Design Tips (41 links)
More Specific Topics: User Interfaces (8), Site Conventions (2), Writing Styles (13), Bad Design (12), Reviews (14), Comprehensive Guidelines (7)
Overall advice and examples of usable designs.
Color Design for the Web
http://www.coolhomepages.com/cda/color/
Author:
Singh, Vaishali (1)
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June 28, 2001
KISS Your Visitors if You Want Them Back
http://www.clickz.com/article.php/841041
Fast and obvious are two ways to keep it simple.
Destination: ClickZ (31)
Author:
Eisenberg, Bryan (4)
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April 30, 2001
Visual Architecture: The Rule of Three
http://www.digital-web.com/features/feature_2001-4.shtml
Symbolic communication for short attention spans.
Destination: Digital Web Magazine (6)
Author:
Guevin, Carole (1)
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April 13, 2001
The Architecture of Online
http://www.ecomresourcecenter.com/ecom_connection/0315_2.html
Adding task-analysis design to have form and function be one.
March 15, 2001
Website posture & manner
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010215.html
Users should be gently directed, not interrogated.
Destination: theory (6)
Author:
Baker, Adam (6)
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February 15, 2001
The Role of Flow in Web Design
http://uiweb.com/issues/issue13.htm
Flow in site structure and tasks helps it go unnoticed.
Destination: uiweb (6)
Author:
Berkun, Scott (6)
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January 14, 2001
Invasion of the Usability Experts
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/02/redi/
Destination: Web Techniques (20)
Author:
Dougherty, Dale (1)
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January 12, 2001
10 Critical Design Factors of e-Loyalty
http://www.e-loyaltyresource.com/top10/design.html
You must first meet the basics of Web usability.
After you nail the critical basics, here are 10 ways to go from good to great:
- Your First Impression
- Make it Simple
- Design for MVC's
- Value and Trust
- Start & Continue Dialogue
- Build Community
- Deliver Entire Sales Cycle
- The Best Service
- Easy to Recommend
- Opportunity Cost to Defect
Topic:
Ecommerce (25)
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November 7, 2000
It's a matter of style - GUI versus the Web
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/w-berry2.html
Destination: IBM (9)
Author:
Berry, Dick (2)
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October 20, 2000
Who's REALLY Running Your Store?
http://www.grokdotcom.com/runningthestore.htm
Customers probably do not want the technology envelope pushed.
Destination: GROK dot com (10)
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June 15, 2000
DIS2000
http://www.sigchi.org/dis2000/
August 17-19, 2000, New York City, USA.
ACM SIGCHI's Designing Interactive Systems conference about "the process of designing interactive systems in the context of real design practice".
E-commerce sites were just one web-oriented type of system that may have been covered.
Topic:
(9)
Destination: ACM (14)
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April 9, 2000
Make Your Site a Better Information Delivery Tool
http://www.clickz.com/design/site_design/article.php/822901
Destination: ClickZ (31)
Author:
Kuegler, Tom (1)
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April 7, 2000
Latest Isn't Always Greatest
http://www.sdtimes.com/cols/webwatch_001.htm
Keep it mean, lean and clean
The goal of site navigation should be to help someone get there in a hurry.
Not supporting older browsers is a bad message to send to customers as well.
By David Strom, Webwatch column in Software Development Times.
Author:
Strom, David (1)
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March 14, 2000
Unsexy and Unstoppable
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/n ... 0_01_24_unsexy_unstoppable.htm
Simplicity is at the heart of the Internet.
About lessons to learn from AOL and serving customers.
Author:
McGovern, Gerry (3)
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January 28, 2000
The Web's Identity Crisis
http://www.goodexperience.com/columns/012100identity.html
On the conflict between being creative and usable (bland?).
Mark Hurst's article on Word.com's Yahoo-like redesign and apparent "confession" by its art director.
I am suspicious that it is all a big joke by Word.com, but it does raise issues about serving the customer first and not letting either the "art" or the "science" dominate.
It is a daily struggle for many between "usable" and "pretty". Here we have both extremes at once.
Of course, the true answer lies somewhere in between....
