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A good design is not a beautiful website. It sound confusing, but unlike fine art, web design is "creative commercial technology", made and meant to be practical. Once a site is launched, all likely users will make their judgements objectively. If you got most of the unpopular votes, you are out of the lead. A well-designed website should meet a few criteria:
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Let the visitors or users accomplish their goals
The success of your site rests quite literally in the hands of your users. So when designing your site, you need to focus on what your users need, not what you want to say.
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Makes its purpose clear
The website is an ambiguous medium. Designers must define the purpose of a website and enhance its functionality towards the users, even if the original plan goal is to charm, surprise and amuse users.
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Follows conventions
Over the years, conventions have emerged for how sites should look and work. When you follow these conventions, you will be able to create a pleasant website experience for your visitors.
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Speeds along
Your web pages have to load quickly. Our world is filled with impatient users, tempting distractions, slow connections, fast-moving competitors. For most of the users, the simpler the better.
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Displays well in different environments
Unlike print-based designs, which are distributed to everyone in exactly the same way, websites are seen differently by different users. Your site will be viewed by users with different computers, browsers and connection speeds. All of these factors will affect the appearance of the site, altering its dimensions and typefaces as well as the overall size of the browser window.
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Has some style
Despite all these constraints, it is possible to design a site that is stylish and appropriate to your brand. |
