Week 5

I think that the rules on the other sites had many good points. Following their rules will make my website better. When making my individual website, the rules will be taken into account. The rules that I found are

1) simple is beautiful.  Cramming too much into each page creates confusion. Visitors get frustrated when they have to scan through rows of links and images to find what they are looking for

I really like this rule because it points out what is wrong with a lot of websites. Having to scan through rows to find a product makes a website cumbersome. Having a simple layout will ensure that visitors can buy they came for without getting lost in your website.

2) Design is important.

I believe having a good home page is important when designing a website. If your home page has pop ads generating on visitors computers they are unlikely to want to come back. Furthermore if your website looks like it will be a pain to navigate through than users are likely to switch to a different site.

3) Develop your website to support multiple browsers.

    In an era where not everyone uses the same browser, a website should be able to function on Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc. Not being able to function on multiple browsers could turn people off from visiting your site.

4) URL should be easy to remember.

This is one of the most important rules. If your website, has a hard to remember URL, people will have a harder time remembering it. In order to get the maximum value, make your URL short and easy to read when possible.

5) Website should be easy to look up.
   If your Website requires users to spend more than five minutes looking up they are likely to go elsewhere. Making your website accessible will allow more people to visit it. It will also help your website grow faster than it would have.

6) Don't have videos play automatically
 This is a feature that users hate. Automatic video play makes the screen slower and results in visitors becoming annoyed. You should allow people the option to play videos when they want to not when they have to.

7) Don't have music play when a visitor first enters.

   The average user doesn't want to hear your music right off the bat. If I want to sample your music, I will search for it myself. Having music play automatically will annoy most people.

8) Have good content
Don't forget the primary reason why people have visited your site. While design is important having something there is just as important. If the website has very little content most users will become fed up. You need a good reason for your audience to keep coming back.

9) Don't have flashy pop up ads.
    Advertisements may be important to keep your site going but how you display them is just as important. Displaying them in a way to clutter users screens will not give you the desired result. Make the advertisements flow.

10) Be consistent

Design your website so that each page is different but the flow of the website stays the same. Users should feel like they are visiting one site not three.














http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-23/the-10-commandments-of-web-designbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
http://web.clubrunner.ca/inner-lang-1-1.aspx?pageid=204

http://sharpened.com/web_design_rules