If you're creating your personal web site, feel free to follow your inclinations. But if it's a site for an organization, it can benefit from observing standards -- general standards based on observing how real users react to web pages, and standards to assure that your own look and feel are achieved.

Some of this stuff gets pretty heavy, but to a skilled web designer it's like a locomotive's controls to an engineer! If you're interested, we are pleased to present:

Resources for Effective Web Design and Management

Content, Content, Content...

Nothing in the sources below can replace the need for solid content! Without the proper message, accurately framed and thoughtfully presented, all of the technical prowess in the world will not suffice. Resist the temptation to start creating pages! Spend the time planning your message, determining who the stakeholders are (internal and external), consider the resources available (financial and human).

Seek buyins and guidance from stakeholders, and encourage realistic participation. Preach that the page on a monitor is not etched in stone, and is not used the same as a newspaper, yet it must be presented responsibly. Make sure that the message reflects the good of the organization and that the overall presentation does not reveal internal inconsistencies within your organization.

Remember that you are competing with millions of other web sites, available at the click of a mouse. Realize that for the most part, people are visiting web sites for information, and you are not likely to succeed in providing entertainment or glitz unless that is your organization's full-time business. So focus on content, and think like an author, an editor and a publisher!

Style Guides...

Especially for a large or formal web site, it's the up-front work that counts. Consistency of look and feel are important to projecting a coherent presentation -- a site is more than a collection of separate pages! One desirable approach, especially when multiple page authors are involved, is to adopt a style guide. One example is the Yale Style Guide discussed in the Bibliography section below.

Another, that we created for Rider University is the Web Style Guide, which is a summary of a larger, researched and documented formal version. Sites that are built by multiple authors understandably may look disjointed, and don't project a uniform look and feel without formal guidance.

A common approach is for the organization to use page templates to assure a standard look and navigation pattern. Templates need to be very carefully planned in advance to secure greatest benefit. It is important to provide users with clear explanations such as the Style Guide mentioned above; a sample of a template guide with rules for use may be seen at the Whittier College site (opens in new window).

Bibliography...

"How To" books abound. That's the problem. Too many "how-to" techniques are being applied without an understanding of the purpose of a particular web site, who the audience is, how the audience interacts with the medium, often confusing web design with how one would lay out a paper document. Listed below are some key sources for planning and implementing a successful, audience-oriented web site that COMMUNICATES EFFECTIVELY!

Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 2000. Speaker and consultant, Nielsen is considered the guru of web usability design, placing heavy emphasis on designing sites that hold visitors and communicate information effectively.

Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir, Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 2002. Analyzes fifty top websites, quantifies key characteristics, comments on their usefulness to viewers, and provides design standards, drawing on their usability studies.

Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, Prioritizing Web Usability. Berkeley: New Riders, a Peachpit Imprint, 2006.

Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton, Web Style Guide - Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites. New Haven: Yale University Press, Second Edition, 2001. Highly regarded, a bit more dry, features prescriptive design recommendations. Sections from this work are included on the Yale web site Style Guide (opens in separate window), which is also highly respected.

Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think - A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Second edition. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 2006. Skillfully suggests that an understanding of how a web visitor actually reacts to what's on the screen can provide useful design criteria.

Robin Williams and John Tollett, The Non-Designer's Web Book. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2005. Excellent general advice. Illustrations of good and bad design.

 To Communicate Success and Excellence (PDF) is a white paper analyzing the characteristics, needs and challenges of an early version of the Rider University web site. Example of the type of broad organizational and technical analysis that a web site might be in need of. In Word format.

Web Resources...

www.useit.com, Jakob Nielsen's web site, serves as a clearinghouse for his pioneering usability studies. See especially his Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design and references to other books and current empirical studies of web viewing habits and design practices. An essential resource.

Stanford Poynter Project, at Stanford University. http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/main.htm reports on scientific observation of users to determine how their gaze is cast over web pages. The effects of screen location, size, pictures vs. words, and other visual cues are tabulated.

Monitoring User Statistics can be accomplished at sites such as The Counter or Browser News. Note that user information can vary depending on measuring methodologies, and one should consider the likely audience for the site being designed as well as national/international statistics.

User Connection Speeds merit monitoring. Many web sites are designed by firms using high-speed network connections, and often previewed by clients with same. However, not everybody has fast connections, and such sites may be slow to download. The Pew Internet and American Life Project  has been tracking broadband trends. Designers need to take care to avoid creating pages that target audiences may not be able to download in reasonable time (typically 10 seconds maximum).