Planning your web site
by Lenny Intonti lennyi@wholefamily.com

Whether you are a web design firm or a web site, you need to focus on 3 things when Designing a Site.

1) The Content
2) Enhancing rather than overwhelming
3) The Surfer

1) Design the site around the one thing that will keep people interested and coming back, the content. As I constantly remind my clients, Content is King. Think about what a web site really is. It is a collection of pages that hold information that some people (and if you are lucky, a lot of people) find
interesting. That information, if it is good, will not only keep people on the site longer, but will bring them back over and over.

Make sure that the information on the site provides something to the surfer: ie., benefits. Whether the site is for selling products or informational, the site content shouldn't simply be about "widgets", it should be why these specific "widgets" are so helpful, so useful. People basically want to know "How does this benefit me?".

For example, the statement: "Acme Widgets are the most advanced widgets on the market" does nothing for the reader/buyer. However, saying " We utilize breakthrough technologies like XXXX and YYYY make Acme Widgets the fastest widget on the market, therefore saving you time and money."

Elementary? Perhaps, but surprisingly enough, many companies forget that the technology behind a product is only as good as the benefit it produces for the user. If you think in terms of what feature makes this thing so good; what advantage does this product give to the user; and, what is the benefit of this
characteristic (read advantage) to the user. Features, Advantages, and Benefits.

2) The look of the site should always enhance the content rather than overwhelm it. If the graphics and colors are so bold that they overcome the words, you have lost the surfer. People may admire the look, and indeed really love it, but what are they focused on? Certainly not the content.

So what makes a good page? The logo is the major element of the site's identity. It should be the only visual element that stands out on the page. If background colors are used, they should be muted or subdued. There should be plenty of blank, "clean" space so that the eye is directed to the information and not confused by other images. Therefore, you are, in effect, focusing the surfer on the reason they are there in the first place, the content.

Basics, may be boring to the creators, but to the people they intend to reach, the basics work. Think of a magazine, any magazine. Then a few others. Is there a lot of difference between their look? Some things just work.

3) One of the biggest complaints that surfers have about web sites is that downloads take so long. If the site is overburdened with a "look" that competes with the content, chances are that the graphics are too heavy. Therefore, it actually impedes the transition from bytes to usable, palatable, information (it takes forever to download).

OK... often, what happens is that the web company, made up of people who want to impress their customers and who are indeed proud of what they have, look for every imaginable way to graphically enhance their site. The problem is just that though. Not only does it compete with the message, but, depending on
the type and amount of graphics it can leave the surfer twiddling his thumbs, and, get him fairly annoyed to boot.

If you are not convinced, think of that great invention, the voice messaging system. You call a number. You want to talk to someone. You get hit with a message that takes forever to listen to. You make a selection. You get put on terminal hold.

A good rule of thumb is to keep a page under 40k.

Surfers go to sites for specific reasons. When they get there they expect to get their information quick, and go to the next site, or get off line. Keeping these considerations in mind, the idea is to take the concept of the site from the web company and design the "look and feel" as a compliment to the content. Planning the site with the surfer in mind, will increase the effectiveness of the site and increase traffic.

Here are two articles you might want to read that will further emphasize what I have been talking about. Both Bob Weinstein and Jennifer Stewart do an excellent job of explaining the benefits and pitfalls of web design.