| Color |
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Limit
the use of color: three or four colors should work fine;
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Beware
of yellow as text: many monitors and resolutions don't show it well;
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Use color consistently: blue indicates a link, red says "Stop!"
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GIF:
Use for large blocks of color, essentially anything that is not
a photograph;
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JPG:
Use for continuous tone images, essentially photographs;
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Size
images to the required dimensions within your graphics package.
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Do
not use patterned backgrounds; they almost always make it difficult
to read the text;
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Beware
the use of colored backgrounds. The human eye is most comfortable
seeing black on white, then color on white, then white on color.
Also consider your purpose: a black background conveys a much different
message than white.
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| Fonts |
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- Limit
the total number of fonts; two or three should be more than enough;
- Specify
a list of font choices, down to the most generic: face="verdana,
helvetica, sans-serif";
- As opposed
to print, the web is moving toward sans-serif fonts for text and serif
fonts for headers;
- Do
not center large blocks of text. It is difficult to read.
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| Size |
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- 50-60K
is the upper limit for an entire page, including graphics;
- Make
sure your most important information comes at the top of the page;
- Try
to limit the need for scrolling, particularly horizontally.
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- Side-by-side
comparisons (for example an original poem and a later annotated version);
- A static,
non-scrollable menu item that should always be on any given page.
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| Content |
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- Before
you ever touch HTML, lay out your content and flow chart how the pages
should work;
- Use
more, but shorter pages, connected logically. Writing for the web
should be roughly 50% shorter than writing for print;
- The
web is not print; do not simply translate long hard-copy documents
into HTML. Break up the document and use some sort of "next page"
"previous page" guides to move users through the pages;
- Use
explicit titles and headers on all pages. You never know where visitors
will enter a site;
- Proofread
and spell check every page.
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| Navigation |
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- Avoid
long lists of links. You lose users after about seven. Consider grouping
similar links and making each group visually distinct from each other;
- Consider
including some form of a table of contents to help guide visitors;
- Consider
including some form of a site map that allows visitors to visually
see the layout of your site;
- Design
pages for as little scrolling as possible.
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