Ding! Ding! Seconds
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There's an ongoing argument in web design about the merits
of rich content Vs site functionality. Graphically rich content
is more fun, and may hold the attention of your viewer, but
if they're viewing your site through a slow internet connection
then the large graphics files will slow it all down and they'll
be gone. So a balance needs to be found that must consider the
likely audience.
How much information we present is another balancing act. Be
specific when offering detailed information and be brief when
offering anything other. Put too many clicks in the path of
a visitor and they'll never get there; too few and there'll
be presented with so much information they'll get frustrated.
Finding your way around a site is fundamental to browsing pleasure
too, poorly designed navigation will quickly confuse. Icon driven
systems look great, but slow the process down for all but regular
visitors to the site. Icons need more interpretation before
they can be accurately used. Text based links, whilst less glamorous,
are unambiguous, they also change colour once visited and so
help a visitor identify which pages they haven't seen.
Putting it All Together
The www was originally designed for the distribution
of text based information, and now text sits alongside numerous
other forms of content and display methods. Consider the following
common features:
Graphics: Liven up any page
and help to get the message across. These files need to be prepared
in the correct way to get clean results, without being to bulky.
A few "K" here and there may not seem a lot, but when
there's 20 files on a page it makes a real difference to the
load time.
Movies: Great fun to view, but generally these are large
files and that can restrict their usefulness. Flash movies offer
excellent animation, without being too large in size, but their
use for many sites should be restricted. Sites are now being
built entirely with Flash, but can be painful to view over a
modem link. Streaming allows multimedia files to be played as
they're downloaded, but with modems the performance is easily
interrupted, plus there's a higher cost to hosting this type
of service.
Frames: Sites that display their content through a number
of separate areas on the screen are using frames. The ability
to display new content in any part of the screen can make life
easier for the viewer, but they also have properties which can
make page printing and navigation tricky; effectively you are
viewing several pages at once. Some search engines are still
wary of frames, so it's best not to use them, at least not on
your home page.
Site Search Engines: When the number of pages available
gets to a certain point the use of a site search facility will
greatly help your visitors. Plug this feature in without proper
planning though and requests for information will be returned
with repeated "no entries found"; and we know how
frustrating that can be!
Forms: These are a fairly simple method of getting information
from your visitors to you. Don't ask for information you don't
need or isn't relevant. Reassure people of how you intend to
use the information they're providing.
Newsletters: This is a great way to interact with your audience,
and to keep your site in their minds. Make sure you've got something
to say, and put links in the newsletter that will take visitors
right to the action on the site. If you say "monthly",
be sure that it is!
Digital Photography
We have many years experience in studio and site photography,
and have been working with digital camera's since the mid-nineties.
We can produce the clean, sharp, images required to illustrate
your site, or to produce a full online product catalogue. |
