6 replies to this topic

[zoranh]

I'd say that answer to this question can be split into two major categories. First regards to visitors who seek design. Second regards visitors who seek information.

In the first case, they would note a website containing articles as boring and non-innovative.

In the second case, they would note a website with commercials, flashing images, dropdown menus and other stuff as something that distracts their attention from textual content.

So in my opinion you should decide who is the target for the website and to act accordingly. Personally, I'm creating sites for the second category - for people who have particular requirements and they're searching for solutions, ideas, etc. They don't need graphics, they need text with only those images that have purpose within the text, rather than having purpose of making beauty.

I don't feel an expert for the first category, but here is one thing that I'm aware of. All graphics and active content (like PHP or ASP with database behind) create delay in having a webpage rendered in the browser. If time between click on the link and having page fully rendered is longer than very short period of time (like 1 second), user feels that as waiting. For that reason, plain HTML with minimum of graphics and minimum of client-side scripts is best solution where applicable. Even if that means that you have to write content in some tool and then to dump it into HTML, rather than scripting it. That would significantly reduce response time of your website, and create more pleasant feeling for the visitors. That would also significantly increase hit rate from web indexes like Google, because indexing is more efficient and correct with static content.

[WingedPanther73]

It's important to realize, however, that great design without useful/meaningful/relevant content is still a recipe for failure.

[Alexander]

His thread was copied off 12 other forums, I am not sure what the OP's intentions are.

[DEViANT]

His intentions are mass confusion. Well done OP!

[WingedPanther73]

Flash, if not used for a specific purpose, has significant load times that annoy many users if they just wanted basic information. It is not searchable by search engines, so you do NOT want your main content in the flash, or you will lose traffic.

[An Alien]

It depends, do you like looking at ugly things? I usually like sites that are visually better. But the information/usefullness are completely different factors which are also important. If you want to be a web designer, then it's def good to learn good design techniques. But you should know a little bit of everything, design, basic SEO, etc. and the purpose of the site you're trying to create. If you want a business site, then the design is different from a gaming site. You should always make goals for what you want to design for example, what type of audience am I targeting, if it's for old ppl who like to use outdated/IE browsers, then you might want to design it for IE 5,6,7. There's a lot of different things you have to think about before creating a site.