I agree that you should publish this somewhere that I could link to.. I
have a lot of similar advice on my site--Mary's Tips on Designing Web
Sites--though I don't put it quite so succinctly.
http://www.superconnect.com/marystips
Cordially, Mary McWilliams Johnson
McJohnson Communications
Documentation / Web Site Design, Development and Graphics
http://www.superconnect.com
--------------------------oOo-----oOo---------------------------
Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
--------------------------oOo-----oOo--------------------------
At 08:27 AM 1/24/99 -0500, Brent Eades wrote:
>I wrote the following a couple of months ago, but for some
>reason never sent it to the list. Well, now I am.
>
>**********
>
>I see a lot of calls for help from novice Web designers here
>on the list, and examine a lot of fledgling page-design
>efforts as a result. In that process I've arrived at some
>basic rules that all novice designers should pay close heed
>to, in my not-always humble opinion. Here are those rules,
>with explanations following:
>
>
>SEVEN CARDINAL RULES FOR NOVICE WEB DESIGNERS
>
>1. If you have no aptitude for -- or especially experience in
>-- graphic design, DON'T try to provide such services to your
>clients.
>
>2. If you're not an experienced writer -- ideally in
>documentation, marketing or journalism -- DON'T write or edit
>copy for clients.
>
>4. Well-structured, concise and useful content, together with
>good navigation, are by far the most important components of a
>successful site. Spiffy graphics and gadgets come a very
>distant third. DON'T spend more time on superficial gimcracks
>than on content development and organization.
>
>5. If you can't be rigorously self-honest about your
>weaknesses and limitations, DON'T get into this field in the
>first place.
>
>6. DON'T use proprietary WYSIWYG editors such as FrontPage as
>your principal development tools. If you can't code a cross-
>platform Web page by hand, you're in the wrong line of work.
>
>7. If you're not prepared to spend hours every week simply
>learning more about HTML, CSS, XML, servers, browsers, graphic
>design, writing, industry news, Javascript, CGI, search
>engines, software and marketing -- you're still in the wrong
>line of work.
>
>Now for a little meat on the above bones.
>
>
>1. Graphic Design.
>
>Both I and 98% of your users would far rather see a clean text-
>based page than a garish mess of distracting background
>graphics, animated GIFs and ill-chosen typefaces. If you
>don't have strong and proven skills in basic graphic design,
>then work within your limitations. (Take a cue from Yahoo:
>the fellows who founded it are worth over a billion bucks, and
>they use almost no graphics on their hugely successful site.
>Users go there for the well-organized content, not for pretty
>pictures.)
>
>Instead, concentrate on laying out your text in clean, orderly
>sections, perhaps making some sparing use of browser-safe
>colors for titles and headers. If you have professional-
>calibre graphics for your site created by others then use
>them, but cautiously and only when relevant.
>
>Graphic design -- even such "simple" matters as choosing
>colors and fonts for a page -- is a difficult and subtle art,
>which takes years to acquire real competence in. Although I
>get compliments on the "look" of sites I design, I know full
>well what my limitations are; I often spend hours deciding on
>the exact color, face and placement of a single button or
>title graphic.
>
>I use graphics sparingly on my sites, because I know that
>design is not my strongest suit. I do have a college night
>course on the subject under my belt, and fifteen years'
>experience in the publishing and communications business, but
>I still consider myself a design novice. It's not what I'm
>best at.
>
>
>2. Writing.
>
>Again: users go to your site for the content, not the
>graphics. Content which is ungrammatical, vague or unduly
>wordy undermines the credibility of the entire site, no matter
>how useful it may potentially be. If you're not an
>experienced and skilled writer, hire someone who is.
>
>This applies especially to the "microcontent" of your site:
>navigational text, descriptive captions, section summaries and
>so on. The clarity and persuasiveness of a five-word link can
>have a great impact on whether or not a user follows it --
>obviously those words must be chosen with care and skill.
