GeorgeJenson.com: Most everything about George Jenson

Web Design

These are based largely on:
- 5 years experience as a web designer,
- 11 years experience doing print design for a fund raising company,
- careful study of The Non-Designer's Design Book, 2nd edition, by Robin Williams (an absolute must-read),
- and casual study of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design by Flanders and Willis and their site, www.webpagesthatsuck.com (their stuff is dated, especially about CSS, but much is timeless and spot-on).

Ultimate weaseling: I'm a much better software/database designer than I am a web designer, and I'm NOT a graphic designer. I do know what works, though. De gustibus non est disputandum.

With few exceptions, the Internet is about content, not form. Your site should embody that idea.
Most of this is a do's and don'ts list, and while it's not 100% authoritative, you should only step outside of these guidelines when you're real sure of yourself.
Sounds or music? Never, unless that is what you are selling or giving away.
Fonts and colors are like metaphors, a little goes a long way.
Consistency is generally a good thing. Repetition and treating the user like an idiot is bad. If you have your phone number on the header, there's typically no need to repeat it everywhere in your text.
Links should be obvious because of consistent color and rollover behavior.
PDF files are almost exculsively for material that needs to be printed. Keep your browsable stuff in HTML.
The words "click here", or anything to that effect should never be used near a link.
Your spelling, grammar, and punctuation say far more about you and whatever your site represents than anything to do with design.
Less is usually more: KISS - Keep It Simple Silly
Flashing, moving, or animated? More often than not, you should just say no.
1 idea / concept / product / issue per page. Do NOT try to put your whole site onto the home page
ALL CAPS IS THE INTERNET EQUIVALENT OF YELLING. IT IS RUDE AND HARD TO READ. Your eye and brain determine the meaning and content of a sentence by the shapes of the words as well as what they are. ALL CAPS PREVENTS THAT.
Anything on a black background? Again, just say no.
Body text on a severely textured background? No.
Flash animation? No. Too slow, more about form than content.
Fully graphical pages? No. Too slow, more about form than content, probably cost too much.
Automatic popups? Never.
All pages within the same site should have a consistent header, footer, menu, font, and color scheme.
Frames? No.
Links to pages within the same site should take you there in the same window. All other links can, and probably should, spawn a new window.
Centering text? Almost never. Read Robin Williams on design.
There's no such thing as a page that loads too fast.
There's no such thing as "not enough clutter."
Carefully look at the sites that you use regularly and find useful. Model them.

I'll probably add to this list over time. Last updated January 2004.