Webdesign

What do you need to design web pages?

Coffee, Music, Inspiration. Ideally, you need a spectacularly good computer, one configured to your weirdest specs, so it works with you not against you. Set strange colour schemes so that you your VB programs are colour-robust. Eschew any software that frustrates you and program your own. Web page software? Netscape composer, notepad, dreamweaver, fireworks. And WinAmp. I recommend much heavy metal( Jack off Jill )at night and Bach in the day. If you want more music, download iMesh, Napster's gone now. Inspiration should come from art and architecture, not from what you think is technically possible.

How do you design

Web design is obvious, right? Latest, greatest fancy technologies? Try again. Try simple, bold, easy to read. A web page design starts with a list of the people who will be using it, and of the information they will want. When someone arrives at your front page, you have 3 seconds to show them you are capable of supplying the information they need, and another 15-30 seconds to start providing the information. People will not take time to learn your navigation system. People will not scroll past the first screen. People will not search pictures looking for image maps. People will not even look at a cluttered page. The path to the next step should always be obvious, the user should never have more than 3-5 things to choose from, and large pages should only be used for actual information or articles.

Technologies

JavaScript is used to do things to the page after the user sees it. They move the mouse over something, your image changes to explain the feature to them. This works with DHMTL, which can place windows on top of your web page and move them around.

Images and imagemaps are indispensable on the web, but it is a novice's site which relies on them. If your navigation buttons haven't loaded when a user is waiting to navigate, that's a failure. Don't forget to use PNG rather than GIF if possible. Pop-up menus should work if they don't pop up. Imagemaps should have text buttons under them. Images used as links should display descriptive ALT text while they load. If you force banner ads to load first, people will go somewhere else. If you pop-up windows, people will not return.

To make a page interact, use PHP. PHP is an easy answer to perl and cgi. With PHP, you can have on-line forms, chat-rooms, message boards, surveys, petitions, shared calendars, shared story-writing (well done, Dave Page) search engines, dynamic content, email systems, databases, clubs. If you can imagine something, it can be done.

Avoid

You can always tell someone's first site, they are easy to spot. Sometimes, these things pop up on corporate pages if they're programmed by amateurs. Pop-up windows. Centred graphics. Text which doesn't fit the screen. Front-page hit counters. "Internet Explorer recommended" buttons. Background music. Rude text. Country-dependance. Drop-down boxes to select your US State. Banner ads. Layout that draws the eye off the screen. Flashing graphics. Splash screens. Under construction roadsigns. If your planned web site has none or more of the above, look back at that list of what your users need from the site. Go to sitecritique.net to look at good examples, and to let people review your site.

Feedback

Everyone and their dog has an "email me" link. People will not use it., I get 10,000 visitors a month, and only 20 people have ever used the email link. Why should they reveal an email address to someone they don't know? Put feedback forms where they can be easily used. Ask random questions, such that it takes someone less than a second to answer. If you're going to post a survey, people will answer if it's interesting and amusing. If you want more site criticism, post to Yahoo clubs webdesign, and prepare for a flaming. If they tell you something's crap, change it. Ask the first person you see to find some information on your site, and watch where they get stuck.

Conclusion

Spend all your time thinking, for nothing else matters. Design a site layout, then throw it away. This allows you to think about what you want, and find the problems between you and the solution. By the time you start coding the final design, everything will be ready. Don't look at a blank screen and expect inspiration. Wait until 3am for that inspiration. Play a computer game for 12 hours while your subconcious works on the problem. Then design the site in marker pen on the desk of a lecture theature. In such ways are sites designed, technical details are unimportant. HTML and CSS should never be the limitation, your technical skills need to be ready to create anything you can imagine, instantly, and your tools need to do the same.