>
>
>3. Java, CGI, etc.
>
>There are *always* implications you probably never thought of
>to implementing CGI, Javascript and especially Java on your
>site.
>
>CGI scripts are generally the most cross-platform-efficient,
>and the least likely to crash browsers or function
>unpredictably. But poorly or maliciously designed scripts can
>cause havoc on some Web servers. If you're a novice, this
>will probably not be your own server. It will probably belong
>to your ISP, who will most surely be very very unhappy about
>your choice of script. If you don't know how CGI works, never
>install a script without running it past an expert first.
>
>Javascript is fun, but often does not translate well from one
>browser to the next. What works in Netscape might not in
>Explorer, and vice versa. Ensure that any Javascript you
>install is designed to work properly on all the major browser
>versions.
>
>ASP (Active Server Pages) can cause problems for users of
>browsers other than MSIE, and should be avoided unless you
>thoroughly know what you're doing.
>
>Java applets should not be used either. Their defects are
>well documented, and many users turn off Java support in their
>browsers as a result. (For example, my major client has
>16,000 employees, and not one of them will ever see a Java
>applet in operation at work. Because departmental policy
>demands that it be disabled.)
>
>
>4. Navigation and Content.
>
>I just spent three months creating an intranet for a
>government department. Of that time, about eight hours were
>devoted to creating graphics. The other thousand or so were
>spent on organizing and rewriting content, devising navigation
>schemes, and writing routines that allow users to pick their
>*own* colours and graphics. (Or to disable them entirely.)
>
>OK, so this ratio is a little skewed, 1000:8. Intranets by
>definition are short on flash and long on ease of use, because
>users are on them all day, every day. But the axiom remains:
>Content is King.
>
>Far too many sites (both novice and "professional") look as if
>navigation and structure were fleeting afterthoughts, imposed
>quickly after the bulk of time was invested in finding
>particularly annoying background images and animated GIFs.
>But in fact navigation and structure are your first and by far
>most important priorities. If you haven't spent a *lot* of
>time deciding how to organize and link the content on your
>site, it is doomed. Period. No amount of gadgets will save
>it.
>
>
>5. Know Your Weaknesses.
>
>This really is the theme of this entire post. No single
>consultant can be highly skilled at every component of site
>design, because the skills and aptitudes for different areas
>are so diverse. A brilliant programmer just will not be a
>great graphic designer too, or vice versa. So if a project
>emphasizes certain skills that you're not strong on, be
>prepared to sub-contract those parts out. Or turn it down.
>
>
>6. WYSIWYG Editors.
>
>What's wrong with them exactly? OK, how's this... they
>produce proprietary gimmicks that break some browsers.
>
>They generate huge rafts of terrible HTML that bloat your
>pages and crash browsers.
>
>They lull you into thinking that because a page looks a
>certain way on your system, it'll look that way on others. It
>won't.
>
>They hide the logic and intricacies of HTML coding from you,
>so that you don't learn how to fix broken code when you don't
>have your trusty WYSIWYG editor handy.
>
>They perpetuate the myth that HTML is a page-description
>language like PostScript. It isn't.
>
>
>7. Learn Learn Learn.
>
>I spend a lot of my time in a state of partial panic just
>contemplating the mushrooming growth of the Web and the many
>technologies and techniques a designer must be familiar with
>to stay current. I spend a minimum of two hours a day just
>reading, examining code, testing new software and specs, and
>generally trying to stay abreast of the field.
>
>You can never assume that because something worked a certain
>way six months ago, it still does now. Whole new draft specs
>can appear at w3.org overnight, for languages or protocols
>you've likely never even heard of. On it goes. You must
>devote time, and lots of it, every week to staying informed.
>Complacency will kill you.
>
>-----------
>Brent Eades, Almonte, Ontario
> E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Web: http://www.almonte.com/
>
>
>_____________________________________________________________
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