written by Joe Lewis
Professional Web Designers are tough to find. They usually create visually
attractive pages that are easy to read, and provide an effective tool for the
person reading the document. So, how do they do it? If you ask a designer,
there are three basic components to professional design: Use-ability, Content,
and Asthetics. None of these components can really survive without the others.
Use-ability
This is a term from the computer industry jargon. It references
something's
ability to be used. When a document is not organized effectively, or the
terminology is not understandable by the targeted audience, it becomes un-usable.
Sure, there may be some good information in there, but it won't do anyone
any good unless it can be found and used. For this reason, good web design
requires that the designer perform a few tasks: Selecting the targeted audience,
Developing the content based on the targeted audience, and Developing a visually
appealing way to distribute or display that information.
Content
By far, it is the most important part of good web design. What good does an
effective design do if you have nothing to say in the design? Once you have
something to say, you must pick who you are going to say it to. This is your
audience. If your audience is supposed to be others who know much about your
specific content, you can adjust what you are saying to be specific and
reference more information. If your targeted audience is unfamiliar with what
you are trying to say, you may need to leave details out that can be considered
unneccesary to understanding the principles you are trying to convey.
Also, the content must be organized in such a manner that the person reading
your document can find the information they might be looking for. If a piece
of information is out of place, the audience may not be able to find it. This
is why organization is as essential as the actual content itself.
Asthetics
This is the hardest part. This is the real "designing" that Professional Web
Designers do. Most of the time, information is provided by someone else, and
the designers are provided with a format, or a visual image of how the document
is supposed to appear.
The visual images can range from a very realistic representation to a simple
style that can be applied to the document. The realistic representations are
styles that appear like a related sublect, almost in a photographic reproduction.
They are usually graphics intensive, and take time to download. These stylings
are not neccesarily bad, but should be avoided when you can, as download time
usually effects your audience's opinion of the site.
Still, the simple styles may not grab the attention of your audience in the manner
you need to get people to read your information. The best designers will use a
combination of simplicity, and graphics, to create an attention grabbing format
that will not require immense download times.
Building a web site is relatively simple, if you use the following steps:
Do it a couple of times, and you'll find that it's not too difficult. Play around
with a few different styles and get a feel for the different impressions. When
you get one you like, stick with it. You can add to it as time goes on to make it
even better, but remember that simplicity sometimes writes the rules on document
design.
