Friday, March 29, 2024

Web Design Goodies Critique #31

Web Design Goodies Critique #31

Published April 19, 2001 By Joe Burns, Ph.D.

Greetings, Fellow Designers

Oh, did I get a taste of my own medicine the other day.

I am working on a personal Web site. I went out and
bought a domain name and have been messing around
with putting up a site that represents just me. As with
every site I’ve built in the past, I made sure the site was
completely finished before I let anyone see it. Then I let
someone see it.

It’s a process called beta testing and I would like to try to
talk you into trying it.

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.<<<<

Over the past three years of actually teaching HTML in
the classroom, I’ve come to enjoy hearing feedback from
the students. They see things with a fresh eye and never
hold anything back.

One of my favorite lectures to give is the “10 Things You
Probably Want But Probably Shouldn’t Have On Your
Web Pages” speech.

It starts with me asking students to yell out elements of
Web pages that they dislike. I’ve always found you’ll get
a much better discussion when it involves what people
dislike. Asking people what they like never does evoke
good student reaction.

My personal Top Ten list of elements that you probably
want but probably shouldn’t have on a Web site ends
with an “Under Construction” image.

An Under Construction image is not a catch all that
allows you to put up a lousy page and then garner
forgiveness from your users. When is the last time you
went into a bad page but felt compassion because of a
little yellow triangular under construction image? It is
my opinion that Web pages should always be under
construction.

That doesn’t mean that something that is under major
construction should go live. When starting a new site (or
new design), it is my opinion that the designer should
complete the project, all pages, so that the site is, in
effect, ready to go. Once that’s done, the designer should
subject him or herself to one of the most frustrating and
helpful things ever done.

You should invite people to beta test it.

The site should be posted onto the Web in a place where
it cannot be (easily) found without the URL.

You should gather up a group of people at all levels of
knowledge to go in, test the site, and report back to you
with any problems or concerns they find. Encourage
them to be just downright nasty.

I want to specifically point out that I suggested people of
all levels of knowledge. You cannot simply ask friends
who know the Web inside and out. The return
information will be heavily skewed. Navigation is best
when even the first time surfer can get around. Image
placement and size is best when the AOL user with the
28.8 modem can get it to run quickly.

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