicated print style sheet is exactly the same, except the media attribute changes. <link rel="stylesheet" href=" /css/print.css" type="text/css" ➥ media="print" /> The implementation does not get much more complicated than that. The harder work comes in actually developing and maintaining the additional style sheet, which includes choosing the page elements that stay and the ones that need to be hidden from the printer. What stays, what goes At some point, you have printed a web page. Most likely, it looked terrible. You wondered why all the extraneous garbage in the navigation, sidebar, advertisements, and footer had to waste half a toner cartridge when all you wanted was the content. When a site is built using CSS for design, it’s incredibly easy to hide these elements from printers using a print style sheet. Typically, the first line of the print CSS file is dedicated to hiding the visual ele- ments not needed for printing. For instance: #header img, #leftcol, #rightcol, ul#menu, #previousstuff, #commentform, #advertisements { display: none; } Deciding what actually stays and what goes may provide some consternation. Seriously consider what users want when they print a web page. 99 percent of the time, the content is going to be the focus, so do everything possible to remove the noise of the visual design and let the body copy hog the page’s real estate. Figure 11-9 shows the content taking center stage. Also consider items that rely on an interactive environment for context and functionality. The following items are useless in printed format: WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 264 8. Opera is commonly used in stand-alone kiosks because it fully supports the functionality to do so out of the box. For more information, see www.opera.com/support/mastering/kiosk/. 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/07 3:27 PM Page 264 Advertisements: As much as a sponsor probably wants their ad to appear in every possible medium, a visitor will never see an ad intruding on their content and take the time to reopen the page and click the link. The small chance of appeasing a single patron is far outweighed by the certainty of annoying everyone else. (This is especially relevant for animated ads, since only a single frame will even be cap- tured.) Navigation: While there might be value in reiterating what section the content is from, there is zero value in printing a bunch of links that cannot be clicked. Hide all navigation items—even contextual pagination menus. Inline links: The anchor text of links inside the body copy should obviously be retained, but there is little point in styling them differently (which includes differ- ent colors and underlines). If the content is written naturally, and links make sense in context—for instance, I saw a funny picture today, vs. click here to see the funny picture —users will never know what they are missing. Forms. There is no value in printing a contact form that cannot function outside of a web page. This is where real contact information like e-mail, addresses, and phone numbers prove their worth on a contact page. There is a good chance that the final print-ready CSS file will be quite small. Since design- ers do not have to worry about styling every last pixel of the background image, header graphics, and fancy menu buttons, the bulk of the material will be spent defining typogra- phy and page size. Sizing and measurement considerations In the digital realm, web designers are well acquainted with pixels, percentages, keywords, and ems, all common units of measurement found in CSS files. Some, like pixels, are fixed in size; others, like ems, scale with text resizing inside a browser. Because of the prevalence of these, designers often overlook units that determine physical dimensions, like inches and points, which are absolute values suitable for use when the final size of the medium— in this case, a piece of paper—is known. Browsers recognize the following absolute values: in (inches) cm (centimeters) mm (millimeters) pt (points; these are equal to 1/72 of an inch) pc (picas; one pica is equal to 12 points) Whenever possible, these absolute measurements should be used for print-ready CSS files. Pixels can theoretically be used since they represent a fixed size (0.28mm, according to the W3C 9 ), but results will be far more consistent with everyday measurements. CONTINGENCY PLANNING 265 11 9. If you really care about the physical width of a pixel, here is the link: www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/ syndata.html#length-units. 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/07 3:27 PM Page 265 Absolute units can be used for setting the dimensions of page elements. Consider the fol- lowing CSS file that is designed for printing: #content { width: 7.5in; color: #000; } #content h1 { font: bold 12pt Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; } #content p { font: 8pt "Times New Roman", Georgia, serif; } By using these static units of measurement, the page will print nearly identically on letter- size (8.5 ✕11 in.) paper across different systems. However, since there is no guarantee that the person will be using letter-size paper, a smarter way of determining the printable area is to set flexible padding around the body of the document, as shown in this example: body { padding: 10%; } #content h1 { font: bold 