January 21, 2000
Liquid Web Design
http://www.digital-web.com/tutorials/tutorial_1999-10.shtml
Ice, Jell-o and Liquid design.
Destination: Digital Web Magazine (6)
Author:
Finck, Nick (3)
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November 1, 1999
In Praise Of Plain Web Sites
http://www.clickz.com/design/site_design/article.php/817401
Forget facelifts, make it functional.
Destination: ClickZ (31)
Author:
Fischler, Michael (1)
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October 12, 1999
Ten Good Deeds in Web Design
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991003.html
Alertbox of 10 do's to go with 30 of Nielsen's don'ts.
Destination: Alertbox (101)
Author:
Nielsen, Jakob (116)
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October 4, 1999
How to Avoid Foolish Consistency
http://uiweb.com/issues/issue05.htm
Choose usability over consistency.
Includes sections on consistency for the web and rules of thumb for consistency.
MSDN article by Scott Berkun, September/October 1999.
Destination: uiweb (6)
Author:
Berkun, Scott (6)
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September 26, 1999
David Siegel Interviewed
http://www.shorewalker.com/design/design100.html
"I am not trying to win any design awards for my clients any more."
About Siegel's change of heart, because consumers didn't like the beautiful sites.
By David Walker, part of his Lighthouse site. The page is not dated (shame, shame) but I believe the interview was conducted in October, 1998.
Topic:
Interviews (15)
Destination: Lighthouse (6)
Author:
Walker, David (4)
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August 14, 1999
The Sorry State of Web Design
http://www.asktog.com/columns/015WebDesignRant.html
Tog rant about ineffective browsers and poor page design to overcome them.
Destination: Ask Tog (12)
Author:
Tognazzini, Bruce (11)
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July 18, 1999
Site Design: Designing in Quality
http://www.philosophe.com/design/design.html
May 31, 1999
Maximum Security
http://www.asktog.com/columns/026Security.html
Destination: Ask Tog (12)
Author:
Tognazzini, Bruce (11)
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April 19, 1999
Art and the Zen of web sites
http://www.tlc-systems.com/webtips.htm
March 21, 1999
Differences Between Print Design and Web Design
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html
A great print design is likely to be a lousy web design.
The big canvas size and controlled layout makes print visually superior; Web interaction can be more engaging, if only designs would focus on the strength of the Web rather than its weaknesses.
January 24, 1999, Alertbox by Jakob Nielsen.
Destination: Alertbox (101)
Author:
Nielsen, Jakob (116)
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January 24, 1999
Seven Deadly Sins of Information Design
http://wp.netscape.com/computi ... /studio/feature19980729-1.html
List of things that may be easy to forget to do.
The 7 sins that are too important to ignore:
- Forgetting who your users are
- Not creating a flowchart
- Not organizing your content
- Not using consistent navigation
- Using unclear link colors
- Using the TITLE tag incorrectly
- Not looking ahead
Netcenter, Computing & Internet, Web Building, Studio article by Drue Miller.
Destination: Web Building Studio (4)
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August 17, 1998
A Visit with vivid studios: Information Design in Action
http://wp.netscape.com/computi ... /studio/feature19980729-3.html
Topic:
Interviews (15)
Destination: Web Building Studio (4)
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July 29, 1998
Ten Design-less Rules for Successful Web Design
http://www.enosis.com/resources/10drules.html
Ten tips that do not preach specific design rules.
Rather than tell you what is right or wrong, Nick Ragouzis provides 10 ways to help you figure it out for yourself:
- Professional interaction design
- Understand the economics
- Multi-disciplinary
- Design vs. engineering
- Educate producers
- Service and experience
- Contests
- Charge
- Push the technology
- Ignore other rules
Author:
Ragouzis, Nick (2)
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May 30, 1998
Misbegotten Rules of Web Design
http://www.enosis.com/resources/misbegot.html
About teaching design rather than writing rules.
Anti-guideline rant by Nick Ragouzis.
Author:
Ragouzis, Nick (2)
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May 29, 1998
Yet Another Style Guide, 1.1
http://www.kissfp.ch/styleguide/index.html
By Michael Vorburger.
