First Impressions on the Internet (Cont.)
May 20, 2002
However, let's say that you just got your domain and are building
your site for the first time. Then it would make sense to give
some information to your readers about your site's future content,
when it is expected to be done, and why they should be willing
to come back when it is completed. Presented in a professional,
nice looking way, this can make a good first impression.
Text problems: I hate opening a page and seeing
wall-to-wall text (and sometimes even wider so that it requires
horizontal scrolling). Can you imagine picking up a newspaper
and seeing nothing by the same sized text from top to bottom
without anything else? Just because it is on a monitor does not
make it any less repulsive. Who wants to read all that? Say it
succinctly and go on with your life. Otherwise, it is
boring!
Text problems II: Some people try to be cute and hide
text on a page by making it the same color as the background,
supposedly in hopes of fooling the search engines. Get a life.
Even worse are those who are not trying to hide text but select a
backround color that makes it virtually impossible to read the text.
Text problems III: Some people make the front page by
using huge type only. No photos, no regular copy, just 60 point
type or larger. These are good sites to remember so that you can
contact them about building them a professional web site.
Text problems IV: I am always amazed at how many sites
have front pages littered with misspellings and punctuation errors.
Am I talking about sites built by 12-year-olds? No, I'm talking
about major corporate sites, ones that cost thousands to have
built and read like they were written by an imbecile. Such
mistakes reflect poorly on the company owning the site. Doesn't
anyone read those things?
Buttons that do not work: More and more it seems that
I have run across sites that have interesting content, but there
is no way to get to it. That's because their buttons do not go
anywhere. You click on them, and the page sits there staring back
at you. Builders have to try all links to make sure they work
before and then again after they send the page online.
Out of date sites: If builders are going to put those
"Last updated, blah, blah, blah" signs on their sites, then they
should make an effort to keep the site fresh. If looking for
information, people seeing a line saying "Last updated during the
Korean War" have to figure the information may be as out of date
as the site.
Out of the mainstream: Some people fall in love with
the things they can create on the internet, never thinking about
how it affects their viewers. Thus, they put on something that
requires downloading a player that is used about as frequently
as life sized photos of Shaquille O'Neal on the internet. Shaq,
for those who don't know, is 7-foot plus tall and weighs more than
300 pounds. In other words, you see few of those on the internet.
All this accomplishes is to frustrate viewers who otherwise were
interested enough to explore the site.
The Barnum and Bailey approach: The circus is a
wonderful place because something exciting or colorful is always
happening. However, when you go to a web site and find several
Flash objects, animated .GIFs, and other distractions, viewers can
be repulsed. There is nothing wrong with using those items, but
too many of them can cause nausea.
Bad use of pictures: There are two areas here that
are of concern. One is that some builders use photos that are of
such poor quality that it is difficult to see what they are
showing. They may be grainy or blurry, they may be too small, or
they may simply be framed poorly. The other problem is that they
not really relate to the site's content. People should avoid using
photos that have nothing to do with what the site is about, simply
for the sake of having a picture on the front page.
Pages that lack structure: This is perhaps one of the
biggest sins that site builders can commit. On those pages, all
elements appear to be about the same. There is no indication from
the way the page is created to tell what information is most
important and what information is least important.
I refer you back to printed material. If you look at good
newspaper or magazine design, it will lead your eye down the page,
making the most important element stand out and grab your
attention first. The second most important item on the page will
be the next to grab your eye because of its construction.
The difference most likely will be the different sizes of
headlines used. Good designers use those elements to lead the
reader through the page, taking them from the most important
information to the least. If the designer does not know what is
important, how can he/she expect the viewer to know.
Summary
While it may be true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
the fact is that on the internet anyone who visits a page becomes
the beholder. While it is likely impossible to please everyone,
it does make sense to at least try — and that means present
the best possible appearance.
As designers, we owe it to our clients to build the most appealing
sites possible, and that means we need to avoid many of the
pitfalls mentioned above. Sometimes, clients insist that we do
things a certain way that does play havoc with good design, but
we should at least try to steer them in the right direction.
In the end, it's what up front that counts, and designers who do
not take full advantage of the opportunities they get to draw
and retain veiwers are missing the competitive boat. It is the
job of business owners to make sure they are not among the sites
that drown.
First Impressions on the Internet
First Impressions on the Internet
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