WEB MEDIA SCHOOL session 100 WEB SITE DESIGN VS FUNCTION
Easily, one of the biggest mistakes webmasters make when first starting out on the web is in the design of their site. This is extremely understandable, considering that, in the brick and mortar world, a business's success is often dependent on it's appearance. The more money put into the look and design of a business, the better it often does. Unfortunately, this doesn't completely transfer over into the world of the Web. In the world of the Web, there is a huge difference between creating an aesthetically pleasing site, and creating a site that is going to be functional and have the best possibility for success.
All too often, when people first begin on the Web, they design their site as if to be a work of art. Making sure it has lots of beautiful graphics, fancy javascript, flash, etc. While all of these things can definitely create a beautiful site, they are also some of the biggest hindrances to a business's success. On the net, there are two key things a webmaster must always keep in mind when designing a site; the visitor and the search engines. If a visitor has to wait to long for a page to download or a search engine can't properly index a site, it doesn't matter how beautiful and informative the site is, it will not generate the business needed to survive, much less excel.
Let's look at a few of the most common things you should be aware of. *Page Size* While broadband access is gaining ground, at least half of all internet users still use dial up connections. This means that the majority of a site's visitors will be downloading the pages at about 3-4 kilobytes per second. It is estimated that if a page doesn't load within 8-10 seconds you will lose 1/3 of your visitors. That means that a page should not be any more than 30 kilobytes total including text, graphics, html, javascript, etc. Logo's, backgrounds, and other images, are great, but if they are causing your pages to load too slowly, they are doing you more harm than good. Quite honestly, your visitors do not care about your logo, graphics, backgrounds etc. They are there for one reason and one reason only....to see what you can offer them. If you must use graphics keep their file size as small as possible by optimizing the graphics to the utmost extent possible and keeping the image size small.
*Splash Pages/Flash Intros* These are the bane of the internet. If you have a splash page whether its made up of a large graphic or a pretty flash intro, you are crippling your chances. Design firms often love to talk their clients into these pages because they get to be creative (oh..and charge more). The truth is, creating one of these pages as the entrance way to your site is one of the single worst things you can do. Visitors hate splash pages, because they often take too long to download and they don't provide the visitor with anything. Remember, visitors are there for one reason, to see what you have to offer them and get the information they are seeking. A huge graphic doesn't answer any of their questions, it only delays their search. A flash into is much the same, while it will generally download very quickly, it still delays the visitor in finding what he or she is looking for.
One of the biggest rules you should remember is to keep the amount of clicks a visitor must make to get to quality information down to a bare minimum. With every successive click a visitor must make, there is more of a chance he/she will give up and go somewhere else. I've seen many reports from different sites that used (notice the past tense) flash intro pages. Hardly surprising is the fact that on average, a whopping 20%-30% of the visitors left the site after accessing ONLY the homepage (where the splash page or flash intro was). The second reason to stay away from these is that it has a huge affect on search engines. Search engines can only index text, a huge graphic or flash intro doesn't give the engines anything to index. As a result the homepage, which is often the highest ranking page on a site, has almost no chance of ranking well at all. In addition, depending on how the links from the graphic or flash to internal pages are coded, the engines may not be able to follow the links to the rest of the pages on the site which means your site will not get spidered properly. To summarize, stay away from splash pages and flash intro's. Give the visitor some actual text to read and the engines something to index. Your visitor retention will go up, and so will your search engine traffic.
*Hyperlinks* Hyperlinks are your bread and butter when dealing with the search engines. They are the way in which search engines find all of the pages on your site and index them. If a search engine can't follow a hyperlink, it won't be able to index the destination page, meaning parts of your site may become invisible to the engines. Be sure to use only true hyperlinks in your site. I've seen many sites that use some javascript links instead of actual hyperlinks. While these will work for most browsers (about 90%), they don't give the engines anything to follow.
A true hyperlink should say: href="URL of page here.html" Any other type of link is most likely not going to be followed properly.
*Body Text* As I mentioned before, engines can only index text. Too often I see sites that use graphic representations of text or a large graphic that has some of their most important text within it. Do whatever you can to stay away from this. If your most important words are in graphic format, you have taken away the thing that the engines need most to properly index and rank your site.
