Hey guys, I've published a list of things I consider a web designer / web developer should take into consideration while building a site. I'd like you to check it out and give me a review about it Here's the link: http://rauru.com/2008/03/10-donts-for-web-designers/ 10 Don'ts for Web Designers Thanks in advance!
1. Do you still run across sites that disable the right click...? It was more so you couldn't click on their images and steal them, but it was still annoying as hell! 2. No flash is not cool! It is rarely used in a appropriate way (not to say there aren't a few good uses of it out there). I agree though, completely pointless for anyone who wants to be taken seriously by search engines. 3. This is just stupid, your site deserves to fail if you design around one browser or os... it really isn't that hard to get it to look good in most browsers. However, if you are going to design around one browser, please don't add code so when someone comes in with a unsupported browser, they get the message to switch to a different one... seriously, just don't do it. 4. Ha I like the analogy (metaphor, whatever the hell it is). Using things like AJAX should be used sparingly, I see it overused for such simple things, and it only slows things down. 5. Splash pages should be number one. There is no reason to have one, period. 6. I don't know about going as far as javascript, but yes definitely don't depend on flash or shockwave (especially shockwave...). 7. There are times when dark backgrounds can fit in, but ya most of the time you should just stick to white or another light color. 8. Even with today's high speed internet, there are pages out there that still use way to many, and it still slows you down on high speed internet. Sad thing is a lot could be completed with CSS effects and repeats. 9. Couldn't agree more. It doesn't get people excited, nor do they care. Another thing that goes along with this, if you already have a website, don't erase everything and start over on your server just so you can edit the files directly on it... it's pointless, there was already a site there, and you just destroyed it so you can test it, which you actually had the ability to do without uploading it right to your server. Just make sure it is done on your computer and uploaded when done. 10. I would say max is 3 unless you really have a purpose to use all those fonts, 4 or more is just overkill. Good article, I agree with most of what you wrote. I would really like to add number 11 though. Don't go overboard on the ads. These past few weeks I have been reviewing peoples designs that have just gone overboard on the advertisements, and it almost makes the site unusable.
Yes, recently I've seen a couple of sites using this. I adviced the webmasters to remove it for the reasons I mentioned on my blog. I partially disagree with you here. Flash is great when correctly used. On the other side, there are not too many of them. This is, by far, the biggest mistake ever. I've heard a couple of web developers saying "I don't care how it looks on IE. Nobody should use it anyway. Get Firefox". While I agree with most people when they say that IE sucks, it's also a fact that many, many people around the world are using it so we must not ignore them. You got my point I have seen this kind of stuff on Flash sites most of the time. Why do they use this? :S About javascript: take JQuery for example. You add some nice effects of your menus and stuff like that. What would happen if the visitor has disabled javascript? You don't wanna know. I agree with you here. Still, I had to mention it since some people seem to like black a lot. Someday everyone will be on high speed Internet... but until them let's make it easy for them. You got my point here too Well I normally don't use more than 3 typefaces on my sites. Having 4 is like "ok, that's enough mate" [/QUOTE] If you don't mind I'll add this one to my list giving all the credits to you Thanks for your comments!
I agree with those.. "11. don't use bright and clashing colours" ? Bright green and bright red, works well on a strawberry but not here. There are quite a few, makes me feel sick personally^_^
@matthewbeckman: Thanks for your comment and digg!! I edited my post to show your tip and credited you for it @myriakitty: I agree with you: bright colors are retina-killers! If you don't mind I'll add your tip on the list too! Thanks!
