>
>
>
>
>I must admit I'm not sure which direction to go on this one. I like a
>little glitz, but I also hate the sites that are just overloaded with
>snap crackle and pop!
>
>Where does one draw the line?
>
- Start with the engineering, i.e.technical, paramaters:
- Maximum bandwidth/download per page is the heart of it all.
- Amount/style of information you need to display on your most
heavily-loaded page (and you may want to rethink this if you go over
your max bandwith:page allotment).
- Information/navigation *structure* depends on your back end software
AND usability, both. You *must* have a clear vision in this area before
making your site if it's going to be any good. Flow charts help.
- Now comes color; if you're working with a company or group that has an
established brand or logo and general style, its Web site must follow
that style. Color selection is a big "look and feel" determinant, too.
Do you want a "happy" site? A "serious" one? Are you going for a tone of
"authority" or trying to show that your company/organization prizes
"caring" above all else? Colors and how you use them make a big difference!
- Do you want to show that you have a LOT of merchandise/information
available? If so, you may want to intentionally "clutter" your layout
and make it look "busy" in ways that will make artists cry. Think of
paper car dealer, furniture store, and supermarket ads, which are jammed
with merchandise listings so that they scream, "Look! We have a huge
selection!" without explicitly saying so. If you go this route, make
sure your graphics are tiny files so you don't blow your page load time
spec, though.
- Get right to your message. Not one single high-popularity,
high-profit site *in the whole world* has a splash/intro page. The
(paper) Tamp Trib starts giving you stories right on the first page. A
Web site should do the same.
- Now see how little javascript or other "beyond HTML" stuff you can get
away with. You may not need any at all.
- (More rules as I think them up, but this will probably become an
article at http://buildprofitsonline.com)
- Robin
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