What Makes @ Good Web Site? - Part II

CONSTRUCTION:

Scenario: You are shopping for a Widget. You go to a Widget store and when you walk in, there are flashing lights, loud music, signs all over the place that you can’t read because of the profuse use of colorful graphics, the sales personnel are ignoring you and you have to push though halls and doorways trying to find what you are looking for. You finally give up and leave thinking you don’t really need a Widget or you might try somewhere else that really wants your business.

So you do find another store and when you enter, it’s nice and quiet. The sales personnel greet you at the door and show you your Widget. You see easy to read signs for other Widgets in the store and walk right to them and decide you need these as well. They tell you all about other uses and ideas for your Widgets and you become excited about all the new prospects that you decide you will return to this store and conduct more business.

Apply this to your web site: Ask whether the flashing type and excessive textural backgrounds that make reading difficult are advantageous to the content. Are those trailing "mouse trails" really cool or just irritating? The front page or “splash page” should have all the information your prospect desires and easy to find navigation links to take them where they want to go.

Make your pages fit the monitor screen: Don’t make them have to scroll down and down and side to side to read your information. People are busy, they hate to wait for a page to load and they hate to scroll. Generate some interactive features, keep pages short, make them move on to the next page.

Ask if it serves a purpose: Are flashy front pages that say “enter here” serving a purpose or are they just taking up space? People want to get right to the content and waiting for music and graphics to load on a page that holds no content is just wasting the prospective customers time.

DESIGN:
A web page is just like an ad in a magazine: you have about 30 seconds to grab the attention of the viewer and convince them to stick around for more information. You need Visual Appeal, Visual Clarity and Real Information they can use.

Text: Keep your paragraphs short and with space on the left and right to increase readership. Stay away from HUGE type and UPPERCASE text. Use bold text as a tool to attract attention such as on the first lines of paragraphs. When someone is scanning a page, they will grasp initial thoughts from a bolded first line. If you are going to use “flash” text, text that is scrolling or moving in some way, keep it small and the color subtle to make it less irritating while the viewer is trying to read the rest of the page.

Font: Stick to standard fonts that Macs and PC’s use. Remember Mac’s display type a little smaller than PC’s. Serif font: Times and sans serif font: Arial, are standard fonts, but some suggest substituting Georgia for Times and Verdana for Arial because they are designed to be more easily read on the screen. And Trebuchet is a sans serif font with a little more flair than Arial that is also easily read on a screen.

Headlines: Should grab the attention of the viewers. “Enter here” or “Welcome to my website” serves no purpose. Make your headlines be informative enough to keep the viewer reading. Subheads direct their attention onward thorough the page.

Graphics: A good picture can illustrate your message. Keep it well placed and not just placed haphazardly because you liked the photo or graphic. Make the use of space serve a purpose.

Concluded in Part III

© Julie Howell