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Principles of Website Design
Effective website design starts with market analysis. In other words, the audience(s) you
intend to reach influences design requirements. Of course site design must take into
account standard rules and principles of graphic design such as recognizing geometrical
balances and those of color and contrast, and directing appropriately motion and focal points.
But effective market analysis takes web design beyond artistic expression alone.
Not only should your site presentation be attractive to the specific people you want to reach,
it should also be mindful of your audience's probable hardware capabilities. In our age
of rapidly changing technology, there is a wide range of both Internet connection speeds
as well as recipient computer speed and capacity.
So, for instance, if your audience is in a business sector, you might be able to
expect much faster Internet connection speeds than you would see in a typical single-user
dial-up setting. This gives a website designer the opportunity to incorporate more cutting-edge
programming and higher resolution graphics, something that would just cause frustration
among a lesser technologically endowed public.
A user's software setup also effects how a site is displayed on an individual computer.
Browser software is an important consideration here. What Internet Explorer will display
may be different from what Netscape Navigator will display, and each varies by version.
Then latest monkey wrench thrown in for programmers is the fact that Netscape 6 is
based on DOM (Document Object Model), breaking its link with Netscape 4 versions . . .
Currently, multi-media effects are quite subject to this kind of variation as well. For
example, individual computer setup will determine whether a message box appears when music
or video is played on a site. Often if your computer is not configured for such a thing,
you will be offered the choice of installing a "plug in." There is a delicate balance between
being "cutting edge" and risking irritating viewers.
Basic Website Design Tips
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Create a template or theme to unify your site design.
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If your subject is at all related to locale, state this immediately! (Nothing is more
frustrating than reading an informational site about a neat local shop and then finding
out it is located in Pakistan. Website creators often forget that the world exists
beyond their localized parameters.)
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"Keep it short and simple" -- unless you are targeting a different crowd, of course.
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Ease of navigation is generally superior to creativity of design. (Unless you can have both.)
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Enhancing interactive and multi-media components of a site increases user appreciation.
We live in a physical world, and integrating perceptual stimuli helps boost a user's ability
to relate to a website.
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Strike a balance between incorporating the latest technology and being accessible through older
PCs or mediums. This is a difficult proposition with rapidly increasing Internet access speeds.
The gap between brand new computer and access types with those of only slightly older ones can
be quite wide.
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