12pt Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; } #content p { font: 8pt "Times New Roman", Georgia, serif; } This way, there will always be a healthy padding around the content, no matter what the size of the paper. Doomsday page The final piece of contingency design featured in this chapter is for accommodating the worst-case scenario: the entire site is down. This is either scheduled or unscheduled. The user does not need to know the details of the crisis, but they should be assured that the staff does indeed realize there is a problem, and if possible, be given a rough estimate when the site should be back online. Some corporate websites have a consistent user community that regularly visits forums, administrative sections, and other areas requiring a login. This group should always be notified of site maintenance or planned downtime in advance. This will significantly reduce the number of panicked phone calls from users demanding to know whether the company went out of business, was sold to foreign oil investors, or was annihilated by a giant laser beam from outer space. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 266 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/07 3:27 PM Page 266 There really are no guidelines to the doomsday page. Helpful, friendly messaging is impor- tant, but the content and design is up to the company itself. Many of them, like YouTube in Figure 11-10, have fun with it. Figure 11-10. Many companies, both corporate and consumer, have fun with their doomsday page. Summary Solid, thoughtful, and well-executed contingency design is imperative to the success of a corporate website. Being able to anticipate different user actions and meet their needs in times of uncertainty goes a long way in building confidence and loyalty among visitors. A company that fails to pay attention to the small details of its website, intentionally or not, is sending a message of poor quality to the unfortunate soul who has the bad luck of run- ning afoul of the system. Helpful content in error pages, well-designed search functional- ity, and thorough form errors can quickly set users back on the right path, spurring them to spend more time with your proper content. CONTINGENCY PLANNING 267 11 8393CH11.qxd 8/6/07 3:27 PM Page 267 12 LEGALESE 8393CH12.qxd 8/6/07 3:51 PM Page 269 Although most of the denizens of the Web appreciate the cascade of free information that makes its way online everyday, most of that content is attached to corporate interests and copyright law. While companies and individuals regularly publish information for anyone to consume, the strict regulations surrounding the ownership of text, images, and more that govern the physical world generally translate right into the digital one. Unfortunately, the legal arena around the Web has always been a bit foggy. This is largely a result of the mixed ownership of content, how copyright is handled, how trademarks are protected, and how institutions shield themselves from lawsuit-happy lawyers firing threatening letters at anything that moves. Many corporations have taken it upon themselves to clear up any confusion about content ownership and protection by drafting their own custom declarations. Much of this heavy lifting occurs within tiny little links marked “Terms of Use” or “Copyright” or “Privacy Policy,” usually found in the footer of the site. These pages of legalese—which can be more obtuse than a PowerPoint presentation from the federal government—spell out in no uncertain terms who is liable for what. While it’s annoying that the Web has fallen into a state of rampant copyright infringement and malicious drive-by malware downloads, a business can take large steps toward pro- tecting its online presence by adding some of this legalese to its website. This chapter is not meant as legal advice, nor is it a definitive guide on writing complex documents such as terms of use and privacy statements, which, for some sites, most defi- nitely requires the assistance of legal professionals. It is designed to give companies an overview of the type of material commonly found in these documents, and a baseline for moving toward an official version for their own needs. It is also biased heavily toward the American legal system; since every country’s laws vary, it is beyond the scope of this book to address international law. Intellectual property There are three different avenues for companies and individuals in the United States to protect their intellectual property: copyright, trademarks, and patents. Copyright and trademarks are directly related to the Web, patents less so except if the thing being patented is a new type of technology that affects how the Web is actually used. Most com- panies do not mention patents anywhere on their site unless to display the patent number under which their product is protected. Trademarks are used to protect logos, unique elements, phrases, and official names that have sufficient distinctive character by which the government recognizes the concept as being unique and wholly owned by the company. Typically, logos and other distinctive branding elements are trademarked—for instance, the Coca-Cola Company not only owns the trademark to the word Coca-Cola and its logo, but also to the design of the famous contoured bottle and the phrase “Make Every Drop Count.” The third means of protecting content is copyright. Copyright