Web Design Goodies Critique #19
Published January 25, 2001 By Joe Burns, Ph.D.
Greetings, Fellow Designers…
Here’s one a lot of you might find interesting simply because
of the author. I get letters now and again asking if I really
have a Ph.D. and if I’m really a professor. I do and I am.
These letters often want proof of my credentials so I send
them to my university’s Web site.
Well, for those of you who still want proof I teach, here it
is. The following Web site is one put together by a former
HTML student of mine. His name is Mike White and during his
time in my class, he became a father. I don’t know that that
is relevant, but it’s a nice piece of information.
Mike thought he was done with my grading his work, but he
submitted the site for review, so here we go again Mike.
Only this time it won’t go toward your GPA.
Now the obligatory release clause statement…
>>>>The critique below represents the opinions of Joe Burns,
Ph.D. Feel free to disagree, argue, forget, or accept
anything he writes. The purpose of the critique is to offer
examples that you may use, repair, or forget when it comes
to your own Web site. As always, remember that there are
simply no hard or fast rules to Web design. Any choice is
the correct choice as long as that choice aids the user and
adds to the site’s purpose for being.<<<<
Title: Phantom Voice Network / Author: Mike White
http://www.phantomvoice.net/A>
Load Time: 13 Seconds, 57kps modem, cleared cache,
12/26/00 8:26AM.
My Screen Size: 1024X768
Browsers Used: Internet Explorer 5.5 and
Netscape Navigator 4.5
Concept: The Phantom Voice Network is built around
the character “Phantom Voice.” That’s the cloaked
male figure in the upper right-hand corner of the
page. There is a discussions page where readers can
post and respond to writings. That’s the mind of
Phantom Voice. There is Web design, Web hosting, and
the ability to have Mike make a few graphics for you.
That’s the design element of Phantom Voice. The site
is held together with the thought process that all that
happens is built around this character. I often state
that offering too many elements on one site can be
detrimental to the site, but in this case, Mike has
found a way to glue all the parts together under the
single umbrella of this character.
Praise: I have a statement that students might get a
little sick of hearing. So Goes the Homepage, So
Goes the Rest of the Site. Mike has followed that
format here. When someone logs into a site, more
than likely that person has come in through the front
door, the homepage. That homepage sets the stage for
the site. The images, the layout, the typography,
and the colors are all set in the viewer’s mind by
the homepage. It is up to the site designer to then
carry those design choices across the sub-pages.
Mike does that well.
The format you see here is the format that every
page on the site follows. The same graphics, in
the same place, acting as a shell that surrounds
the text that will change, found on the long white
section.
I will again eschew the traditional Concern/Suggestion
format to show you some successful points regarding
Mike’s page that you can possibly incorporate into
your own site.
Point One: Look at the text in the upper left hand
corner that reads, “The Phantom Voice Network.” Often,
new Web designers will find a new font on the Web,
install it on their computers and then assume all
other browsers will render it. Here’s the truth,
they won’t. If a specific font is your bag, then do
what Mike did. Create the heading using the font, and
then turn it into an image. That way you are sure the
font will display.