Has sections on:
- General Considerations
- Language and Culture
- Structure
- Graphical Design
- Technical Aspects
- Controversial points
Author:
Vorburger, Michael (1)
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May 29, 1998
Web Page Design for Designers
http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdhome.htm
Aimed at people from print design and typography.
Some of the more interesting sections:
- Navigation - talks about buttons and making them clickable
- Limitations - designing for the interpreted page
- Razzamatazz - browser limitations
May 5, 1998
Designing a Business Web Site
http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/design.htm
Links to articles on general business website design.
Articles on all aspects of design, with a business slant. Good descriptions to help you decide which to read.
Wilson Internet Services brings us this section of the Web Marketing Info Center.
Topic:
Link Collections (21)
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May 5, 1998
Problems with Navigating in Web Applications
http://www.user.com/webapps/webapps.htm
Usability problems with applications, where users perform actions.
Users get confused when the navigation models of the Web and applications collide. Specifically, users have trouble with:
- Knowing where you are and where you are going
- Losing users and losing work
- Separating the browser & applications
- Lack of context
- Delays caused by network connections
By Hal Shubin & Margaret M. Meehan. Has downloadable version.
Topic:
Applets (6)
Authors:
Shubin, Hal (2);
Meehan, Margaret (1)
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October 21, 1997
Something 4 Nothing Web Pages
http://www.webdeveloper.com/html/html_something_4_nothing.html
Simple use of tables and background colors for readable sites.
Tips on how to make not-bad sites without all of the multimedia bells and whistles, so the content is still usable.
By Scott Clark, for Web Developer.
Author:
Clark, Scott (1)
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October 13, 1997
Timeless Principles of Design
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/1997/04/mok/
Four basic design principles.
Problem definition, target audience, information organization, and user interface and execution.
The user interface section includes 10 guidelines for developing a graphical user interface:
- Create an intuitive system
- interpret consistently
- use logical progression
- anticipate user error
- make the nature of functions apparent
- focus on content
- provide feedback
- distinguish between actions
- allow speed control
- design appropriately
Destination: Web Techniques (20)
Authors:
Mok, Clement (1);
Zauderer, Vic (1)
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October 1, 1997
Design Fundamentals
http://www.pantos.org/atw/basics.html
Index to ATW articles on basic design questions.
Article topics include: Clear and concise, document structure and design, WYSIWYG.
Destination: All Things Web (11)
Author:
Sullivan, Terry (12)
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September 16, 1997
The Difference Between Web Design and GUI Design
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9705a.html
Designers give up full control on the Web.
Device diversity, user control, and being a part of the whole Web are the main differences between Web and standard GUI design. Alertbox for May 1, 1997.
Destination: Alertbox (101)
Author:
Nielsen, Jakob (116)
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May 1, 1997
Simple Guide to HTML Web Page Design
http://www.simongrant.org/web/guide.html
Basic guidelines.
Make things easy to find, Make the important bits quick to show, Help people get back where they were, Let people get right out, Help people remember where they are, Help people follow their interest easily, How big should one page be?, Make pages easy to update, Can people copy your pages?, Be consistent.
By Simon Grant.
Author:
Grant, Simon (1)
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December 15, 1996
What Makes a Great Web Site?
http://webreference.com/greatsite.html
Rules of thumb on the essential characteristics of a great site.
Summary: unique, interactive content make it great. Other details pertaining to usability include use standarad HTML and be well organized.
Destination: WebReference.com (7)
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November 18, 1996
Characterization and Assessment of HTML Style Guides
http://www.sigchi.org/chi96/proceedings/intpost/Ratner/rj_txt.htm
Web guidelines compared with established HCI guidelines.
HTML style guides emphasized common look and feel, information display, and navigation issues. They do not cover application-type advice well.
One conclusion: development of HTML style guides has been less rigorous than others in HCI.
Topic:
Research (35)
Destination: CHI Proceedings (10)
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September 16, 1996
Web Design Tips - Useful Tips for Effective Web Design
http://www.smartwebby.com/web_site_design/webdesign_tips.asp
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