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Web Design Remedies

Over the years I’ve learned a lot about Web site design.

I can actually claim (without exceeding my quota for personal conceit) that I was fine-tuning Web pages long before HTML came with a version number attached to it. This was back when the major issue of layout was whether to use an HR tag to separate sections or a ‘line’ image. Back then one really did have to consider whether someone would wait the extra one-third of a second while your GIF graphic downloaded, and the further second the browser took to display it. I’d hardly claim this makes me an old timer, but I do feel a little older now just admitting to it. I remember the excitement in the community over Netscape’s introduction of their TABLE element, and I recall a similar enthusiasm for the FRAME tag, which quickly slipped into dismay and then hostility when we realized how we’d end up using it.

As I was saying, I’ve picked up a thing or twelve about creating Web pages, much of which I freely pass on to others, whether or not it’s requested of me. Several of these tags of wisdom I don’t see mentioned all that often, or at least in the way I would formulate them. So in the interest of offering up a little more flavor in the Web design soup, and a dash for posterity’s sake, here’s several of my more well-worn personal maxims:

Make it worth a look

Forget about issues of readability or proper spelling and grammar (I can always use the comedy found in another’s linguistical misadventures). If you can barely parse a sentence, even in your own language, but still have something important to say or something I may want, at least have it look presentable. This can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Think of it like a house, whether a palatial mansion or mobile home: don’t expect a lot of visitors if you never figured out how to use the vacuum.

Get past the clothes

Yes, I’m impressed with your ingenious use of stylesheets. Your design techniques are phenomenal, unique even. And your graphic work could make da Vinci weep, even if he is dead. Talent streams out your every orifice; I am damp with envy. But if fashion is all there is to your personal Web statement, may I suggest some other time-consuming yet productive hobby, like collecting aluminum cans. If the purpose is to get some development experience under your belt, then that’s fine. Just don’t be upset when I bypass your tinkerings.

Beat us over the head

Note: there’s no “don’t” at the beginning of that. What I mean is never hold back on repeating (and repeating) certain features, like navigation links or descriptive components. You can overdo it, but it’s more likely you’ll cause a few more people to figure out how to navigate your stuff. Web surfers want two things when visiting a site: they want it to load fast, and they hope they’re smart enough to get around it even faster. Anything you do to improve the latter will make most of us a little more tolerant on the former. Only a very little, though.

Don’t be boring

An easy one to proclaim, though I’ve never been able to delineate this to anyone else’s satisfaction. Let’s just say it’s one of those “You’ll know it when you yawn at it” rules.