| article is not about the practical designing of your site. It | | | | contact them in the future). This can be accomplished |
| will, on the other hand, help you keep away from many | | | | by the use of surveys, questionnaires, a quiz, or asking |
| of the common mistakes that novice (and expert) | | | | them to sign up to a newsletter. |
| designers make. Whether you are going to design the | | | | I trust that the above tips will help you in designing a |
| site yourself, or contract out to a design consultant, | | | | web site that will not only look good but, more |
| there are several key elements to good site design | | | | importantly, make visitors want to look at the |
| that you (or your designer) need to work to. | | | | remainder of your site. |
| The most important part of your site is the home page | | | | The Myth of "Good Web Design is in the Graphics" |
| - that is what your potential customers will see when | | | | On the other end of the scale are the people who |
| they first visit the site. If that is not right, it doesn't | | | | believe a good website must have much color, |
| matter what the remainder of the site is like - no-one | | | | graphics, animation and sound. You might meet them, |
| will ever get to see it! | | | | for example, in the form of newcomers or pundits |
| The following pointers will help you to design a site that | | | | who either do not have much real world web |
| your customers will find attractive and will stay at for | | | | experience or who only surf on T1 connections. |
| at least a few minutes! I would recommend that you | | | | My first encounter with such people came in the form |
| list these points and ensure that they are followed - | | | | of an old friend who exhibited his personal website |
| especially if you are paying someone else to design | | | | proudly to me. At the centre of his home page was a |
| the site for you - make sure you get the site that will | | | | large animated graphic that was a few hundred |
| work for you - not one that shows what clever | | | | kilobytes in size. That graphic had little function on that |
| designers they are! | | | | page - it did not provide any informative value: it was |
| Downloads Quickly | | | | neither a logo, nor was it a photo of himself, or an |
| Most accepted research has shown that a visitor will | | | | image map, or anything at all. It was purely decorative. |
| only wait six to eight seconds for a site to download - | | | | At that time (many years ago), I was using a 14.4K |
| after that he will skip on somewhere else - so don't | | | | modem and that page took ages to load. |
| have lots of graphics on your home page! | | | | Now don't get me wrong. Decorative graphics on a |
| Easy to Read | | | | page are fine. They make a page more pleasant to |
| Don't have a heavily patterned background or lots of | | | | look at, and hence more likely to be read. But you |
| color - it might look pretty but people wont strain their | | | | should at least make them as small as possible. While |
| eyes trying to read a light blue text on a purple | | | | I'm hesitant to give a hard and fast rule about how big |
| background. (If you think I’m exaggerating, | | | | such graphics should be, a decorative graphic that is a |
| believe me, I’m not - I have seen that on a site | | | | few hundred kilobytes in size is definitely too big to be |
| of a company trying to sell a web design service - I | | | | tolerated. |
| could hardly read it so naturally I left and have never | | | | If your concern is that your page should look good |
| been back!). Black or dark blue on white is usually best | | | | without being too slow to load, here are a few |
| for the main body text. | | | | commonly used tricks that you may want to consider: |
| Make it Clear | | | | Do not put too much text in one big block. Separate |
| Show your visitors exactly what they have to do to | | | | them out into paragraph and put white space between |
| navigate your site/obtain information/buy goods etc. | | | | paragraphs. This makes your text look more readable. |
| Don't leave them thinking what to do next. | | | | Like colored pages? That's okay, but in general, if the |
| Build Confidence | | | | readability of your text is important to you, a white |
| They probably don't know you, so build confidence in | | | | background with black text works best. |
| your site. Do this by having an "About Us" page, | | | | If you must have a colored background, make sure |
| contact information, site security information (if you are | | | | you try out your page by viewing it in resolutions like |
| taking credit card details), testimonials, a FAQ page if | | | | 256 colors to see whether the page looks alright. A |
| appropriate (Frequently Asked Questions). | | | | colored page that looks fine on your 32 bit color |
| Keep Banners to a Minimum | | | | resolution system may have dithering that makes your |
| Particularly on your home page - people either don't | | | | text difficult to read on lesser settings. |
| like them, ignore them, or worse still, click on them and | | | | If you check the websites of big companies (Microsoft, |
| leave your site! | | | | Yahoo, etc), you will find that they still prefer a white |
| Ensure Visitors can Navigate Easily | | | | background with black text for their main text. These |
| At a minimum, have a "top of page" link at the bottom | | | | companies probably have more resources for testing |
| of every page that is longer than the visitor can see at | | | | the usability of their website than you have, so it may |
| normal browser settings, and have a "home page" link | | | | not be wise to scoff at their design too quickly. |
| on every page. Don't send visitors down a cul-de-sac | | | | Reduce the size of the individual graphics files on your |
| with no obvious way out. Yes, I know they can use | | | | pages by using the following methods: |
| the back button on their browsers, but it is surprising | | | | • Reduce the number of colors in the graphic. |
| how many people do not and will simply exit your site | | | | • Reduce the size of the image, if possible. |
| if it is unclear where to go next. | | | | • In animations, reduce the number of frames. |
| How Do I Buy? | | | | • In animations, don't duplicate the background in |
| If you are selling products directly from your site, make | | | | every frame; make the first frame a background |
| it crystal clear to visitors how to buy. | | | | without any objects that will move, and put all your |
| Build up a Database of Customers | | | | moving objects in separate frames with transparent |
| Collect their e-mail addresses (getting permission to | | | | backgrounds. |