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The message is clear: Network vendors must provide top-notch technical support. If they get that right, they've gone a long way toward making you happier.

It also means making it easy for you to navigate and find answers to even obscure technical questions.

Given how important the Web has become to your daily work life, we set out to find the best vendor Web sites - those that serve as examples of what end users need in Web-based support. We used a two-prong approach.

First, we conducted an online survey asking you - Network World readers and Network World Fusion subscribers - to tell us about your favorite vendor Web sites. In all, 60 network managers participated in the survey.

Second, we enlisted the help of Customer Insites (CI), a Web site usability firm in Silver Spring, Md., to give us a third-party take. Based on survey responses, CI evaluated 29 of the sites named as best. It reviewed each site's usability, the depth of content, navigation tools and the site's "salesmanship."

From those criteria, CI chose the sites of Juniper Networks, Network Associates and Microsoft to critique in depth. The sites represent different types of companies, based on size, market and product lineup. In CI's estimate, each of these exemplifies best-of-breed capabilities for two common user functions: new product evaluation and shopping (this does not mean they're the best overall sites). For CI's guided tour of the Juniper, Network Associates and Microsoft sites, click here.

User picks

Says one respondent: "All the major categories are listed upfront, and then subcategories are listed in a similar manner on subsequent pages. The search features are simple and easy to navigate. It's not too clunky and gives a good flow from section to section and page to page."

Another user says Novell's site is "fast, reliable, up-to-date. Searching for specifics is easy. It includes a subscription e-mail service that only sends technical and product-specific news and not PR."

The list of favorite features that vendors provide on their sites was as varied as the number of people surveyed. But if one overall message came through, it was that you would like vendor Web sites to offer more tools for helping to configure and support products. Respondents' favorite feature by far is a comprehensive knowledge base that is easily searchable. This actually covers several areas. First, you want vendors to build superb technical libraries. You want configuration tools, detailed specification sheets, white papers and, especially, online manuals. Second, you want vendors to make information about patches and updates easier to find, with Novell's "Minimum Patch list" singled out as a favorite feature by numerous respondents.

Others, though, say a patches and updates minisite (linked from the home page) works well, as do push services - either via e-mail or Pointcast. Part and parcel with a great technical database, you want vendors to install search engines that really help zero in on technical data. You want to search only technical portions of the site - spec sheets, patches, updates, online manuals - skipping the marketing materials.

Moreover, you like search engines that perform keyword searches within results, and that search on Boolean arguments. "[A favorite feature is] Boolean search engines that allow different portions of a Web site to be included or excluded. This keeps the press releases out of the results when I'm searching for a patch," one respondent explains.

Other write-ins weren't often repeated but were really good ideas. For example, one respondent appreciated account and billing information when it was available online. Not surprisingly, what you want vendors to do better with their sites corresponds closely to your favorite features: better technical information, search engines, and access to patches and updates. Beyond that, respondents almost unanimously agree: Make sites faster! This includes raw download time ("cut the clutter" and "reduce the unnecessary graphics," respondents wrote) and navigation. For the latter, you want more intuitive hierarchies and fewer clicks to get to technical data.

All in all, you need to make it clear to vendors that the Web ain't just for marketing anymore. By giving vendors specific feedback on what features are needed for online support, everyone wins.

The makings of a great Web site

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