Ten Simple Web Design Principles
Website design has become so complex, with scripting, and
dynamic content and pulling content from RSS and ATOM feeds and
Ajax enhancement and ad rotation and . . . and . . . and . . .
I've got a sticky note right on the lower right corner of my
monitor. On it are four letters.
K-I-S-S
A glance at those four letters reminds me that there are many
people who surf the web who have no clue what all the above
stuff means. So I have to Keep It Simple, Stupid! I have to make
sure that my website designs function no matter what the skill
level happens to be of the person who is using the page. And any
person doing web building, whether you're a hot New York Web
Design Company or a one-woman web design boutique in East
Jibippy PA better remember these ten simple website design
principles.
* Each web page must have its purpose clearly stated. * Web
Navigation must be clearly visible and easy to use. * Avoid
clutter, distraction, and flashing/moving objects, and make
things easy to find. * Business websites should have contact
information easily visible. * Not everyone has broadband. Design
it SLIM, and dialup users will love you. * Bells and whistles
may be fun, but if a gadget or page element doesn't add
necessary functionality, don't use it. * Not everyone can see
well, so make the text contrast enough against the background,
and run the page through a "colorblind filter"
(http://colorfilter.wickline.org/) to check usability. * Because
not everyone sees well, keep the text scalable, don't use fixed
pixel or point sizes. * Keep page lengths "bite size", no more
than two page-downs. * ALWAYS remember that the page user can
override almost anything you do. Does your design scale and/or
degrade well?
These ten simple website design principles can make the
difference between a page that's easy to use and a page that
surfers will click away from before it even finishes loading.
About the author:
BJ Novack runs a web design boutique for small businesses and
non-profit organizations, specializing in up to date, search
engine friendly, templated, client-managed sites.
http://kickasswebdesign.com
Author: BJ Novack
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However, please note that often both sides of the coin are presented here. Some webmasters swear by Linux and we offer articles by such authors to give insight to their creativity. Others are die-hard Microsoft software fans and use Windows based servers. Despite the bias, each system has its own advantages, and such articles are reprinted here for their positive contribution to those platforms, not to enforce their bias. It is we that have to make the final analysis.
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