Web Design Information

Dont Make Your Website User-UNfriendly!


Web Design is a very subjective process. Your idea of what looks good may differ from the next person's. While wild backgrounds and flashing text were once considered 'cool', unwritten standards have evolved into every web designers inventory.

In the following examples I intend to convey a few of those user-unfriendly examples to you. My purpose is only to get you thinking about the layout and performance of your website. If you have one of these examples on your site, and you like it, by all means - leave it there! These are just examples.

1. Page Counters Five years ago, every site had a page counter. They proudly displayed how popular a site had become. The problem is, as many site owners started to find out, is that these counters can be easily manipulated. They can start at any number (not just 1), and they can produce vastly over-inflated numbers. On the other hand, if your site is not a high-traffic area, do you really want customers to know that?

2. Javascript Text Scrolling I remember when this first came out. In fact, I had it on my home page. Do you remember visiting a website and all the scrolling text across the bottom? These were usually put in your status bar along the bottom edge of your browser window. They have become a big no-no in web design. Users like to see their status bar, or, if they don't, they turn it off. Either way, this is a useless tool.

3. Excessive Animated .GIF's In the mid 90's when the Internet boom hit, everyone was getting a home page. Sites and ISP's would give you FREE space to put up your information. Soon, webmaster wannabe's everywhere were over populating the web with crazy animations and bright (obnoxious!) colors. Today very few sites use these files. They are now considered a waste of bandwidth. Since most companies pay for their hosting by how much bandwidth is used, animated GIF's went by the wayside.

4. Under Construction Signs There used to be (and probably still are) pages and pages of different 'under construction' graphics for webmasters to use. Why is this a problem? Well, isn't the Internet just a big construction site anyway? Are you and your friends, clients, and other businesses constantly updating and upgrading their information online? It also conveys a sense of incompleteness. No business wants their customers to think they are running on a low budget or producing an incomplete website. The construction graphic is extinct!

5. Page Fades We've all seen those fancy pages that fade in and out, from circles to spirals and even window-shades. They fall in the category with the scrolling text - obsolete! Most Internet users are looking for INFORMATION, not fancy graphics and page transitions.

Will Hanke is owner of Lighthouse Technologies, http://www.techlh.com a web design, programming and hosting company. He is also author of several software applications in use by companies across the US.


MORE RESOURCES:

Beginner's look at Web design on tap Oct. 29
Norman Transcript, OK - 12 hours ago
The Computer Training Center at the Norman Public Library, 225 N. Webster Ave., will present a new class in the "Ask the Nerds" series from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. ...


I-COM Win Image Group Web Design and Online Marketing Account over ...
WebWire (press release), GA - Oct 14, 2008
Web design and online marketing experts’ I-COM will be working alongside large format digital printing specialists the Image Group to design, ...


Sales & Marketing Technologies Opens New Tampa Web Design and ...
Emediawire (press release), WA - Oct 10, 2008
Sales & Marketing Technologies, a full-service Web Design, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website Hosting firm headquartered in Orlando, ...


Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia Launches New Web Site with ...
MarketWatch - Oct 14, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Oct 14, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Please Touch Museum, the newly expanded Children's Museum of Philadelphia, has launched a new colorful ...


WebAssist Debuts SuCasa, a Marketplace for Simplifying Web Design ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Oct 10, 2008
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) October 10, 2008 -- WebAssist today announced SuCasa, the fastest-growing online template marketplace and community. ...


Sessions Online SM Announces Fall Winners of $1 Million ...
MarketWatch - Oct 14, 2008
The scholarship covers full tuition for the renowned, award-winning Sessions Graphic Design or Web Design Foundation I programs and provides students with ...


Web Directions East in Tokyo Nov 2008
MarketWatch - 12 hours ago
Through the both conference and workshops, we will cover web design, CSS, javascript, UX, User Testing, Information Architecture and web marketing. ...


Killer Startups

ProtoShare.com - A New Approach To Web Design
Killer Startups, FL - Oct 8, 2008
Protoshare is a tool that makes it possible for a team to collaborate in real time during the different phases of a website’s development. ...


Web design & FOSS
ZDNet UK, UK - Sep 24, 2008
On my quest for ever smaller icons and ever smaller finger movements on my Acer Aspire One Natty Book, I have come across GNOME Do. ...


Web Design- Tips to Resist Financial Crisis
NewDesignWorld (press release), UK - Oct 7, 2008
... or don’t know a way to enter Chinese markets. Apart from doing web design, we also do content management and something you want to enter the Chinese market.

Web-Design - Google News

home | site map
© 2006