Good web design is not rocket science So shoot me if I talk like it is

Learning how not to do it with WebPagesThat Suck.com “ Unless you’re abnormally gifted, the best way to learn a craft thoroughly is to learn not only its central tenets but also its pitfalls.” 149 mortal sins, 82 possible mortal sins and 2 ultimate web design checklists

“ Unless you’re abnormally gifted, the best way to learn a craft thoroughly is to learn not only its central tenets but also its pitfalls.”

We’ve designed our site to meet our organization’s needs (eg: more sales/contributions) rather than meeting the needs of our visitors It takes longer than four seconds for the man from Mars to understand what our site is about Our site doesn’t make us look like credible professionals Our site’s navigation is Flash-based Our site uses Mystery Meat Navigation The biggest mistakes of 2007 According to WebPagesThatSuck.com We’ve designed our site to meet our organization’s needs (eg: more sales/contributions) rather than meeting the needs of our visitors It takes longer than four seconds for the man from Mars to understand what our site is about Our site doesn’t make us look like credible professionals Our site’s navigation is Flash-based Our site uses Mystery Meat Navigation

We’ve designed our site to meet our organization’s needs (eg: more sales/contributions) rather than meeting the needs of our visitors

It takes longer than four seconds for the man from Mars to understand what our site is about

Our site doesn’t make us look like credible professionals

Our site’s navigation is Flash-based

Our site uses Mystery Meat Navigation

We’ve designed our site to meet our organization’s needs (eg: more sales/contributions) rather than meeting the needs of our visitors

It takes longer than four seconds for the man from Mars to understand what our site is about

Our site doesn’t make us look like credible professionals

Our site’s navigation is Flash-based

Our site uses Mystery Meat Navigation

No Ease of navigation No Credible No User driven Yes Clear focus

No Ease of navigation No Credible No User driven Yes Clear focus

No Ease of navigation No Credible No User driven Yes Clear focus

The home page tells me what business this organisation is in It tells me what problem it solves: what benefit I can derive here It gives me clear signposting: I understand where I can go and why There is a call to action The 4 second test Home pages that don’t suck!

The home page tells me what business this organisation is in

It tells me what problem it solves: what benefit I can derive here

It gives me clear signposting:

I understand where I can go and why

There is a call to action

Navigation, navigation, navigation Beyond the home page it is crucial that I, the user, understands: Where I am Where I can go and why Where the home page is Where I have been Use clear design conventions to style hyperlinks And don’t confuse that convention with similarly styled elements that aren’t

Beyond the home page it is crucial that I, the user, understands:

Where I am

Where I can go and why

Where the home page is

Where I have been

Use clear design conventions to style hyperlinks

And don’t confuse that convention with similarly styled elements that aren’t

Beyond the fold To scroll or not to scroll Proportion of users 10% 800 x 600 pixels 50% 1024 x 768 pixels 26% 1280 x 1024 pixels

There is no fold! In the sense that you can’t know where it is Don’t try to squeeze your web page and make it more compact Visitors will scroll all the way to the bottom of your web page So make life easier for them by dividing your layout into clear sections for easy scanning Encourage your visitors to scroll down by using a ‘cut-off’ layout ClickTale’s research helps unfold the myth of the fold

Don’t try to squeeze your web page and make it more compact

Visitors will scroll all the way to the bottom of your web page

So make life easier for them by dividing your layout into clear sections for easy scanning

Encourage your visitors to scroll down by using a ‘cut-off’ layout

Give each page a clear focus Remember search engines are users Write each page so it can be found by search engines We’ll talk about this later Aim to meet the user’s expectations when they land there They may not land on your home page Engage with the user Give them reasons to come back

Write each page so it can be found by search engines

We’ll talk about this later

Aim to meet the user’s expectations when they land there

They may not land on your home page

Engage with the user

Give them reasons to come back

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This presentation available at www.slideshare.net/tag/impact-071031