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Home > Small Business Support > What to look for
What to look for in a web site
Simple Design
This is one of the toughest bits to get over because often simple design is associated in peoples minds with a lack of design skill. There is an assumption that lots of good looking graphics and complex design is a sign of a good web site. This is just not true. Of course some designs that are simple are produced by those with no design skill at all but a web designer who has mastered their art will be able to build a design that is both simple and attractive. Complex design gets in the way of the web site user and often causes more confusion than help. Never forget that the reason somebody has come to your site is because they want to know something. The web sites job is to help them find what they are looking for as quickly and simply as possible. Complex design coupled with lots of drop-down menus may look good to the casual observer but research shows that they tend to get in the way of the user of a web site.
Fast Loading
So you have a web site that makes good use of a simple design and its easy to get to the information. Now what you need is a fast loading site. Not everyone has a high speed internet connection and even those that do soon start to grow impatient with a slow loading site. In reality for the end user the quicker it loads the better it is. Large and complex graphics slow a site down as do Flash logos etc. Sometimes these things are necessary for the site (or requested by the customer) in which case they need to be there but do all you can to ensure that they load as fast as possible.
Easy to navigate
There has been a tendency to use drop down menu systems like a computer program on a web site. Just occasionally these do work well but in general they cause confusion for a site user. It can become very difficult for a site user to understand where they are in the structure of a site and research shows that too often people get lost in the maze of pages presented. There should be around 5 to 7 choices available at any one time and no more than 9. For some reason people have trouble making a choice if there are more than 9 things to choose from and their usual response is to not make a choice at all. People should find your content easy to find.
Promotes your business not the graphic designers
I guess there is a tendency amongst us all to try and make ourselves look good. It in understandable and not something to be judgmental about but it is a trait that needs to be watched. The site that is produced for you should reflect well on your business and should not just be a show case for the design ability of the designer who produced it. Sometimes these two things come together and this is great but be wary that you need a site that is good for your business and not anyone else's. Of course it is my belief that if a site reflects well on the business it is built for then it also reflects well on the designer but tit should be this way around and not the other.
No splash pages
Sadly for us designers people who use web sites don't like splash pages. The first time through they are usually ok but the next time you visit the site they soon get boring (like the humorous advert that you see on the TV over and over again). They also get in the way of the content of your site. Thankfully splash pages are now seldom used but if a designer wants to put one in try to insist he doesn't.
Careful use of flash
I like Flash. I like the way it looks and what you can do with it but sadly it doesn't work well as a way of building a web site. It presents too many problems. Flash sites are generally slower to load in, they are often confusing to navigate, they restrict who can use the site (only those using a computer to view the Internet and no one who is blind or partially sited can use it) and search engines won't rank them very highly. Use Flash for training materials or presentations etc where it excels but don't use it for navigation or any main parts of a website.
Can resize text if you need to using the browser
Why would you restrict those who can view your web site? You may be shutting out the very people who want to buy something from you. Those who are partially sited can resize text in a browser so they can better see the content of a site. However it is easy to stop them being able to do this through bad use of html. Make sure your text will resize and if a designer doesn't know what you are talking about if you ask this question, find a new designer! You can try resizing the text on this site if you want to see what I mean. In Internet Explorer you go to the View menu and then Text Size and make a selection.
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