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When you design your page (or judge what a designer has done
for you) there are a few basic rules that are emerging and
must be considered if your site is to be a successful one:
1. You can’t please everybody - There is no such thing
as a mass market on the Internet - so design your page with
a niche in mind. Segment the market and position yourself
to appeal to the tastes of your chosen target.
2. Understand the goal orientation of your market
- People visiting a business website are not looking for an
entertainment extravaganza or loads of unrelated information.
Remember that broadband access is still a long way from being
widespread in Australia and people get very impatient with
elaborate and time consuming branding exercises. Keep it pertinent
and make sure the page loads quickly.
People visiting a business website have a goal in mind. Let
the design and content reassure the visitor of your capability
and the navigation let them find the right product or service
within the fewest clicks possible.
3. Ensure the front page identifies you and your service
- You should generally avoid using ‘splash’ pages and ‘Flash’
intros (depending on the nature of your business). Have the
crucial information appear first - your company name, your
product/service details and your contact details. Ensure all
this information is readable without needing to scroll on
a 15 inch monitor set at 800 x 600 pixels- as this is presently
considered to be the international average monitor size.
4. Keep the navigation intuitive - A website is not
like a piece of software. People don’t want to have to learn
how to use your site - they should be able to take what they
already know from other sites and use that framework to navigate
yours. For this reason it is important to understand and follow
the emerging conventions of web page design and navigation.
Also, keep in mind that not everyone lands on the index page
of your website - they can enter it anywhere. You need to
design the site so that people can arrive at any point, know
where they are, then find where they want to go in as short
a time as possible.
Next month... Part
2 of ‘What’s in a good web page?’
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