Good Design
Text: Summarize the qualities of the use of type that make a website successful.
Clear hierarchy of information, readable (narrower columns than in books), background shouldn’t interrupt text.
Navigation: Summarize the qualities of the navigation that make a website successful.
Site usability is the primary function of navigation. Thus, navigation buttons should be easy to understand and should make sense to the user, maintain consistency, and keep the user from getting “lost.”
Links: Summarize the qualities of the links, and their behavior that make a website successful.
Links should be easily identifiable and should match the design/color scheme of the site.
Graphics: Summarize the use of Graphics, vector and raster, that make a website successful.
Buttons shouldn’t be too big, graphics should have alternative labels and matching text link, graphics and backgrounds should use browser-safe colors, animated graphics should turn off by themselves.
General Design: Summarize the aspects of the overall design that make a website successful.
Pages should download quickly, fit into an 800 x 600 pixel space (or immediate impact within that space), break up text with graphic elements, be consistent (carry repetitive elements throughout site).
Notes: The point isn’t just to be pretty; it’s to communicate effectively. Don't make the user think.
Bad Design
Text: Summarize the qualities of the use of type that make a website unsuccessful.
Things to avoid: text that is too small to read, crowding the left edge, stretches across the page, centered headlines over flush left copy, paragraphs in all bold, italics and/or caps, underlined text (unless it’s a link). The goal is readability without making the user think too much.
Navigation: Summarize the qualities of the navigation that make a website unsuccessful.
Navigation shouldn’t be overly complex, or include unnecessary features (scroll bars), no orphan pages, and no stupid page titles that don’t explain what the page is about. Navigation should clarify the user’s experience, not complicate it.
Links: Summarize the qualities of the links, and their behavior that make a website unsuccessful.
Avoid default blue links, unclear links, distracting links, and dead links. I don’t like underlined links…but sure, I’ll make darned sure it’s clearly a link.
Graphics: Summarize the use of Graphics, vector and raster, that make a website unsuccessful.
Avoid large graphic files that take forever to load, useless graphics, graphics without alternate labels, missing graphics, or graphics too big for the screen.
General Design: Summarize the aspects of the overall design that make a website unsuccessful.
Avoid home page that doesn’t fit in browser, frames that scroll sideways (hmm? really?), no focal point, too many focal points, clutter, misalignment, lack of contrast, etc.
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| Top Web Designer |
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| Portfolio Page |
Text: Summarize the qualities of the use of type that make this site unsuccessful.
Too many typefaces – lacks consistency. The phone number is obnoxious.
Solutions page: lots of text. I didn’t read it – especially with all alt navigation/text on the left side, they whole page feels surrounded by, squeezed by, and filled with text.
Navigation: Summarize the qualities of the navigation that make this site unsuccessful.
Navigation isn’t too bad, although I want it to align with elements on right of page. Feels a little off-balance.
Links: Summarize the qualities of the links, and their behavior that make this site unsuccessful.
Links are blue (on a bluish, black background). They are pretty identifiable as links, but the wholes sites color scheme seems heavy and disengaging. Logo/brand page needs a back to top link. Not all pages link back to the homepage.
Graphics: Summarize the use of Graphics, both vector and raster, which make this site unsuccessful.
Many of the graphics seem entirely unrelated to the site’s function. The portfolio module display thing is kinda neat. Took a while to figure out though, it feels to dominated by the sunset photo above it (which doesn’t make sense at all…is it supposed to be a page title…in a random photo?).
General Design: Summarize the aspects of the overall design that make this site unsuccessful.
Although the site name should be a giveaway, the site does not immediately communicate “web portfolio.” The actual portfolio is buried below an useless photo. The alternate left column navigation on subsequent pages is repetitive, cluttered, and distracting. None of the graphics make sense and most of them are obnoxious. If the point is too see their web design work, they made it pretty annoying to get there (and who are they? Awkward “about” photo/description…makes me think it’s a hoax?)
Notes: Busy background that seems entirely unrelated to the sites function (which is sad, because it’s a web design site…)
Pretty [neat]:
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| Lost & Found |
Text:
Text is unobtrusive and easy to read, compliments color scheme of background.
Navigation:
Navigation is simple, easy to find (left), easy to maneuver, and consistent throughout.
Links:
Links change color when scrolled over, feel intuitive and expected.
Graphics:
Graphics are appropriate for the site's purpose and clearly relate to/communicate its intention.
General Design:
Visually interested without being distracting, focus remains on the designers work, maintains consistency.
Visually interested without being distracting, focus remains on the designers work, maintains consistency.
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| Pixelot |
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| Sticky Stuff |
Text:
I'm not crazy about all the type choices, but the varying opacity's and styles provide clear hierarchy, differentiation of information, and contrast. All good things.
Navigation:
Although aligned to the right, the navigation is still easily identifiable and understandable, as well as unobtrusive. I love that it's easy to find when you need it but not the distracting when you want to focus on the content.
Links:
Links change color when scrolled over, feel intuitive and expected.
Graphics:
Graphics are limited to the designers portfolio work, keeping focus where it should be and clearly showing the function/point of the site.
General Design:
The color scheme provides a good, washed out canvass to keep the focus on the designer portfolio, but the subtle texture of the background creates visual interest and dimension, keeping the site from feeling flat and dull. I'm not crazy about the button graphics directing to different services along the bottom of the homepage, they feel inconsistent with the overall design and little distracting.
The color scheme provides a good, washed out canvass to keep the focus on the designer portfolio, but the subtle texture of the background creates visual interest and dimension, keeping the site from feeling flat and dull. I'm not crazy about the button graphics directing to different services along the bottom of the homepage, they feel inconsistent with the overall design and little distracting.
