|
Go
to
Good Design Features
-
.
|
Robin Williams
Below are features that can make a web design look dorky.
These are not just my personal opinions, but are ideas I have collected
from speaking to groups around the country. Examples of many of these
features and more detailed explanations of the problems and solutions
are in my book, The Non-Designer's Web Book, written with John
Tollett.
-
-
Default gray color
-
Color combinations of text and background that make
the text hard to read
-
Busy, distracting backgrounds that make the text
hard to read
-
-
-
Text that is too small to read
-
Text crowding against the left edge
-
Text that stretches all the way across the page
-
Centered type over flush left body copy
-
Paragraphs of type in all caps
-
Paragraphs of type in bold
-
Paragraphs of type in italic
-
Paragraphs of type in all caps, bold, and italic
all at once
-
Underlined text that is not a link
-
-
Default blue links
-
Blue link borders around graphics
-
Links that are not clear about where they will take
you
-
Links in body copy that distract readers and lead
them off to remote, useless pages
-
Text links that are not underlined so you don't
know they are links
-
Dead links (links that don't work anymore)
-
-
-
Large graphic files that take forever to load
-
Meaningless or useless graphics
-
Thumbnail images that are nearly as large as the
full-sized images they link to
-
Graphics with no alt labels
-
Missing graphics, especially missing graphics with
no alt labels
-
Graphics that don't fit
on the screen (assuming a screen of 800 x 600 pixels)
-
-
Borders turned on in tables
-
Tables used as design elements, especially with
extra large (dorky) borders
-
-
Anything that blinks, especially text
-
Multiple things that blink
-
Rainbow rules (lines)
-
Rainbow rules that blink or animate
-
"Under construction" signs,
especially of little men working
-
Animated "under construction" signs
-
Animated pictures for e-mail
-
Animations that never stop
-
Multiple animations that never stop
-
-
Counters on pages--who cares
-
Junky advertising
-
Having to scroll sideways (800 x 600 pixels)
-
Too many little pictures of meaningless awards on
the first page
-
Frame scroll bars in the middle of a page
-
Multiple frame scroll bars in the middle of a page
-
-
-
Unclear navigation; over complex navigation
-
Complicated frames, too many frames, unnecessary
scroll bars in frames
-
Orphan pages (no links back to where they came from,
no identification)
-
Useless page titles that don't explain what the
page is about
-
-
Entry page or home page that does not fit within
standard browser window (800 x 600 pixels)
-
Frames that make you scroll sideways
-
No focal point on the page
-
Too many focal points on the page
-
Navigation buttons as the only visual interest,
especially when they're large (and dorky)
-
Cluttered, not enough alignment of elements
-
Lack of contrast (in color, text, to create hierarchy
of information, etc.)
-
Pages that look okay in one browser but not in another
* * * * * * * * * *
|
