Building a website that doesn't inhale

GINNY ANDERSON gets some good advice about bad website design from local experts.

Some websites suck. That's what Vincent Flanders claims on his charmingly titled website, Websitesthatsuck.com.

But it's not just about poking fun at bad sites. Flanders offers a few simple rules that can help you avoid a design disaster, and local web observers agree that a little thought before creating your site would go a long way to ensuring you put your best page forward.

Marcus Ringrose, director of Auckland creative agency Octane, regularly advises clients on multimedia strategies which include web design. He says you must first consider your audience.

"Who are you really trying to attract? A site can be obscure, abstract, even challenging if that's what you're after. On the other hand, if you're a business and you are in the game of selling product, you've got to think functionality and information architecture," he explains.

Learning from the mistakes of others is the easiest way to avoid an amateurish looking site, says Nigel Horrocks, editor of Netguide.

"Spend a few hours on the web at sites like geocities.com. There are myriad poorly designed personal pages, like those featuring massive images that take forever to download when they should have used thumbnails [small images that enlarge if you click on them] he says."

Ringrose believes a common mistake in planning websites is the failure to draw up a solid business plan: "You have to ask yourself, what am I saying? To whom? And why."

After that, content is king, says Vince Flanders, author of the book that spawned Websitesthatsuck.com. Many sites will appear beautifully designed with all sorts of features, but then make fundamental mistakes like forgetting to include a contact address - a must if you are trying to drum up a sale, and vital to proving you are reputable.

Navigation around a site is another area where new designers or home users can come unstuck.

Asking users to scroll down a page to get information that should be available in the first screen a user sees is another common mistake.

It is important to immediately tell the browsing user what your site is about. If users cannot quickly work that out, they are likely to move on and never come back.

Most designers try to work with a cohesive idea or theme such as a standard template, concept or look that binds the site together.

Ringrose cites use of colour and layout as ways to achieve this.

"When choosing colours keep in mind some palettes are complementary, like black and white and some aren't, like red and pink. But often there's no rhyme or reason for colour trends. Green has been done to death lately, and in the past orange has been very popular. Just choose a range of colours that gives you flexibility, and make sure you're consistent," he says.

It is also important to think about legibility. Some background colours like red, yellow and black make text difficult to read.

Another complicating issue is the various default settings, different screen sizes and browsers used by internet users.

"Remember that if you choose a font that can't be made the default font, because it's not standard, viewers may end up seeing another font on their screen.

"And not all computers will have the necessary plug ins that are required to view multimedia presentations. - like sound, video and animation," says Ringrose.

More experienced designers' use of software like Flash can overcome some of these problems, as it enables the web designer to control the look of the site. But even then you are relying on the user to download and install the recommended flash software from the web.

These factors make creating a great website a balancing act - between pushing the boundaries with the latest and greatest software and remembering that new users are logging on every day who may not have any idea about what a download is.

Design tips:

Organise a group of users ranging in net experience to try out your site. Watch how they interact with the site. Aim to make the site user friendly for every audience.

Keep your web site updated. No one wants to see a site with outdated information. Try to add something new as often as you can. Offer the browser useful links. They will come back for more if you update them regularly. A guest book or feedback function will also help to improve your site.

Never post the message "under construction." In theory a site is always under construction and viewers are unlikely to return if they see this message.

Don't worry if your site isn't a work of art, but it should be easy to use and read. Borders around large pieces of text make reading easy on the eyes.

Keep the language in your site chatty and conversational. Avoid clever words and screeds of copy.

Fledgling web page creators might start with products like Microsoft's FrontPage and, as they get more experienced, graduate to Macromedia's Dreamweaver.

Links:

Websites that suck

Yale style guide

Mechanical monkey design tips

PhotoShop tutorials

Graphics

Design