and gathering. The designer is the Web's real pathfinder. How does the designer achieve this goal? By drawing up an agenda for good web design. Section 3 and 4 Where does good web design come from? I believe that the principles print informed quality print design for hundreds of years and that these principles are equally valid online. TEN RULES OF DESIGN FOR THE WEB 1. Put content on every page. Design should not be decoration. It must convey information. Or entertainment. Content should come to the surface on every single level. Avoid useless and confusing icons, e.g. a navigation bar that has a? for help. Make sure the content is easy to read quickly. Break the text into smaller segments. On the web people are in a hurry. They want the information they are looking for quickly, like a dictionary, that's still what the web is really about. 2. The first colour is white 3. The second colour is black 4. The third colour is red. This is a basic rule that has been around for 500 years. In Print white is the absence of all colours. White makes the best background. Black holds the highest contrast to white; therefore it is the first choice for text. And red draws the viewer in, and defines the image. 5. Never letterspace lowercase When this is done the natural rhythm of the letters, so carefully designed by font designer, is ruined. In design if you look at what you do today, it should look like what you want to do tomorrow. 6. Never set a lot of text IN ALL CAPS Fonts were not intended to be all set in caps. They were intended to be upper and lowercase and to have serifs and descenders and ascenders so that they are easier to read. 7. A cover should be a poster A single image of a human being will sell more magazines than multiple images or all type. Avoid the pitfalls of 'fads'. Design loses its power when it falls prey to what is popular now. 8. Use only one or two typefaces There are thousands of fonts on offer, this does not mean it is clever if the designer can use as many as possible at once, good design is pulled together by one or two fonts. The best combination is one light and one bold. (This seems to work with colours too). 9. Make everything as BIG as possible Type looks good in big point sizes, a bad picture always looks better bigger. 10. Get lumpy! The trouble with most web design is that it holds no great surprise. 95% of web pages have beautiful graphic homepages, followed by legions of pages that look like newsletters with stamps stapled to them. Vary the content from page to page; don't keep to the format of picture-and-story. NINE RULES OF WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN DESIGNING WEB PAGES. 1. Don't confuse the viewer. Keep the site consistently designed. For different pages and sections the navigation tools and graphics need to look the same throughout. Make sure the viewer knows they are on the same site when surfing your web pages. 2. Be organized with navigation. Make sure your buttons and navigational directions are simple and clear. Be consistent in these from page to page. 3. Don't make oversize pages. Research shows that 50% of all computers used for the internet use 13 "monitors, designers often use 17" - 21 "monitors, 'size matters ", keep to 480x640 pixels. 4. Don't design pages that require scrolling. This makes it painful and impossible to read in a hurry. Browsers will never scroll, they are more likely to press a button and keep going. Shorter pages break up content to bite size pieces this is more appealing to the viewer. 5. Don't use big, slow graphics. No one wants to wait a minute for art or seven minutes for a video; the only acceptable delay when it comes to the web is no delay. 6. Go monochromatic. Monochromatic pages frankly look better and run faster. Web clutter is typified by free wheeling use of colour. Use one or two colours, not all of them. 7. Don't overdo text. Web browsers skim and surf, if you don't give them something quickly they absorb nothing. 8. Don't use tiny type. It is very hard to read small type on a computer, make everything bigger than you would print. If you want to get noticed on the web make it easy and clear to read. 9. Don't navigate by type. Navigate by image, it's less confusing and never dull. Section 5. Conclusions What was the question? What defines a well-designed web-site? The "wow" factor - this is not cool buttons or fonts, or graphics, or audio or video, but clear, easy to read information in bite size chunks, good content, and easy to follow consist navigation. ent How do we plan a web-site that work's? Step 1. Client requirements and Goals The Brief Strategic planning, and engineering. Step 2. Response and Refinement Trial Pages Design, Content, and marketing. Step 3. Approval The Prototype Final design testing and coding Step 4. Launch The Launch Style book, training, and quality tests. What&...
