|| A. Creating a New Folder || B. Inserting and Managing Images || C. Basic Design Concepts ||

Web Design and Aesthetics

It's hard for everyone to agree on just what makes a good Web page. Some of us like a lot of white space; others like a busy page. Some of us prefer Verdana font; others prefer Times New Roman. Some of us think colored backgrounds almost never work; others work almost exclusively in color.

Much, obviously, is a matter of taste (such as frequent bullets and indented text).

As we begin to think about our own sense of what is appropriate and inappropriate, what works and what doesn't, it is much easier to look first at what clearly does not work, what clearly is bad, to look at those sites that simply just suck.

The idea is that from learning what is bad, we can move to our own sense of what is good.

So spend a little time with Vincent Flanders' Web Pages That Suck.

Also take a look at Jakob Nielsen's papers:

• Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design,
• Top Ten Mistakes Revisited,
• Writing for the Web,
• and How Users Read on the Web

YOU DON'T HAVE TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN DESIGN!

Certainly you are free to develop your own design values. But you don't have to!

You can work with templates already designed for you!

But as you work with and edit the templates, please:

• DO NOT add animated gifs (flashing lights, dancing dogs, twirling eyes, etc). This is one of the first signs of an amateur.
• DO NOT use fancy fonts or unusual color schemes. Once again, a clear sign of an amateur.
• REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE! The audience for your portfolio is not a GenX (or GenY) Web surfer. The audience for your portfolio consists of teachers and/or gatekeepers of various sorts (hiring managers, admissions officers, evaluation committees, etc.). You want an interesting, but mature and professional look.

Below is a small collection of sites devoted to Web design. You can take a look at them or not.

If you read only two links from this page, make them:

1. Top 20 Web Design Tips
2. How Users Read on the Web

The Design and Publishing Center. Excellent Resource with loads of information on Web Design.

• Top 20 Web Design Tips
• Visual Crimes
• The Practice of Simplicity

Diane Wilson's Rules of Thumb for Web Design