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The Gadwall Commandments of Web DesignBy Jim Frazier I frequently perform Web page reviews. The following is a list of things that bug the boogers out of me and serves as a starting point for my audits. Whether or not they do the same for you is something else. But if you're designing a Web page, or trying to evaluate your current site, these rules should help. 1. Your pages must load quickly. Never let it take longer than 10 seconds to load across a 28.8 KBPS connection. Believe it or not, most of your customers still use that speed. Yeah, when they're at the office, they might have a faster connection, but if they hit your page from home, they're not going to be happy. 2. Show real world contact information on the page. Show your postal address, real phone number and a real person's email address (sales manager, sales rep of the day, etc.). 3. Don't show a splash screen unless it loads fast and is powerfully relevant. Making your users wait while your logo loads is annoying. Why would your customers appreciate your making it even more difficult to get the information they want? 4. Don't make your site a puzzle. Make it clear where the user is supposed to click and find the information they need. Always put text links in the page in case a Java-less user can't find those nifty Java-animated links your designer thought up. And don't bury your only menu in graphics. Don't make your visitor wait for an enormous graphic to download before they can move to the page they really want. 5. On larger sites, have a navigation bar across the top of the page that directs users to the major sections. If the bar is graphical, have a text-based bar somewhere else on the page, preferably near the top. 6. Have a site map that includes links to almost all of the inner pages on one page. Make sure you link to this from your home page. Remember the rule of thumb - a visitor should never be more than three clicks from any page in your site, no matter where they are. 7. Don't use Java unless you really have to. And don't use it to animate graphics - that's overkill. 8. Avoid using frames. If you do, allow the user to deep-link. And don't use scroll-bars. 9. Pay attention to search engine tips to get your page highly ranked. Use meta tags. This will go a long way towards getting your page ranked in search engines. 10. Take a look at the error messages that your designer is burying in the HTML code. I once ran across a site where the designer literally wrote, "Your browser doesn't support frames. Get one that does." Do you think your visitor will ever come back to your site? 11. Avoid a stale page. Keep content fresh. If your page doesn't require much tending, don't put a date on it. That just highlights that you haven't touched it in a while. If you do put schedules, calendars, newsletters, etc. on it, you must keep them up to date. Otherwise you're communicating to your visitors that your site is not only stale, but they've wasted their time in visiting it. 12. Use an artist if your site is going to include lots of graphics. Being competent at a graphics package or downloading images from the Internet doesn't make an engineer an artist. Avoid bad design. Get a real artist, preferably one experienced at designing Web sites. 13. Remember that there are different rules when it comes to developing a Web site. While a beautiful picture looks great on your printed literature, the user doesn't have to wait. They can glance at it and flip the page. With a Web site, that image has to download. Is it really worth it? 14. Use a similar amount of effort and thought about the design, color selection, layout, fonts, and content for your Web site that you do for your brochures. But don't overdo it. Once you've printed your brochures, you're stuck with them. You can always update your Web site. 15. Design your site so that content can be updated by your regular staff. You shouldn't need your Webmaster to update calendars and newsletters, and post new articles and press releases. 16. Watch your color combinations. Just because you can use a particular combination doesn't mean it's going to look good. Avoid anything other than a white background. If your user wants to print the page, it'll be easier on their printer. 17. Remember that just because you have the technology, it doesn't mean you have to use it. 18. Make sure your site works on multiple clients, workstations, displays and servers. It helps to have a look at it from other systems. You might be very surprised at what you see. I know I was stunned the first time I looked at my site on a Macintosh. 19. Beware of lots of animated images on your site. They reek of "look what I just downloaded from a clip-art site." 20. If you're using the site to sell your company's services and products, you may want to avoid advertising from other companies. Do you put that kind of thing on your printed literature? 21. Get your own domain name and use that domain for your email addresses. 22. Avoid the need for any plug-ins. Some are pretty standard, such as Acrobat. But multi-media? Unless it's critical to delivering the content you have, avoid requiring the user to download and add new software to their computer. 23. Don't publish text that goes from margin to margin. Use tables to make the text lines a little shorter. Remember that the average should be from 10 to 15 words per line. Anything longer than 15 or 16 words per line should be avoided. Aside from looking amateurish, it's more difficult to read. 24. Avoid pop-up pages or spawning another page when a visitor clicks on a link. 25. Don't "trap" your visitors. If someone wants to back out of your site, let them. 26. Keep the use of gimmicks, Javascript, sound files, Java, Active X, etc. to a minimum. These things take time to download and may not work on your visitor's computer. The last thing you want is for your site to lock up their computer. They'll NEVER come back. 27. Avoid using only a form for visitors to ask questions. Allow them to simply send an email as well. Most people are getting tired of filling out Web forms (they were kind of neat at first) and now they just want to ask their question and move on. So give them that option. 28. If you do use forms or generic email addresses, make sure someone is reading them and responding on a daily basis. 29. Have your layout look consistent from page to page within your site. Let me close with one final point. Consider your favorite sites - the ones you hit regularly. Use their practices and design as guides. Are they employing the gimmicks that you're considering? No? There's a reason why not. And trust me, it's not because your Web designer is more sophisticated than theirs. A later article on the commandments of Web design
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