What makes a good Website? It's more than just a compelling mixture of text, images or (especially) animations, sound files or 3D imagery. The "what-you-see" aspect of a site is, of course, vital appearances do count. However, so do below-the-skin qualities good organisation, selection of content, quick download times and smart use of software applications which can make your Website work for you.
But far too many Website designers have as their creative motto the lazy person's excuse: "I know what I like". Thus, vast expanses of the Web remain frustrating, ugly places. "What they like" tends to emphasise visual elements, many of them more appropriate to computer games than a business site. Clients unfamiliar with the Internet are sold on the idea because they feel this computerised Web world must require the online equivalent of a Steven Spielberg film. If you're getting a company Website or if you have one that just might need a bit of re-evaluation here's my list of top Website problems.
The busybody site. The Internet equivalent of some stores: everything seems to be on display and in no particular order. With a Website, not every door in the house has to open off the main hall; you just confuse your visitor with a visual Babel.
Too many levels. Good Website companies try to keep site structure simple and clear, with just two to three mouse-clicks from the homepage to any other site page. This requires very careful planning and a clear sense of what is going where and why. The flipside problem is the shallow Web page which requires you to click in and out of multiple pages rather than (far more conveniently) scroll through one page. Both are a complete waste of time, and lose site visitors.
Poor organisation. Sometimes this problem stems from an organisation not taking the time to think about what should go where after all, how is a Web designer to know how to classify your company's information? Sometimes the layer problem is the designers' fault. Either way, for site users, there's no obvious path to the information they want.
Rampant frames. Frames are a way of dividing up information into numerous, autonomous zones on a page. In each, you can usually scroll up and down or sideways. Used well (rarely), this can streamline the presentation of site information. Used poorly, this causes users deep sorrow and inclines them to pull out clumps of hair. Bad sites use frames haphazardly, or don't check how they work under different browsers (it varies, so sometimes, text vanishes out of a frame usually with the link you need somewhere in off-screen limbo and you can't scroll to reach it).
Poor graphics. This category covers a variety of sins: images that take up too much memory and download infuriatingly slowly; images (especially computer-generated graphics from Web designers with delusions that they are Hollywood animators) that are fuzzy and indistinct; images that might look great when large but have been disastrously reduced to postage-stamp size. Learn from An Post, stamps tend to feature sharp images which show off well in miniature. In particular, beware silly 3D images unless you're selling computer games.
Tiny typefaces. Another problem is with designers who often think the text of a site eg the stuff in the text is only an annoying inconvenience to their overall visual masterpiece. Therefore, they make the text as small and unobtrusive as possible. Reading a screen is bad enough as it is. Send them to their rooms without dinner and make them write a thousand times: Content is King.
Things That Flash for No Particular Reason. No, flashing icons don't catch people's eyes most of the time, they just annoy them. Especially the little flashing or rolling images that say "New". This is the design equivalent of an anorak. Make it go away.
Every element of a Website should earn its keep. If it doesn't have a purpose, and crucially be aesthetic) then get rid of it or change it.
Karlin Lillington is atklillington@irish-times.ie.
