The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly West Virginia Association of Museums March 19, 2010

WEBSITE WISDOM • Develop your website for your visitors needs – not yours. • A man from Mars should be able to figure out what your website is about in less than four seconds. • Contrast, Use It. • Don’t let flashy design get in the way of your visitors.

WEBSITE WISDOM • Avoid the “car wreck on the information highway” syndrome. • Navigational dysfunction

Communicating through your WEBSITE • One of the most important responsibilities of your website is to communicate with its visitors. • Have a clear purpose of what messages should be evident to visitors. • Many factors affect your websites ability to communicate (or not) effectively.

Headers • Make an immediate impact. • What are you trying to communicate? • What’s the first thing your readers should understand about you? • Intrigue them and get them to read further.

Illustration • http://www.blogwhatdesign.com/ • Carousels • http://www.branded07.com/ • Huge • http://www.lewro.com/

Headlines • Should tell readers what they’ll find on the page if they continue. • Should draw readers further into the content or the site. • Compelling headlines impact reader’s choice to continue. • Give headlines the attention they deserve.

http://reviveafrica.com/index.php http://www.thomasedison.org/main.htm

Colors • Colors impact how a website looks. • Colors are capable of communicating subtle messages. • Create a strong contrast between a page’s background and its text. • Use colors consistently. • Avoid light colors for readability. • Keep white space for balance.

http://www.securitynewsportal.com/ http://www.destinationorganic.co.nz/ http://www.prickettsfort.org/

Text • Bulleted lists • Occasional use of bold to prevent skimming • Short sentence fragments • One idea per paragraph • Explanatory subheads • Use a default font

http://www.prlog.org/10064723-business-websites-too-wordy-too-long-and-take-up-too-much-time-says-cvide-com.htmlhttp://www.prlog.org/10064723-business-websites-too-wordy-too-long-and-take-up-too-much-time-says-cvide-com.html • http://www.infonetx.com/ • http://www.commongoodradio.org/

Navigation • Prominent element of design • Communicate to readers which pages are important and where you want them to go. • Consistent throughout the site • Common locations – where readers expect to find them • Use obvious section names – avoid being overly clever

http://www.wvangel.net/ • http://www.cortlandacres.org/ • http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly