Web Design Essentials

KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. This should be taped to every web designers monitor.

When I first started to design websites seven years ago that was simple to do. We didn't have too many choices with HTML 1.1. Today there is a wealth of tools available to the webdesigner. But just because they are available doesn't mean they need to be used.

We tend to forget that the Internet is still basically a media form that is based on information transfer. And in this age of soundbites, this means that people want to get their information fast. While all the latest graphics are very cool to see, they slow down page downloads. And this means that the slower a page loads the less likely a visitor will stay at your site. What good is it to have a website that many don't hang around to see the information you have to offer?

In print media it's an accepted fact that you have six seconds to grab a person's attention. On the Internet you have about fifteen seconds. As download time increases past this fifteen seconds, fewer people stay around to see your page. A graphics laden page may look great, but it's sort of like a pearl handled pistol. It sure looks good, but it will still let you shoot yourself in the foot.

More important though is that too many websites are now using graphics to hide bad basic page layout. I have been in design for over 30 years and have found over the years that without a good basic layout I will expend a lot of wasted effort trying to 'art' my way to a good design when a good basic layout would have made it a very simple project.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't have graphics or animations on a webpage, but you should use them sparingly. You can load a page with so many graphics that they lose their effectiveness and all you've done is to slow down loadtime. My suggestion is to pick just a few graphics and place them artistically.

Years ago when tables became available I was fooling around and added BGCOLOR to <TD>. It was a neat way to add color to a page. Today I often use that same trick in place of button graphics, especially if I have a good sized list. It loads almost instantly and has the same appearance as buttons on a proper layout.

I tend to probably overuse tables, but find they are great for placement. I can put text in artistic patterns and place graphics exactly where I want them without increasing loadtime. I've recently revised my page size upward. It used to be I had a 10 KB limit. Now, with the majority of people using faster modems, I have a 15 KB limit on my pages, although I still try to keep them down to 10 KB. Graphics can easily raise total page size to 100 KB. Still a decent load time but getting near the limits. Many of my pages, minus banners, have a total size under 50 KB. One trick I've found thats worked over the years is to use thumbnails when numerous pictures are called for. The trick here is to remember that a thumbnail can be of remarkably poor quality, hence the low file size. It only has to be good enough quality to encourage a visitor to view the larger picture or photo. If the visitor is interested, he/she can click on the thumbnail to see the enhanced version.

Finally, I have to mention my pet peeve about bad web design - using graphics to pass along information. There is nothing I find more annoying than to have a graphic that contains valuable information fail to load. Factual information should be provided in simple HTML text, not a graphic. This is especially annoying on data-based web sites. Many visitors who are serious information seekers will turn off graphics in their browser to speed up searches, only to find they have to turn graphics on again and reload a page to obtain the information they need. Personally, unless other choices are unavailable, I just go on to another site. I hope these few suggestions will help you speed up your load times and result in increased page hits and positive site feedback.