Empty Space is not Wasted Space

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of dense Web sites. You know, three columns jammed with stock quotes, recent news, ads, highlights, customer login boxes, sale-of-the-day. The clutter in these sites drives me mad. It’s like a pack rat was turned loose on the Web, armed with everything that could possibly go on a...

Site Navigation: Keep it Simple

As Web sites become more crucial to a company’s marketing and visibility, good site design is becoming critical to the long-term success of a site. (Some would say it always has been critical, but let’s not get lost in that point just now…). Problem is, as sites are being more heavily designed, navigation generally...

Today's date is…

Why do Web pages display today’s date and time? In case you need a clock? In case your watch stops working? In case you’ve fallen down a well but still have wireless service? Most of the time, including the date and time provides little value and clutters up the page. Of course, the idea...

Shooting Photos for Web Use

Most people use stock photography, such as the stuff that comes with MS Office, and while there are some good images in those collections, sometimes you just need to shoot your own photos. And with digital cameras being so cheap these days, you can get a custom shot without too much trouble. First advice:...

Ode to White Space

OhWhiteSpace! How little you are used in Web design — how blithely we pack in the content, using ever-smaller fonts and multi-colored backgrounds, lists nested inside lists, trying to jam as manywordslinkslogoschoicesas possible into the first screenful, not realizing that clutter brings confusion — or knowing it, but having many messages to deliver and...