protects everything that goes into a website—text, graphics, diagrams, scripts, and so on. Copyright infringement is all too common, often resulting in lawsuits in which companies and individuals receive WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 270 8393CH12.qxd 8/6/07 3:51 PM Page 270 handsome compensation for having their work ripped off. Several of these lawsuits include high-profile companies. Copyright Almost all web designers have seen painfully evident copyright infringement in their tenure. Sometimes it’s just an original logo being copped with a color change, other times it’s the actual graphical layout of the page, other times it’s entire passages of text. Unfortunately, the near-bottomless Web provides ample temptation for unscrupulous characters to rip off others’ hard work with a slim chance of ever being caught. Protecting a website from such transgressions is not difficult. Once a website is registered with the US Copyright Office, 1 it is officially protected, and the owning company can file lawsuits at their own discretion. Unfortunately, simply adding a copyright notice to the bottom of a page does not grant the same power. A website must be registered in order to be fully protected. Determining if copyright is owned In order to register a copyrighted work, the registering party needs to own every aspect of the collective work. For companies seeking to register a website, this includes every nook, cranny, bell, whistle, and widget of the website, including the content, plus any proprietary information; the design of the layout, plus the files (e.g., CSS files) and graphics used to create it; plus any scripts or unique code created, including the HTML. Smaller companies routinely outsource creative work, and if an agency or freelancer was responsible for the design, the company may not own the copyright. Similarly, there may be a discrepancy around the actual text if the business hired an outside copywriter to work on the site. There are different scenarios to consider when determining who exactly owns what copyright. If the company employed the writer, designer, or other creator full-time when the content was first drafted, then chances are the company benefits from a work- made-for-hire law, which essentially states that anything created while the employee was fully employed belongs to the company, not the employee. Many companies ask their employees to sign a piece of paper stating this, but it’s implicit in American business. If an outside contractor created the work (either design or writing), it only belongs to the client company if rights were explicitly transferred, or if it was created under a work-made-for-hire agreement (see the following “Work made for hire” sidebar for information about this). Otherwise, the contractor technically owns the copy- right and licenses it to the corporation for whom the work was done. For stock photography and clip art, a copyright can be obtained if the artwork is used creatively in a way that constitutes an original work. For instance, a single photograph, even if purchased under a royalty-free license, cannot be copyrighted; however, if that photograph is combined with others into an original collage, that compilation—now an original work—can be registered. LEGALESE 271 12 1. www.copyright.gov 8393CH12.qxd 8/6/07 3:51 PM Page 271 While it might sound convoluted to track down copyright ownership for everything inside the website, keep in mind that this exact practice happens all the time in other creative industries like filmmaking. Because copyright infringement is so prevalent—and because it’s easy to break the law unknowingly—corporations must put in long hours of homework before trying to register their website. It’s usually best to work with a legal firm in this area, since they have a much deeper knowledge of the finer copyright law distinctions. Work made for hire Many web design and copyrighting contracts contain a blurb titled “Assignment of Copyright” or something similar, where the owner of the copyright is explicitly stated. Under standard copyright law, the creator of the work (the designer or author) owns the final art, not the receiving company, unless the copyright is specifically transferred to the client in the contract. Many companies try to circumvent this by asking contractors to sign a work-made-for- hire (often shortened to “work-for-hire”) agreement, which more or less states that everything the artist creates for the project—even material that does not get used—is owned by the client. Every full-time employee in the United States is technically under a work-made-for-hire agreement. Beyond that, the law becomes very explicit about what exactly can be included in a work-for-hire agreement. Section 101 of the 1976 Copyright Act includes the following: 2 ■ A contribution to a collective work, such as a magazine or literary anthology ■ A part of an audiovisual work ■ A translation ■ A supplementary work, such as an appendix, bibliography, or chart ■ A compilation ■ An instructional text ■ A test ■ Answer material for a test ■ An atlas Although this was written before the advent of the Web, websites, logos, and most design projects clearly fall outside this list. Work-made-for-hire agreements should not be used for website projects (either design or writing), as they would be very hard to defend in court. Unfortunately, adding work-for-hire clauses to contracts is stan- dard practice for many companies, whether they are enforceable or not, and many contractors naively sign them not understanding what rights they are potentially giving away. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 272 2. www.copyright.gov/circs/circ9.html#determining 8393CH12.qxd 8/6/07 3:51 PM Page 272 Registering a copyright When you are confident that all copyright issues are resolved, the website can be registered with your native country. In the United Kingdom for instance, websites can be registered with the UK Copyright Service. 3 In Australia, there is no formal registration at all, and the government simply encourages work to be marked as copyrighted when it is created. In the United States, websites are registered with the US Copyright Office. While trademarks and patents can take a long time to register (sometimes years), registering a copyright in America is a comparatively simple and fast process. Registering a site in the United States can be done by the company itself, or through a legal firm. In essence, three things need to be submitted: the completed registration form, a copy of the work, and payment. Websites can be registered through either a Form TX (published or unpublished nondramatic works) or Form VA (published or unpublished works). Websites that are text-heavy (like most corporate sites) could fit into Form TX; websites that focus on visual graphics (like a photography portfolio) would use Form VA. This is an admittedly fuzzy distinction, but it’s the best the government has to offer. While a work is technically protected under copyright law as soon as it’s created, without documentation from an official registration, a copyright dispute can easily degenerate into a grade school–level “he said, she said” argument. Since the cost for registration is so cheap (currently $45 in the United States), there is little to stop a corporation from taking the necessary precautionary steps. In the United States, a copyright lasts for the duration of the author’s life plus 75 years for individuals. Under work-made-for-hire laws, the length is 95 years from the first publica- tion or 120 years from the date of its creation, whichever is less. Copyright infringement Unfortunately, we live in a world of questionable scruples, where copyrighted material is routinely (in some cases, even predictably) lifted and copied elsewhere. Copyright infringement is not limited by any medium or scope—often, small logos or icons are stolen; in other cases, design templates are lifted. 4 In more extreme cases, entire designs along with huge blocks of content are copied wholesale. See Figure 12-1 for a particularly egregious example. LEGALESE 273 12 3. www.copyrightservice.co.uk 4. Panic, a software manufacturer specializing in Mac OS X utilities, has a special section dedicated to the stunning number of icon, photo, and design infringements they have dug up across the Internet, available here: www.panic.com/extras/ripoff. 8393CH12.qxd 8/6/07 3:51 PM Page 273 Unfortunately, deceitful web designers are often to blame. Many companies have been ignorantly sold an “original” design, only to find it was stolen from another site. Despite the fact that they had no idea that their freelance designer had less moral fiber than most third-world government officials, the company is still liable for damages if the copyright holder ever pursues legal action. In order to confidently pursue legal action, however, the copyright must be registered. Officially submitting the document to the government has several key advantages: Once a website is copyrighted, there is an official date of registration. Any copy- right infringements occurring after this date are easy fodder for legal action since it can be easily proven whose content and design was registered first. Without registration, pursuing legal action can be very difficult. While it is possible, it’s kind of like playing the lottery—a lot of people try but turn up empty-handed at the end of the day. If a work is registered at least three months before the infringement (or within three months from the time of publication), the original party can collect statutory damages ; otherwise, only actual damages can be reconciled. Statutory damages are calculated damages, and can often run very high—up to $150,000 per offense. The law also states that if the “infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe that his or her acts constituted an infringement of copyright,” then the amount is reduced to $200 per offense. 5 Actual damages, by contrast, are damages actually incurred from the copyright infringement. This is usually a nominal amount, and difficult to calculate. Thus statutory damages (which are the kind the RIAA claims when suing individuals for downloading MP3s) are the favored weapon of lawyers. Pursuing legal action against infringing parties requires legal help. As stated before, com- panies often do not know that they are using another business’s design or content, and will be more than happy to change this once they are informed that they are in fact break- ing the law. Even companies that know they are using someone else’s work often back down after receiving a strongly worded letter from a lawyer’s office. Companies that refuse, or claim the copyright belongs to them, require further legal action. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 274 Figure 12-1. The screenshot on the far left represents the original website. A Google search for the first sentence returns four direct competitors who lifted the entire two paragraphs completely, changing only the product name. 5. In the United States, these numbers are found in Title 17, Chapter 5, Section 504, located here: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000504 000 html. 8393CH12.qxd 8/6/07 3:51 PM Page 274 [...]... that should be used habitually for the website’s body copy, metadata, and external links It also establishes a pattern for keywords and keyword phrases that reappear inside level 2 and level 3 13 5 6 7 www.wordtracker.com http://adwords.google.com http://marketingsolutions.yahoo.com 291 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 292 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Level 2: Medium, competitive... always the best way to get the most current information Forward-thinking companies with an itch for transparency may provide a means for subscribing to privacy policy notifications, either by e-mail or RSS 11 Buy.com’s privacy policy is almost 7,500 words and 6 printed pages 281 83 93CH12.qxd 8/ 6/07 3:51 PM Page 282 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Privacy policies are a sign of the... that the general legalese that many take for granted as small links in the footer receives the proper attention from legal professionals 12 www.privacy.org 13 www.anti-spam-league.org 14 www.ftc.gov/privacy 282 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 285 1 3 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 286 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Imagine a vast library without... destinations, formed by the Internet community at large, and then filtered through Google’s algorithms Even the top ten results have a mix of content, from analysis to editorial to commercial 287 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 288 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Figure 13-1 Google’s results page shows a mix of paid and organic results The blocks with a number 1 show the PPC... Microsystems did for their terms of use (shown in Figure 12-4) The links simply go to a block of content further down the page that has a complementary link to send the visitor back to the top of the page 9 12 www.creativecommons.org 279 83 93CH12.qxd 8/ 6/07 3:51 PM Page 280 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Figure 12-4 Websites with long terms of use can use a table of contents and inline... such a concern for how information is handled, especially on the Web, it is more important than ever for corporations to be proactive in their messaging and approach, and to explain their policies in the clearest language possible Many readers make an effort to educate themselves on the host’s policies before giving information away For more information about website security and information privacy... 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 294 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES Conversion paths should be defined across the entire website The homepage is most important Consider Figure 13-3 The well-designed page clearly describes the company’s product and purpose, and the right column offers an immediate means of trying the service without any hassle For people researching e-mail marketing software,... 2007 (www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03 /business/ yourmoney/03google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) 11 www.webtrends.com 295 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 296 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES expensive but exceedingly detailed, and offer the user every conceivable feature, including the ability to generate detailed reports—complete with fancy pie charts and line graphs— on any detail across... ensure the effort is actually driving desired marketing results, not just upping the number of visitors 13 Internal strategies In the world of sailboat racing, the amount of time spent checking gear, equipment, systems, and the boat itself often rivals or exceeds the actual time on the water In order to 297 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 2 98 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES race... covered the three levels of keyword identification Titles 299 83 93CH13.qxd 8/ 7/07 1:53 PM Page 300 WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES should incorporate level 3 words and phrases without question, and level 2 if room permits In the preceding title, there are three level 3 keywords: healthcare, staffing, and nurses, and one very important level 3 phrase: traveling nurses The order . environment for context and functionality. The following items are useless in printed format: WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 264 8. Opera is commonly used in stand-alone. licenses, covered next. 8 Figure 12-3. The copyleft symbol is derived from the traditional copyright symbol. WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 2 78 8. For more information on copyleft,. explain their policies and how they are maintained. A few companies do use the information for legal but WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES 280 10. The Forrester study “Privacy
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