Robin Williams

It is easy to make a dorky web page. It’s also easy to make a very nice, clean, professional-looking web page even if you don’t have much design experience. Often the difference, even for beginning designers, is simply a matter of eliminating certain features that are guaranteed to make a page look amateurish. Go through the list of things that people–designers and non-designers–from around the country have cited as the things that make the difference between a well-designed and a poorly designed web page.

Keep in mind that the point of eliminating bad features is not just to make the page prettier, but to communicate more effectively.

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Below are features that can make a web design look dorky. These are not just my personal opinions, but are ideas I have collected from speaking to groups around the country. Examples of many of these features and more detailed explanations of the problems and solutions are in my book, The Non-Designer’s Web Book, written with John Tollett.

Backgrounds

Default gray color

Color combinations of text and background that make the text hard to read

Busy, distracting backgrounds that make the text hard to read

 

Text

Text that is too small to read

Text crowding against the left edge

Text that stretches all the way across the page

Centered type over flush left body copy

Paragraphs of type in all caps

Paragraphs of type in bold

Paragraphs of type in italic

Paragraphs of type in all caps, bold, and italic all at once

Underlined text that is not a link

 

Links

Default blue links

Blue link borders around graphics

Links that are not clear about where they will take you

Links in body copy that distract readers and lead them off to remote, useless pages

Text links that are not underlined so you don’t know they are links
..(If you’re not going to underline your links, please make darned sure
..that each link is perfectly clearly a link! Don’t make me wander around
..with my mouse checking to see if randomly colored text is a link!)

Dead links (links that don’t work anymore)

 

Graphics

Large graphic files that take forever to load

Meaningless or useless graphics

Thumbnail images that are nearly as large as the full-sized images they link to

Graphics with no alt labels

Missing graphics, especially missing graphics with no alt labels

Graphics that don’t fit on the screen (assuming a screen of 800 x 600 pixels)

 

Tables

Borders turned on in tables

Tables used as design elements, especially with extra large (dorky) borders

 

Blinking and animations

Anything that blinks, especially text

Multiple things that blink

Rainbow rules (lines)

Rainbow rules that blink or animate

"Under construction" signs, especially of little men working

Animated "under construction" signs

Animated pictures for email

Animations that never stop

Multiple animations that never stop

 

Junk

Counters on pages — who cares

Junky advertising

Having to scroll sideways (800 x 600 pixels)

Too many little pictures of meaningless awards on the first page

Frame scroll bars in the middle of a page

Multiple frame scroll bars in the middle of a page

 

Navigation

Unclear navigation; over complex navigation

Complicated frames, too many frames, unnecessary scroll bars in frames

Orphan pages (no links back to where they came from, no identification)

Useless page titles that don’t explain what the page is about

 

General Design

Entry page or home page that does not fit within standard browser window (800 x 600 pixels)

Frames that make you scroll sideways

No focal point on the page

Too many focal points on the page

Navigation buttons as the only visual interest, especially when they’re large (and dorky)

Cluttered, not enough alignment of elements

Lack of contrast (in color, text, to create hierarchy of information, etc.)

Pages that look okay in one browser but not in another.

 

One of the elements of good web design is a lack of the elements that make bad web design. If you stay away from everything listed on the page about dorky web pages, you’ve probably got a pretty nice web site. In addition, keep these concepts in mind:

 

Text

Background does not interrupt the text

Text is big enough to read, but not too big

The hierarchy of information is perfectly clear

Columns of text are narrower than in a book to make reading easier on the screen

 

Navigation

Navigation buttons and bars are easy to understand and use

Navigation is consistent throughout web site

Navigation buttons and bars provide the visitor with a clue as to where they are, what page of the site they are currently on

Frames, if used, are not obtrusive

A large site has an index or site map

 

Links

Link colors coordinate with page colors

Links are underlined so they are instantly clear to the visitor

 

Graphics

Buttons are not big and dorky

Every graphic has an alt label

Every graphic link has a matching text link

Graphics and backgrounds use browser-safe colors

Animated graphics turn off by themselves

 

General Design

Pages download quickly

First page and home page fit into 800 x 600 pixel space

All of the other pages have the immediate visual impact within 800 x 600 pixels

Good use of graphic elements (photos, subheads, pull quotes) to break up large areas of text

Every web page in the site looks like it belongs to the same site; there are repetitive elements that carry throughout the pages.

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