Academy Award nominee Ellen Page (from Juno, Whip It, and of course X-Men: The Last Stand) adorns our home page today, which links to a really cute video of her interacting with her home town doctor via Cisco TelePresence. Enjoy! …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on November 06, 2009 at 06:33AM
Last year, I blogged about some projects we’ve done using Cisco TelePresence for usability testing and customer interviews. We have also begun using Cisco TelePresence quite a bit for collaborative design.
Posted by Martin Hardee on November 04, 2009 at 11:30AM
NBC’s 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows. And I’ll be tuning in for sure this Thursday evening (9:30 EST / 8:30 CST / 9:30 PST) to catch a really funny bit where Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) encounters bed …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on November 02, 2009 at 07:20AM
One of the gems of the Internet is the “wayback machine”—the Internet Archive’s archive.org—which can show you a small snapshot of what your web site used to look like in days of yore. Those of us who work on web …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on October 28, 2009 at 05:59AM
Amid the excitement around last week’s announcement of the Cisco Integrated Services Router Generation 2 (ISR G2), you might have noticed that we did a nice upgrade to the ISR web page on Cisco.com. The new page contains a lot …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on October 26, 2009 at 05:50AM
I love the new videos on the Borderless Networks page on Cisco.com. They’re short, inspiring and clear and they show the value of using video for collaboration. Look behind the storylines and you’ll realize they also illustrate how IT service …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on October 12, 2009 at 05:50AM
Our web and product teams work on some pretty serious and important stuff all year. And we know you work on serious and important stuff all year. So the new “build your own Realm comic” contest on Cisco.com is a …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on October 05, 2009 at 05:15AM
A few days back we rolled out a new download experience on Cisco.com. This new experience is generally a real plus, especially if you routine download multiple images from us. But we learned some lessons along the way, too. …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on October 02, 2009 at 05:55AM
To be completely honest, I don’t usually spend much time on companies’ annual report web areas. But I’m making an exception for the new Cisco Annual Report—I’m really pleased with the online format, which is really elegant.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 29, 2009 at 05:55AM
A while back, I was talking about various ways to do faster remote usability tests. Here’s another technique that doesn’t really yield usability data, but does capture top-of-mind impressions from volunteers.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 23, 2009 at 04:56AM
Yesterday I was mentioning how our contests in the Digital Cribs area has been called out as an interesting example of crowdsourcing of creative ideas. It turns out Cisco’s Ken Wirt, our VP of Consumer Marketing, was just interviewed on …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 15, 2009 at 10:15AM
A while back, I blogged about a new embedded search feature we were thinking about building into the Cisco.com site. It is a simple search plug-in that works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and some other browsers.. The way it works …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 11, 2009 at 09:05AM
Here's something worth visiting. From the "Quick Links" pulldown on the Cisco.com home page, you can find Cisco's Communities page, which features some of our more prominent online groups and communities.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 03, 2009 at 09:45AM
Not that you would ever watch cartoons at work, but I was noticing that TBS.com has a "boss button" on its site, just like on PC video games.
Posted by Martin Hardee on August 27, 2009 at 05:50AM
In days of yore, if you visited any design shop, you'd see scores of printouts, sketches, and other design work tacked and taped on walls throughout. In fact, in our design teams at Cisco we still do a lot of …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on August 24, 2009 at 05:45AM
The other day I was blogging about how ready-made off-the-shelf templates can be just the ticket if you have a small business and need to update your web presence. But what if you’re in a much bigger company, and you …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on August 18, 2009 at 03:35PM
At Cisco, we run our web sites on templates. It's the only sane way to keep on top of a web presence that encompasses literally millions of pages. Beyond sanity, templates also save time and money. For instance, we use …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on August 13, 2009 at 05:50AM
A friend of mine was making a point the other day about the difference between art and design. Paraphrased, it goes something like this: Art is when you make something interesting, touching, inspiring or beautiful. Design, on the other hand, …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on July 27, 2009 at 05:45AM
Remember the various posts I've written about the value of remote online usability sessions? I wanted to take a moment to thank all of our customers and partners for participating in the many remote usability tests we've done over the …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on July 14, 2009 at 05:47AM
I had to share this amusing photo from a Cisco TelePresence meeting we had with one of our design agencies on Friday... Janet, from our Cisco.com design team, was in California. Dan, with the agency, was in Virginia 2,400 miles …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on July 13, 2009 at 05:44AM
The other day we posted an entry about how tricky it is to convey sophisticated ideas in a simple way (and the approach we have taken on some Cisco Eos Flash experiences along these lines). Nobody was better at explaining …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on June 28, 2009 at 10:35AM
There are some new Digital Cribs videos in the Consumer neighborhood of Cisco.com. Those digital lifestyles from Martha Lane Fox, Paul Van Dyk, and Graham Hill make me a little jealous!
