Web Design Tips

Top 5 things that make a good web site:

1. A good site should be clear, simple, and self-evident.
2. Use well-known and well-tested principles of graphic 2-D design and page layout.
3. Omit unnecessary words ruthlessly.
4. Don't repeat pages. This leads to disorganized sprawling sites that are difficult to maintain (see rule number 1).
5. Create a clear visual hierarchy. You should always know where you are within the site.

Navigation isn’t just a feature of a Web site; it IS the Web site so it had better be good.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/iris/tutorial/dpm/index.html (good example)

http://www.chipotle.com/ (what not to do)

http://www.librarypreservation.org/ (seems good at first, but if you actually go through the site there are large chunks of important information that are incredibly easy to overlook. The only way to tell what’s in the site is the site map, but nobody ever goes there.)

The niftiest part about good navigation is it gives us confidence in the people who own the site.