Ideas
The screen you see before you is a miracle.
It's the result of decades of human development and design. The web is still a new medium, but we are learning how to make it work better for the people that use it.
There's more to building a website than meets the eye. It's not about learning a piece of software or writing "pages", but it is about psychology, ergonomics, market research, inspiration, creativity, making the best use of technology.
It doesn't have to be difficult, complex or costly, and it can even be fun.
GeeseAndCheese.com:
an online resource of pictures of geese with cheese, providing users with access to pictures of geese and cheese whenever they need them.
You don't need a website.
Well, maybe you do. Or maybe you just need to think about your purpose.
Often, managers think they want a website to promote their pet project. Nobody is really very interested in it, but they still need a website all the same. And a message board, and a blog. There's no real user need to discuss the project, and the manager doesn't actually have the time to write a blog.
So many times I have seen blogs or online forums being launched, only to watch them lie dormant for years and finally shrivel up and die. Such a waste of effort.
If there isn't a user need for it, don't build it.
If you're not going to update it, don't build it.
Let's build the websites that users really want, and do a brilliant job.
Link: More bad ideas
Usability=beauty
In the 1960s, the early attempts at designing a system for crossing roads failed. It seems amazing to us today that something so simple as a pelican crossing took a lot of thought and effort to get right.
This is the outcome of that work: simple instructions, a single push-button and a little “WAIT” sign that lights up – a call to action, affordance and forgiveness. There is a beauty in this simplicity.
Imagine if pelicans were designed the way some websites are designed? Maybe it would display a lengthy mission statement from the Ministry of Transport. Pedestrians would have to get an instruction manual, and remember to switch the green man off when they got to the other side of the road.
Websites should be as simple as a pelican - and that needn’t mean an enormous bill.
The joy of prototypes
“Rough layouts sell better than polished ones”
Paul Arden
Prototypes are an aid to the imagination. They can help us to visualise our plans and work out what we want – and more importantly, what we don’t want.
Before making a website, there are so many ways to test out ideas. We can do it with a wireframe – simple lines and boxes to work out a screen layout and where we put the navigation, buttons, images, etc.
Then there’s the JPEG mockup – a simulation of the visual design, so we can get a feel for the aesthetics without worrying about the details.
Prototypes help us because we just look at one part of our vision for the project and critique it. That way, we can see clearly.
The task-driven website
All talk.
Action.
Imagine if Amazon filled its site with lengthy blurb about their corporate strategy and took off all the “buy now” buttons. They’d go under in a week.
Take a leap of the imagination. Stop thinking of your website as a collection of pages. Stop using the word “page”.
Think of your site as a piece of software. Users come to your site to carry out a task and get what they want.
At the start of a web project, I like to interview a sample of users. I find out what their goals are and draw up a list of the Top Five Tasks, and then place these tasks prominently on the home page with calls to action.
Find an Authoriser. Learn to sing. Buy now.
A web page filled with text. Don't.
Only one task here. Good.
Brochureware
Some websites are little more than an electronic corporate brochure. They do the same job as a glossy printed version.
This is not always a bad thing. Sometimes all a client needs is to say "here we are" and put forward a nice image. It can be effective marketing in some industries. But if you're selling something, it's not enough.
Often, when website managers are presented with a page, they feel the urge to fill it with words. Lots of them. A mission statement, Who We Are and What We Do, org charts and a flattering photo of the manager. It is a tragic misunderstanding of the web medium.
Turn your ideas around 180° – your site should be about Who My Users Are and What They Want. Help them to get it.