 | I believe in a relatively
"minimalist" approach to Web design—that is, less is more.
All the fancy graphics and Flash presentations and JavaScripts and
whatnot is great and wonderful and fun to look at, but the content of
your site is what's important.
 | Give the site some graphics and color,
but focus on what the site is about.
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| I believe in sites that load
quickly. Sure, a lot of people have broadband access
nowadays, but a lot of people don't. Many Web designers work on such
high-speed Internet connections and don't consider how long their
ten-second page load will take on dial-up. Ten seconds might seem
reasonable on a T1 line, but an average user with a 56K dialup
connection is likely to wait a minute or so for the content to
arrive--maybe longer!
| People who wait too long don't keep waiting; they
leave your site and never come back.
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| I believe in appealing to
the lowest common denominator. A lot of people have
JavaScript disabled. A lot of people choose not to run plug-ins such as
Flash and Shockwave. Having content these plug-ins support is fine as an
option, but requiring people to have them is bad business. Saying "This
site requires Macromedia Flash" is akin to saying "This parking lot
requires Fords."
| Appeal to everyone.
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| I believe in designing for
all browsers. Yes, Internet Explorer is the number one
browser, but Netscape is still out there. My browser of choice is Opera,
and there are others. A site with "Best viewed with Internet Explorer
5.0" is again like limiting what kind of cars park in your lot. A site
should be designed to work in all browsers--and this isn't difficult.
Simply adhering to HTML standards and thus not using browser-specific
tags usually does the trick.
| Appeal to all browsers,
not just the one you use.
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| I believe in designing for
all visitors' wants and needs. Sure, you can't please all of
the people all of the time, but you certainly can try. Keep in mind that
people from all walks of life may visit you. Some turn off graphics due
to slow connections. Some are blind or visually impaired, and need
proper ALT tagging of graphics as well as text links to site content.
There's more to consider than how cool your animated logo looks.
| Think outside the proverbial
box--not everyone is like you. |
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| I believe in organization.
In general, I use a left side menu or a "strip menu" under
the logo at the top of every page, since most people look to those
places for menu options. Nobody really likes fourteen drop-down menus
with fancy sub-menus except the folks designing the site--remember,
they're supposed to design it so you and your visitors can find their
ways around, not so they can.
| "Cool and flashy" takes
a back seat to "ease of use."
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| I believe in options,
regardless of the above factors. There's nothing wrong with
Flash and JavaScript and other plug-ins to demonstrate nifty things, but
don't require them.
| Add the cool stuff without
alienating
anyone.
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| I believe in fair fees.
This is a problem in the Web design world (and the computer technical
services world in general). My fees are the same hourly rate regardless
of what I'm doing, and my fees are more than reasonable. I never bill
for my mistakes. I never bill for my learning curve. I never bill for
time I don't actually spend. And I work to keep the cost of a Web site a
reasonable expense that doesn't have you gnashing your teeth at the
feeling of being held at the mercy of an overpriced Web guy who has you
by the... well, the throat.
| Don't get ripped off!
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| I believe in teaching.
Some clients don't want anything to do with maintaining their site
beyond having me make changes. That's fine, but I advocate teaching
clients how to do basic maintenance so they don't have to pay me, or
anyone else, for small changes. When you need your Web designer to make
one price change and he does so, only to bill you $75 for an hour's
work--is that sensible? Is that fair? Of course it isn't. I'd rather
teach my clients how it all works and load sites locally on their
computers. I do most of my designs in Microsoft FrontPage, available to
most people, so it's easy to collaborate and make a site work for
anyone.
| After all, I could get
hit by a bus one day.
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| I believe in working with
you. Unlike a lot of designers, I don't take an idea and run
with it whether you like it or not. You're the most important
person in your business; I can only guess, so without your input, I
can't build a successful Web site. I'll ask questions and make
recommendations, but only you can steer me straight.
| This is all about teamwork. |
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