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Form follows Function
The main purpose of most web sites is to provide information in a fast and easy to use format.
Readers will invest about 30 seconds of their time (including download) to find out
if your site is of interest or not.
Get your point across in those 30 seconds
and you may keep your readers.
Layout
Make sure it’s clear and easy to read. Use a white or plain
light-coloured background so users don’t get distracted by unnecessary colours and images.
Use a matching colour palette and ensure that your website is pleasing to the eye.
Loading time is crucial
If a page takes too long to load, it’s easy for the user to get
frustrated and leave a website. Some easy ways to keep loading
time to a minimum is to ensure that your images are resized and
optimised for the web.
Forget Flash Animations
Another way to reduce a page “weight”
is to avoid pages that are 100% Flash animation. One or two
Flash animations are acceptable, but not the entire page.
Also, search engines can’t read Flash animations and thus your content won’t be indexed.
Screen Size
The size of most computer screens is larger than what they used
to be; it’s no longer imperative to use 800 x 600 dimensions. You
can now design websites that are 950 pixel wide and be confident
that they will fit 80% of screens.
Most of our designs can adapt to the screen size.
Text Size
Use simple, clean fonts like sans serif.
Remember that as we age, our eyesight deteriorates.
Make sure that your website is user friendly across different groups
by having a legible font size and if possible a zoom option.
Don’t overlook the importance of spelling and grammar.
Site Navigation
Navigation needs to be efficient if your readers should come in beyond the home page.
Near the top or the left side of each page should be links to the main sections of the site.
For most sites (including this one) we use an automatic navigation script
which includes all available pages, a site map, and an email response form.
No more than 3 clicks
Have a maximum of three clicks to get to the desired page.
Otherwise, users can become frustrated, bored and will quickly leave the page.
The less clicks the better.
Our table of contents is accessible from every page and can take you to any other page.
That takes just 2 clicks and maybe a bit of scrolling down.
Content Focus
If it's not necessary to say, then it's necessary not to say it.
This is our motto for content.
Need we say more?
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