Engines also want to see continuity in the structure of a page. When a webmaster uses lots of tables, frames, and other design elements, it breaks up the flow of the text on the page, and can have a negative effect on your rankings. Whenever possible, use as few tables as possible. When you do use tables, do your best to not break up a paragraph or sentence into separate cells in a table, this destroys the flow of the text and causes the words to be seen as unrelated fragments instead of part of the same continuous sentence/paragraph.
It is important to realize that engines do not see the pages the same way a visitor does. While the visitor sees the page displayed properly with all of the text flowing nicely, an engine sees only the HTML code behind the page that breaks up the flow of the text. In general, the simpler the page and the HTML behind it, the better the ranking will be.
*Summary* Always be sure to be aware of the impact that a particular design element will have on both your visitors and the ability of the engines to properly index your site. By understanding how the engines work, what they look for, what they can and can't do, you will vastly increase your chances of successfully achieving the rankings needed to make your business a success.
John Buchanan .... http://www.se-secrets.com
Using impressive images, bold splashes of color all over the page, and not very much copy. The end result is an attractive, visually-appealing site, with very few words. ... However, I've learned that I have to balance this inclination with a cold hard reality: what appeals to me as a designer is not necessarily the same as what visitors need. The main problem with websites that don't have any copy is that they fail to quickly and effectively communicate the three points that all websites must get across: You must explain what your company does, what the benefits are of using your product or service, and why prospective customers should purchase from you.These important pieces of information can only be conveyed vaguely, if at all, through images. While pictures are often very useful in reinforcing a message, it's difficult to succinctly drive home these important points solely through images.
Now that just about every site has whiz-bang graphics, we're starting to understand that the WORDS on the page are what do the selling not the graphics.Does the copy give the reader a good reason to keep reading. Most people will only browse your opening page for about 20 seconds before moving on. Within the first few paragraphs you have to give them a good idea of what your site has to offer them.
I like to include a big bold headline at the top of the page, followed by a short paragraph in bold, and several more short paragraphs that quickly explain what you offer.
The copy should not go on and on, making you read and read to figure out what the offer is. How many times have you been forced to click through several pages just to find out what the price is?
The copy spends too much time dryly giving features. It should spend more time telling readers what they will FEEL after they buy. Describe the feeling of being smarter, healthier, richer, or having more free time.
The copy is too complicated. Most of us got better grades in school if we wrote in long sentences with lots of commas and big words. Just the opposite works in marketing. Use everyday words anyone can understand. Keep sentences short. Put your most important ideas in bold. ... from Dr Wilson
by Tim North .... It's not enough to know *how* to create a web site, you also need to know what makes a *good* web site. Think back on some of the web sites you've visited recently. Were you impressed by all of them? Probably not. Many web sites are technically fine, but fail on aesthetic grounds.The guidelines below will help you to create web sites that are user-friendly and will be well received.
Content, content, content! The single most important element in any successful web site is good content. You must have content that is:* interesting;* informative; and* regularly updated.
Without this, it will be difficult to convince people to visit your site again and again. Lots of flashy colours and animated images may look fun the first time, but it's not enough to keep people coming back to your site. Only good content can do that.
Don't overuse character styles such as bold face and italics as this can make your site seem amateurish. Also, underlining should be avoided at all costs as visitors will mistake underlined text for a clickable link. Similarly, don't wildly vary the size of your type unless you have good reason.
Don't abuse your colours. Too many colours, or overly garish colours, are one of the easiest ways to spot amateur web sites. Also make sure that you choose a readable colour scheme. White text on a black background may look cool, but it's tough to read, particularly with small text.
Leave lots of blank space. Text on computer screens is hard to read at the best of times, so don't cram in your text. Start lots of new paragraphs, and leave plenty of space between objects. Headings or horizontal rules are a good way to do this. Use less text per page. The web is primarily a visual medium. Screen after screen of text is dull and unlikely to be read.