Posted by Martin Hardee on June 25, 2009 at 04:30PM
In our Web design group, we spend most of our waking hours looking at things online. This is a matter of necessity, of course, since everything we do ends up online, and also because we collaborate with teams worldwide electronically, …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on June 22, 2009 at 05:55AM
One of the things we walk about frequently on the Web team is how to explain sometimes complex or nuanced concepts in a simple way on Cisco.com. Often, we turn to Flash and other rich media to accomplish this. One …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on June 16, 2009 at 06:00AM
Here's a hidden gem on Cisco.com: A "bake your own" Cisco TelePresence video starring you -- or even better, a colleague you want to have fun with. Here is the video my colleague Maureen sent me, having purloined a picture …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on June 10, 2009 at 10:08AM
Earlier this year I wrote about the benefits of remote usability testing. Here on Cisco.com, we routinely use remote collaboration tools such as WebEx Meetings to run tests with our customers worldwide. These tools are highly effective, because they let …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on May 29, 2009 at 10:25AM
Cisco and Cisco.com feature prominently in a new FastCompany article about how companies are preparing for the economic upturn. The article talks about the "Virtual Account Manager" model for Cisco.com, which is our way of describing a mix of smart …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on May 18, 2009 at 06:40AM
One of the fun, but hidden, aspects of The Realm animated adventure is the chat capability we build into our Cisco.com security pages. For instance, when you visit then latest episode ("Virus")... And you click through to the pages for …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on May 05, 2009 at 06:21AM
Those Web analysts at SiteIQ, who do an extensive 2,400 point evaluation of IT Web sites, just rated Cisco.com #1 among 23 IT sites: Congrats to everyone who works so diligently on our online presence! Of course, we continue to …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on April 19, 2009 at 04:45AM
Being that we're #17 on Interbrand's "Best Global Brands" list, you can bet Cisco has all kinds of brand guidelines, page templates, wireframing kits, component documentation, and other tools to keep our presentation looking consistent and our online experiences well …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on April 10, 2009 at 07:30AM
I meant to mention that we launched another edition of The Realm, featuring my favorite character Wall and some nasty looking bots. Enjoy! Enjoy!
Posted by Martin Hardee on March 24, 2009 at 07:25AM
Jim Grundy, a Senior Network Engineer at Farmers Insurance in Grand Rapids, MI, notes that he bears a striking resemblance to our character "Wall," an ace defender from The Realm adventure on Cisco.com. What do you think? (Jim is the …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on March 13, 2009 at 11:45AM
Over the last 18 months, I've given a talk pretty regularly called "Design your web site from the bottom up." The idea is that many people will arrive on a page deep within your site via a search engine of …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on March 08, 2009 at 10:15PM
We launched a stunning four-episode animated graphic novel on Cisco.com this week. Yes, animated graphic novel (as in animated comic). Yes, on Cisco.com. With artwork by comic work heavyweight Mike Mayhew. Enjoy episode 1 and stay tuned for more! P.S. …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on March 03, 2009 at 06:54AM
Remember the Cisco.com Product Gateway page we updated while back? This one below? We have just added something new that you can't see: The new Product gateway page is "smart." First, some of the content at the top is personalized …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on February 28, 2009 at 06:00AM
One of the things we do relentlessly at Cisco is to test how easy it is for you, our customers, to use our web sites and products. It's called "usability testing" and in the old days it would all be …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on January 23, 2009 at 06:50PM
There's a strange tendency companies have to create more web sites than they really should. The idea of creating little "microsites" certainly sounds logical: If I had a really special product, or message, or promotional campaign, I'd probably want my …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on January 17, 2009 at 06:00AM
Blended into all of the excitement from last week's MacWorld and CES events was an interesting new area of Cisco.com we launched for our Cisco Eos product. Eos is a platform that allows media companies to scale a community-based entertainment …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on January 16, 2009 at 06:02AM
In follow-up to my recent post about setting up my home network, here's a sneak preview of a new site area we're launching: Linksysbycisco.com. There are some really great tips about setting up home networks, including lots on wireless. This …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on January 07, 2009 at 05:45PM
Here's something for the web teams among you who have been pondering whether and where to use iconic pictures on your web site. There's a something to be said for using icons to dress things up: Icons can be attractive, …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on January 05, 2009 at 04:00PM
Normally I don't get too excited about the idea of having video tutorials about how to use a web site. I mean, web sites should be "easy and intuitive," right? But in truth, there are sometimes complicated functions on a …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on December 19, 2008 at 06:13AM
If you've ever managed a web project, you know how vexing it can be to get started with a clear scope and direction, especially if a redesign is part of the agenda. Maybe you've worked on a web project in …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on December 10, 2008 at 05:30AM
We just updated the design of our main product page on Cisco.com. Here is the new design: This new design is intended to: Help you find the right product categories quickly, by virtue of being much quicker to scan Group …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on November 24, 2008 at 09:40PM
Here’s a neat idea that we’d like your feedback on. We have set up a simple search plug-in that works in Internet Explorer and Netscape. The way it works is that you can add it to you browser and then …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on November 20, 2008 at 10:20PM
There once was nothing lowlier than a footer of a web page. It used to be—and still is—where sites put all of their necessary-but-ancillary links that needed to be on every page: Copyrights, Privacy links, Feedback, Company overviews, etc Recently, …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on October 07, 2008 at 05:14PM
We're blushing a bit from the nice review of Cisco.com in BtoB Magazine. BtoB, the magazine for marketing strategists, polled five industry experts about the best sites in online business-to-business marketing, culminating in a list of 10 Great Web Sites …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 30, 2008 at 08:07AM
There's so much happening from Cisco that sometimes I have a hard time keeping up, especially when I'm on the go. Fortunately, Cisco has a few mobile options to keep you connected. There's our handy mobile site, of course, which …Read more.
Posted by Martin Hardee on September 12, 2008 at 10:53AM
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