| There are very few web pages on the internet that | | | | a bathroom? Would a sane contractor ever build it |
| clearly state what is good web site design and what is | | | | that way? |
| not good web site design. That's because it's | | | | 6.Confusing site organization, difficult navigation, dead |
| completely subjective, like what is beautiful and what is | | | | links. |
| not beautiful. So it takes a highly opinionated strong | | | | 7.Boring writing. Not much can be done about this one. |
| ego like this one to step in there and say "OK folks, | | | | Creative writing isn't available from a web site designer |
| this is what it is." Now I jumped on board the internet | | | | at any price. If they were creative writers they |
| back in 1994 after I began to believe that not only | | | | wouldn't be doing web site design. |
| would it be "The Next Big Thing", but that it actually | | | | Good design includes the following qualities: |
| does offer the human race the potential to connect all | | | | 1.Text that is easy to read. Don't be afraid to use a |
| our minds together in an entirely new way. When I | | | | large bold font against a light colored background. |
| decided to create my own web site, I first had to take | | | | 2.The fastest downloading speed possible. If you're |
| a good look at as many music and other web sites as | | | | going to have a lot of photos, consider grouping them |
| possible in order to learn what not to do before I could | | | | into one photo section so that people will expect that |
| visualize what I should do. I've visited thousands of | | | | portion of your site to download slowly. Avoid |
| web sites since then, I've talked to countless net | | | | gimmicks like flash graphics. And for goodness sake, |
| surfers about what they like and don't like, and we all | | | | don't make people download a plug-in just so that they |
| tend to agree on some major points: | | | | can view your page. |
| Bad design includes the following qualities: | | | | 3.A clear mission statement on the home page |
| 1.Text that is hard to read, including use of tiny fonts | | | | explaining what the site is all about. |
| against black backgrounds and illegible fonts against | | | | 4.Something on the home page that explains what the |
| picturesque backgrounds. | | | | other pages are all about. |
| 2.Anything that slows page downloading speed. Net | | | | 5.A home page that is a home page - none of that |
| surfers are impatient and they will exit out of any site | | | | "enter" nonsense. |
| where pages take too long to download or have | | | | 6.An organized site that has structure which can be |
| plug-ins that have to be downloaded in order simply in | | | | easily understood. |
| order to view your page. | | | | 7.Entertainment value. This is where good writing skills |
| 3.Lack of a clear "Mission Statement" on the home | | | | come in. Think of your site as if it were a novel or a hit |
| page. Web surfers want to know immediately what a | | | | record. You have to grab our interest immediately and |
| web site is about. They don't want to have to read | | | | then hold it by entertaining us. There's no better way to |
| several pages to get it and then decide the time spent | | | | do that than with your personality through your writing. |
| wasn't worth it. | | | | Design professionals may try to project your |
| 4.Lack of clear instructions on the home page | | | | personality but they often prevent it from shining |
| explaining how to get essential information from the | | | | through by using the same techniques they use on |
| site. Web surfers want to surf with speed, not study in | | | | their other web sites. It's much better to be yourself |
| a library. | | | | and create something which they might call amateurish |
| 5.A home page that requires you to click on something | | | | then it is to end up with something that looks and |
| to enter the site (that's called a portal page). What's | | | | reads like everybody else's web site. Understand that |
| the point? You've already entered. Why in the world | | | | the internet web site is the last true art form of the |
| would you care to enter twice? Would an architect | | | | 20th century, so try to be creative. Think outside the |
| design two doors you'd have to go through to get into | | | | box. And then create your own box. |