Try to limit the amount of text on any page to a few paragraphs by breaking long pages into several smaller pages. Don't assume that other people will see what you see. There are many things that can make your web page look different than what you expected:
* Different browsers, even different versions of the same browser, can display your pages quite differently.
* Some people use a screen that is 640 pixels wide; others have screens that are 800, 1,024 or 1,200 pixels wide. They may all see your site quite differently. * Some computers may not display as many colours as yours. * The fonts that you used may not be installed on other people's computers.* Other people may have different browser settings than you.
The moral of this story is twofold:
a. Don't waste your time trying to get the layout "just right" as it will probably look different on other people's machines anyway.
b. Test your pages as widely as possible. For example, look at them on different machines and browsers, change the browser's settings, use fewer colours, use different fonts, turn off images. Does your web site still look okay in all of these situations?
Remember, it's not enough to make a web site, you have to make a good one. With over two billion other web pages out there at the moment, you'll have to work hard to ensure that yours stands out from the crowd. Good design and good content will help you do this.
Bear in mind that you may have the most beautiful site ever created but without excellent content your site will have no meaning. People pay a fortune to have sites created boasting loud music, flashy flash presentations and all the other hype so common on web sites these days. In truth all that extra stuff can be of very little significance without meaningful content. Most people are seeking information, not flamboyant pictures. I do believe the layout, style and design of a web site is critical to its success but all the overdone, heavy duty sites have become boring.We grow impatient if the site loads slowly and even more impatient if each subsequent page takes forever to appear. No matter how beautiful your site, if it takes forever to load, you'll lose your viewers before they've had a chance to read the first word on your site. Additionally, if there are too many visuals and auditory sounds on your site it can be disturbing to the majority who come to visit. Keep it simple. ... Web Pro News
Web Development: .... Has your site been designed to market itself as well as sell your product or service? Has it been tested on different browsers and platforms? How's the navigation and download time. User friendly sites sell!Search Engine promotion: Have you submitted your URL to every major search engine until you got indexed or are you relying on automated software that may or may not work? How about optimizing your pages for quality content?
Stationery: Do your business cards, letterheads, fax cover pages and every other piece of company stationery contain your web address and contact details? Even more important do you have a signature on every single e-mail you send that promotes your web site, product or service.
Newsgroups: No matter what field you are in there are places on the Internet where your potential consumers gather. It may be chat rooms, message boards or newsgroups but it is free advertising if you do it right!
Customer Service: I am constantly amazed how often I e-mail a company with a product inquiry never to get an answer! They spend a fortune to bring in customers and ignore them when they arrive. Your profits will never be better than the quality of your customer service!
E-Zines: Opt-in e-mail, there is no better way to stay in touch with your visitors. Give them a reason to sign up, provide quality content and they will become customers. Earn their trust!
Site Analysisby Steve White
In a previous article I introduced the problems of testing your site for missing links and images. A common problem often relates to seeing your web site from the inside out. In other words, things that appear to work for you may not work for your visitors. This is often caused by file references that point back to your computer. When you test, your browser can easily find these files because they are where they are supposed to be. Visitors not having access to your directories will see the typical missing image box.
The obvious step in solving this problem is to get your friends, relatives, and colleagues to test your site. (Why do they often discover that they must have an often-put-off root canal when you ask?) In addition to finding missing images, they are usually more than happy to give you their subjective opinion, whether you want it or not.
The first step however, should be to test your site with a specialized program that will find and report on these and many other possible problems. If you have a large commercial site you probably already have an application designed specifically for this. If you do not, there are still several free testing sites that you can use.
The two sites I am familiar with are: Web Site Garage - Net Mechanic
Both of these sites allow you to enter the URL of any page on your web site. You would normally start with your home page but there is no reason why you cannot enter any page that you have updated by simply appending its name to the URL of your site. (Don't forget the .htm or .html extension.) The generated report will include: Browser Compatibility Meta Tag readiness Load Time Dead Links Spelling
The Dead Link check is obviously of value. It will quickly tell you which URLs or files could not be found and show you the code so that you can correct the problem. What about the other reports? Well they can be of value, but take them with a grain of salt.
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