Web Design:
The Good, The Bad,
and The Truly Horrible -
How to succeed where many fail.
Matthew Carroll
The Basics of Web Design
The Internet is all about Information, and the World Wide
Web is a means of expressing that information.
• Content is Key.
• People need to be able to find information; Its easy for
the surfer to look elsewhere.
• Appearance establishes/ destroys credibility.
• Real estate is limited; if you use it, make it count!
• Design for the lowest common denominator.
More Good Design Tips
• Simplicity should be the goal of Web design.
• Design should facilitate the page’s content, not confuse
the viewer.
• Writing on the Web should be short and concise.
• Pay attention to the design basics:
Color, Font, & White Space
So How Should You Design?
• Start with the content!
• Think for the Web.
• K.I.S.S.
• Who’s looking? Why? Design for them.
Sites in Action
(For Better or Worse)
Dangerous Poor Better
Personal Homepages: Professional Sites that Professional Sites
Gone Wrong - lack critical elements - that work -
http://www.geocities.com/sassy_ Microsoft Apple
angel_kisses/index.html Google
Yahoo
http://www.jimjacobson.com/
Visive Adobe
http://www.homestead.com/20S Explosion Sapient
uRgE02/1one.html TKO Gear Net Effects
Clay Planet Designs Fitch
http://www.geocities.com/cutie_a Pergo
zn_timothy/Da_AzN_RaVeR.htm Derrsign
l
Last Semester:
J50 Sites to See
• http://www.unc.edu/~jhickman/
• http://www.unc.edu/~linm/
• http://www.unc.edu/~clord/
Getting Started
Sites to Look At:
• Adam Fuller’s Web Design 101 for J50
http://www.ibiblio.org/team/howto/web.design/
• UNC-CH Webstyle Guidelines
http://help.unc.edu/?id=642
• Becky Morphis’s Tips and Tricks for J50
http://www.unc.edu/courses/jomc050/design/design.htm
• Coming Soon! My website on design and usability…
http://www.ibiblio.org/mcarroll/gschool/jomc50/
Some Web Resources
Sites to Look At:
• Cool Homepages
http://www.coolhomepages.com/
• Webpages That Suck
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
• Really Bad Websites
http://www.reallybadwebsites.com/archive.htm
• BunnyFoot Design
http://www.bunnyfoot.com/freestuff/articles/general/branding.html
Some Web Resources
Books to Look Into:
• Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed
http://www.useit.com/homepageusability/
• Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity
http://www.useit.com/jakob/webusability/
• Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency
http://www.useit.com/jakob/constbook.html