My tips for web design

Yes...

Designing for the web and designing for print are two different mindsets. There are a lot of freelance web designers and design companies that think it is no different than graphic design.

First thing that came to my mind.

- r

Make sure your clients understand what a 'sign off' is.

Hah! Rag, you've been reading my posts.

1. Everything starts with well structured, semantic and valid (x)html markup, without regard to presentation or behavior.
   
2. The back end db is designed as needed, without regard to the end document.
   
3. The server-side script uses the back end data to output the (x)html as written in point 1. It is never the other way around.
   
4. The stylesheet is created. Hooks may be added to the html as needed. (Some restructuring of the html source order and content may be done.)
   
5. The javascript is developed.

And scattershooting while wondering what's the real story on 'Dandy' Don Meridith:

• Notice that the 'design' is virtually orthogonal until stage 4 is reached.
  
• The server-side scripting is for the purpose of delivering dynamic data in the already formatted content markup.
  
• If the page doesn't make sense in Lynx, it doesn't make sense.
  
• If the page does make sense in Lynx, you likely can't screw it up too badly.
  
• Pages designed around and to fit images are image-bound, and are bound to fail.
  
• No matter what you do, the user can overrule you.
  
• No matter how you think the page looks best, the user thinks otherwise, and can impose his will.
  
• Flash is probably a bad idea, unless you're a Flash artist displaying your wares.
  
• A splash page is a bad idea—always.
  
• One-half of first time visitors will bail for every ten seconds of download time. For at home users, 80% of whom depend on dial-up, that's a 50k page, including Flash, images, audio, &c.. I don't know the number for visitors who stay the first time but never return due to overblown pages.

And, I could probably keep thinking of things, but I'll stop.

cheers,

gary

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Hi thepineapplehead,
I look forward to reading the article.

Optimize images use background colours or borders instead of images where possible.

The Web is not paper! Repeat this until someone understands it.

Think about your audience and what you want them to do.

Remember not everyone who will visit your website will:
- have great eyesight
- be using a 1600 x 1200 top of the range monitor
- have their gamma turned up high to see into the dark corners of <pick your point and shoot game>
- be using a windowing based screen display
- have flash
- have javascript enabled
- will know that icon does something if it doesn't have some text next to it.
- read english

There is no right answer to the above, but each point should be considered. e.g. if your audience is young, male, technophiles your website should look and feel different from a website advertising winter cruise holidays.

Degrade gracefully.

And, think about your audience.

Build accessibility in from the beginning rather than trying to tack it on at the end.

Use the automated accessibility testers as a guide but don't rely on them - common sense is much more useful (well... usually).

I like em all, there's some excellent stuff in here, some things I hadn't thought of, for instance:

I like it

Thanks for these, I'll get some more notes down then get cracking

These would be my tips for web design too. Gosh that was easy (Well done Chris.)

Don't make me think.

(That's my answer to your question, not my general philosophy.)

Seriously, I don't want to have to figure out how to use your web page. Make it obvious.

I had a web page in the bookmarks on my old computer that I wish I still had. It was like playing Myst. You had to find the secret links to do anything. It was lovely and visually striking but it sucked.