Using web sites should be easy and
pleasant, just like a great experience in a shop, hotel, or library.
I believe that the all Web sites can
be made lovable - easy, rewarding and pleasurable to use.
Most web sites suck, even ones
created by experienced and highly-paid web designers. They're either
hard to navigate, confusing, cryptic, badly organised, badly written,
stupid, obscure, rude, over-designed, under-designed, or simply don't
give us what we want.
Too often we are left feeling either
stupid, let down, frustrated, or angry. This situation is not okay any
more.
These articles look at the web
browsing experience (See: How
people use web pages, People
are impatient; No-one
looks at the screen; Scanning,
Other
online factors).
Web design is a complex discipline,
and there is a tension between designing for beauty and designing for
function. However, you can make web sites both pleasurable and
functional, appealing and usable. In fact, this should
be your goal as a designer.
Sphere
of Design; Using your Ink)
Basics also include ways of
approaching web design that help us create better sites. See: Conventions; Don't decorate,
communicate!, Simplicity).
Process of producing web pages
- How to make a web site
- The absolute basic mechanics of how
you go about making web pages and publishing them on the web.
Understanding design
- No-one looks at the
screen
- Why no-one wants to look at the
screen
- Scanning
- Why web users scan and what designers can do to help
- Scanning - Why web users scan and
what designers can do to help
- Content
- Design is all about content.
Content is the designer's problem.
- How people use web pages
- How people really use web pages is
different from the way designers think they do
- People are impatient
- Why we are impatient when using the
web, and what designers can do to improve things
- Other factors affecting the
web browsing experience
- Other factors affecting the web
browsing experience
- The Brain's strengths
- Understanding what the human brain
has evolved to do helps designers create better web pages
Principles of web design
- Simplicity
in web design
- The principle of Simplicity in web
design
- Trusting
the user
- Why it's important to trust users
when designing web sites and applications
- Don't Decorate,
Communicate!
- Focus on the message you're
communicating
- Golden
Rule of web design
- My golden rule - a simple
touchstone to help all design decisions
- Conventions
in web design
- Understanding how to use
conventions is a critical skill in design
- Branding
for web sites
- Branding for web sites
- The
Sphere of Design
- A conceptual tool for visualising
the balance between functionality and aesthetics in visual design
