A few weeks ago I received an email from a associate asking me to analyse one of the website he had developed. He is a scheme designer and his computer desired a nice captivating flash header. The flash brick was great. You cant miss it at all. Some nice graphics elements were flying in while sound effects created just the correct atmosphere. However, after starting to explore the website, the brick became very galling because every time you clicked on the website the brick restarted. What was pleasant initially became very galling very quickly, disturbing your immersion and making it difficult to read what was on the page.
He is not the first to create what I like to call "annoying website design". Many webmasters, especially new webmasters are totally in love with their ideas and tend to go overboard with their design in one way or another. Its nice to have an captivating header, but is it really necessary to attack the visitors mind with it? In my opinion, absolutely not!
Webmasters sometimes forget that their website design should beam a communication to the traveller that should reflect the website topic and not the programmers skill level.
Is Your Website Design Annoying?
Well. Its not that hard to be annoying. However, whatever webmasters are much better than others at galling their visitors. Check my top 5 itemize and decide for yourself whether you have been galling your visitors.
1. Background music Unless you are operating an online internet radio station or delude music CDs, why endeavor a midi/wav file in the background continuously on every page?
2. Huge font size If you are designing a website for people with a disability then you are doing the correct thing, but if not then you are shouting. People dont like it when someone shouts at them.
3. Small font size Do you poverty to be heard? Keep a normal tone, dont yell but "speak" in a reasonable volume.
4. Overlapping layers Layers can be very useful up to the point. But not when they are existence used to place an galling communication in the visitors face. Dont essay to obligate your traveller to read your messages. Try communicating instead of brute force.
5. Popup windows Even though popup windows are now blocked by many add on tools, webmasters keep using them. The galling part of popups is sometimes we actually miss important aggregation because of those anti popup tools. Haven't you heard the old phrase "if you cant beat him, tie him? Dont use pop up windows. Put your important messages in a central place on your website.
Most probable apiece one of us has our possess private top five lists. You probably have many more galling design cases in mind. Well, youre right, the itemize is much individual then that. I just desired to describe whatever of the highlights in order to alter this important subject your attention.
Some of you are probably reading those lines and smiling while whatever others have a feeling a deja-vu. Keep in your mind that as a webmaster the last abstract you poverty to do is place lots of try into your website and then find discover that your visitors hate it. It's not a concern of taste, it's more most existence the same polite person we all essay to be when we go to a party.
I tried to point discover a few things that might be useful to whatever scheme designers and webmasters. I dont undergo most you, but Im going to beam this article to my friend, hopefully hell beam it to his computer :)