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Page 1 of 2 When you are evaluating your website for its effectiveness and appeal (and you should do this from time to time, just like PDs critically examine their on-air product), the thought process that many people undertake is to look at the site with their own eyes and then to imagine how the site appears to both first-time and then returning visitors. Is the site easy to understand? Is it simple to navigate around? Is it visually appealing?
There is a complication to this. What if the website your visitors are seeing isn't the website you see every day? Sure, everyone's experience is subjective and thus open to variation - but your site actually appears objectively different to your visitors depending on what Operating System they are using, what plugins they have installed, which browser they're using, what type of monitor they are viewing, etc...
Although websites are built using a standard language (HTML), each web browser converts that language to a slightly different display depending on its rendering engine. It gets complicated, but browsers like Internet Explorer (which you are likely using) don't display pages they way they are supposed to be laid out. Well, no browser is perfect, but Internet Explorer is the worst of the bunch (especially the horrid Internet Explorer 6 and the putrid Internet Explorer 5).
To understand all that can go wrong with a web page, try checking out your site in as many configurations as possible. Just like when stations fool around with audio processing, they have to test out changes in the studio, in a few cars and over some cheap portables to understand the experience of more listeners - and you should do the same. If you find yourself in front of someone else's computer, type in your domain and see what pops up. If your PC runs Windows XP with Internet Explorer 7, see what your site looks like on your friend's Mac laptop. It's possible that there may be some radical changes. Images may be broken, stories appear in the wrong part of the page and that awesome Flash header you love may not work at all - leaving a huge black area at the top of your site.
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is an Editor at Preppermint and the brand new mother of a brand new baby Drew. Vegas started off as a stand-up comic in New York City, wowing crowds and performing on HBO. Sick of standing, she took a swing at sitting in front of a radio mic and began instantly blowing up ratings. In her last gig, she more than doubled the ratings - from a 9.5 to a 21.0 Males 25-49 in her first book! She is also on the verge of achieving her dream of becoming a Roller Derby Girl.
is the Executive Producer and Co-Creator of Preppermint. He also writes a column on radio and the internet for AllAccess called "The Net Untangled" For a profession, he is an idea man who wondered why you needed to email a web guy to put your prep on your website. Then he wondered if he was able to concentrate hard enough to grow his toenails faster. He can. 
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