In a social networking world, where your presence on MySpace and Facebook is almost as important as your own Web site, any redesign project needs to think outside the box. Granted, offsite factors have always been part of the business marketing mix. In case you can’t afford a few Super Bowl ads, online advertising...
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...
IE7 and FF2: Will my Web Sites Still Work?
As you may know, Microsoft recently released a major upgrade to Internet Explorer (version 7.0) and about the same time, the Mozilla Foundation came out with Firefox 2. Both are major upgrades, but IE in particular is significant, since it had been so long since the last major upgrade (and since about 80-90 percent...
Finding links — the sooner the better
People are in a hurry, when they’re looking for something specific on the Web. They hit your homepage, and all they want to do is get off it — ideally, to the thing they’re looking for. So, give them clear visual cues to help them along. Make your main navigation clear and simple. Don’t...
Last Updated On… Who Cares?
It’s time to start thinking clearly about when, how, and whether to put dates on your Web pages. You know, the snippets (usually at the bottom of a page) like “Page last updated: June 2, 2005 17:51:06 EST“? On its own, this statement is pretty useless. Remember, Web pages tend to stay out there...
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:...
When Creative Gets in the Way
I’ve been visiting a lot of artistic sites lately, and the right half of my brain is impressed with the amazing visuals that some designers have created. The left brain, however: not so impressed. Folks, this isn’t Myst. As much as I admire the creative impulse, if a user has to hunt around just...
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...