In reply to 1.) ... you should mention that people can just view the page source and get the image from there. So its pointless to disable right click.
ok, i am not going to copy/ paste a url to see what it happens to say after midnight but going on the assumptions.... 1) Disable right click was so 90s however we have seen an increasing number of people asking for it again... guess it will be one of those things that are simply cyclical 2) Flash has its time and its place... it is somewhat ironic, as since "finding" adblock flash has become more annoying than it used to be, because the adblock tab will often block access to a button or link. That ultimately is not the fault of flash however adblock is a saint and so in comparison many will blame the wrong element. 3) I have to say i am confused over comments about cross browser compatibility.... ok, we are programmers at heart not designers however whilst IE and FF may look slight different we have never had a problem getting a single site to look 99% the same in both and the variances make no material difference 4) Cannot guess the post from the comments however, comments about sites load speed.... unless your code is stupidly bloated, which most isnt (even if you have used Frontpage), the majority of delay is caused by using budget hosting or terrible coding (as per the recent post about speeding up a page than made 100 SQL connections per page request) and not simply because you use javascript 5) It is somewhat an argument of semantics as splash, landing and homepage are not really well defined in terminology. We recently had a somewhat heated debate with a design agency with a blue chip company's design agency we were contracted to work with on a site redevelopment over this sort of thing and ultimately we were talking at cross purposes. It is actually a very strange situation that web design/ development is so poorly defined in terminology. 6) Actually you do want to know what happens if javascript is disabled as otherwise your ability to claim adherence to the disability discrimination act (and equiv) is very limited. With all things however there has to be a pragmatic/ commercial decision.... is it better something looks great for 98% of people or that it looks ok to 100%? If you are selling a tool for the nearly blind the ability to ensure compliance for those users is going to be much higher than if you are a car/ motor insurer where ultimately your customers cannot be of terrible site otherwise they cannot buy your product anyway 7) White is corporate, dark is rebellion/ different/ arty, choose what fits your identity. 8) One day we may be all on 1024mb broadband but people will still be drawn to the $1 a year hosting where the server is shared between 10,000 sites. Whilst some sites are bloated the majority of the sites are slow because of bottle necks in the route from server to pc and not actually because of the size of their site... put the same site on a better server and people say how fast it is. 9 - 10) too cryptic to guess the post and I still refuse to follow a link to see the meaning of a post 11) Ads have their place.... some are ultimately very good where they add value... Pricerunner/ Froogle are nothing but 99% ads and yet both sites are very useful however at the same time what is becoming increasingly annoying is directory websites when you search for a small company and all you can find is 10 pages of directory sites that have evidently scraped off a common source as they hold incorrect or incomplete details for the company but are ranking higher than the companies own site for their name. Arguably it is a credit to their SEO -v- a shame on the companies own developers but they dont get the clicks and simply cost the end business my custom. I have to wonder about ads, MLM, web scams etc.... do the single page "sites"/ sales letter pages actually work for anyone at all? Their popularity suggest they must but it takes the best part of 3 seconds to see that it is the typical "american scam" site (equally identifiable as the nigerian scam emails of someone is terminally ill and needs you to take receipt of $1,000,000,000 to help) and yet many ask for such sites? Are these people that actually are 95% fooled by the sites? not enough to pay out the $100 for the secrets of their success but enough to pay for the identical site to be developed as they believe the person is making $5,000 a day from their "business"
ok while i agree with most of what was said in that blog, i must strongly disagree with the one comment about not using black backgrounds. i work in law enforcement as my full time job, and hosting business as a "hobby" if you will. i sit in a basement, two stories underground, in a dark, cold room surrounded by 7 computer monitors all day/night. nothing drives me more insane than opening a web page, after looking at our software at work all night (which is not white background, to save our eyes the strain), to be blinded by a WHITE BACKGROUND!! nothing makes my eyes scream in pain than this. i feel, and im sure theres bunch of geeks out there that have done tests to show, that dark or semi dark backgrounds are much easier on the users eyes, as long as your not mixing a crap ton of colors. mine is pretty simple, black background, with white main text and highlights to important text. for example, as i look at this site now, my eyes are screaming in pain because its so bright. toned down, or a subdued white would be great. having dark backgrounds isnt always such a terrible idea, especially when your trying to save the user a massive headache.
I've been through that too. I know what you mean What I tried to say in my post is that text with black (or any dark colour) background makes it harder to read sometimes. Take my blog for example: it's background is black but then my posts has a white background. I believe it's important to give some balance to your colours so you won't be sued for making people blind xD