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The best intranets of 2001 emphasize iterative design and standardized navigation, and feature collaboration tools and content management systems. On average, companies saw intranet use increase by 98% following their winning usability redesigns.

2001 was a fickle beast, reserving a different attitude for each business that faced it, but whether it was a banner year or a bust, it did share its wisdom and we’re here to pass those lessons on.

There are still good ideas out there. (Some day, someone will figure out the online grocery business.) Despite all the doom and gloom, this e-commerce thing can still work.

As the Web continues to be integrated into the world of business, it is increasingly important for companies to differentiate themselves through brand strategies that exhibit clear messages and provide fulfilling user experiences. The most successful brand strategies take advantage of the Web medium, using well-designed identity and navigation systems that showcase a site’s purpose and provide the infrastructure for an intuitive user interface. This gives Web designers newfound inroads into the conception of a company’s brand. In fact, there has never been a more opportune time for creative people Web designers, Web builders, graphic designers, and UI designers to cross the imaginary design boundaries they’re used to and to take part in the design of business.

I recently heard a great saying: Intelligent folks learn from their own mistakes; wise folks learn from the mistakes of others. Now you’ve got all 12 of the most frequently made mistakes in email marketing, and you’re in a great position to learn from them. So go, Grasshopper, and be wise!

There is much talk and excitement about Web Services. The technologies seem to finally be in place to allow us to replace “applications” running on individuals’ computers with services provided on the Internet. Evolving from simple browser/server architectures known as ASPs, we are adding a more multitiered architecture with servers talking to servers using XML and other Internet protocols.

There is a tender balance between too much and too little central control. If you have an intranet where nothing can happen without going through five committees, well, guess what? Nothing will happen.

Since HTML first became mainstream, with HTML version 2.0, there has been a struggle between the structure of a document and its presentation. This battle is symptomatic of two competing visions for the web.

There is a lot about e-commerce that confuses many people. The information in this article is from first-hand experience that I’ve acquired while having to set up an e-commerce website for selling products and accepting credit cards over the internet.

It’s not hard to understand why open-source software, such as the Linux operating system and the Apache HTTP server, is growing in popularity among corporate IT departments. When source code is open, any developer is free to read, redistribute and modify it. This leads to faster bug fixes, improved software and lower development costs.