Throughout the web today we are bombarded with a huge selection of layouts, styles and examples on which to base and influence our designs.
Web design has over the years become much easier to establish for the everyday web user. With the introduction of out-of-the-box website packages, online site wizards and blogging; you no longer need extensive HTML knowledge to get yourself a spot on the web.
Alongside these recent changes, we have also seen the rise of the ‘social networking’ revolution. Sites like MySpace which allow users to message friends, upload photos and create an online profile for themselves, have almost ruled out the need for a web designer in some circumstances.
But as great at the ‘do-it-yourself’ web design revolution may seem; the truth of it is that we’re seeing an explosion of poorly produced web pages popping up right across the web. Improperly scaled images, excessive pixilation and dyer background colours are just a handful of flaws that I was able to pick out in only a handful of MySpace profiles alone.
The ‘out-of-the-box’ website packages on the other hand tend to provide a much more presentable solution - whilst you really do get what you pay for. These off the shelf solutions include a web address with a selection of templates for you to choose from, and include tailored options for fonts, backgrounds, menus and so on.
Still, through all of these budget solutions; you can’t in my opinion beat a professional – made to measure web site. From the examples I found you can really see the quality in a custom made page -with the final outcome exceeding that of any 3 step site wizard.
When choosing a solution for a site I think you need to weight up the price your willing to pay against the quality required for the job. The extra money spent will prove to be worth it’s while when the site ends up shining in comparison to something that just looks like the rest of the web.
In my opinion, some of the vital elements to a successful website include the appropriate selection of web graphics and images, desirable Flash/Multimedia integration, a subtle colour scheme and font group, all rounded off with a well thought out layout structure.
Web design has over the years become much easier to establish for the everyday web user. With the introduction of out-of-the-box website packages, online site wizards and blogging; you no longer need extensive HTML knowledge to get yourself a spot on the web.
Alongside these recent changes, we have also seen the rise of the ‘social networking’ revolution. Sites like MySpace which allow users to message friends, upload photos and create an online profile for themselves, have almost ruled out the need for a web designer in some circumstances.
But as great at the ‘do-it-yourself’ web design revolution may seem; the truth of it is that we’re seeing an explosion of poorly produced web pages popping up right across the web. Improperly scaled images, excessive pixilation and dyer background colours are just a handful of flaws that I was able to pick out in only a handful of MySpace profiles alone.
The ‘out-of-the-box’ website packages on the other hand tend to provide a much more presentable solution - whilst you really do get what you pay for. These off the shelf solutions include a web address with a selection of templates for you to choose from, and include tailored options for fonts, backgrounds, menus and so on.
Still, through all of these budget solutions; you can’t in my opinion beat a professional – made to measure web site. From the examples I found you can really see the quality in a custom made page -with the final outcome exceeding that of any 3 step site wizard.
When choosing a solution for a site I think you need to weight up the price your willing to pay against the quality required for the job. The extra money spent will prove to be worth it’s while when the site ends up shining in comparison to something that just looks like the rest of the web.
In my opinion, some of the vital elements to a successful website include the appropriate selection of web graphics and images, desirable Flash/Multimedia integration, a subtle colour scheme and font group, all rounded off with a well thought out layout structure.
Both of my examples of ‘good website design’ demonstrate these factors throughout and when compared to that of the bad website designs; you can easily see where the designers go right and wrong.
Poor website design is clear to see as it looks busy, unorganised and is just simply not desirable to look at. Excessive use of frames, poor navigation systems, busy backgrounds, inappropriate colours, distracting animations, annoying music, fake error messages, incorrect spellings, overuse of bold fonts, excessive advertising and dead links are just a few everyday examples of poor web development.
Websites are supposed to flow, and this is clearly not the case for many poor site examples out there on the web. Just like MySpace; Tripod is also a heavy contributor towards the mass of low quality web examples. Being one of the first online ‘do-it-yourself’ web design portals; they set out allowing users to ‘get to grips’ with the basics of HTML and upload their finished site to a designated web space. Much like that of MySpace – the results leave little to be desired off.
To achieve a high quality MySpace profile, extensive CSS knowledge is required to override the standard settings and to create a profile to be proud of. It can though be done, just by looking at the example I found for the Global Gathering MySpace.
By appropriately positioning the pages tables, fonts and images; a high quality output is readily achievable. Unlike many MySpace profiles, the text in my example is easily readable on all areas of the page and matches in with the overall feel of the profile itself.
Additional modifications have also been undertaken varying from the customised navigation buttons, rights through to the fonts and table borders. Details like this make the profile much more appealing, and raise the level of quality closer a professional web design standard.
I think to be able to achieve a professional output, many factors must be taken into consideration and we must learn from the mistakes in these examples. This will then aid us in creating effective, appealing web designs – first time round.
