Archive for April, 2009

  • Apr
  • 30
  • 2009

Usability -Not Fine Art on the Highway

Posted by admin In Usability | No Comments »

I have spent 19 years as a fine artist exhibiting my paintings in galleries from California to North Carolina. It should come as no surprise that fine artists do not think like the public. I do have an analytical mind however, so it was by hard pressed analysis that I have come to agree with the following.

The Internet, if nowhere else has established beyond any doubt, that usability (ease of use) along with utility (a site’s practical value) are what determine a web designs success over its aesthetic appeal. Imagine if the road signs along your way to an unknown place where works of fine art with beautifully painted details and higher notions of several individual artist’s ideals.

  • Apr
  • 30
  • 2009

How to Create a User Interface Style Guide

I frequently peruse for tidbits of inspiration. There are so many more beautiful, competent site designs than there used to be.  Setting aside a nice design and well thought out code, there is a common thread to be found that ties all of them together. They are all new.

Along with site design that is lean and beautiful come a few frustrations, however. Many designers find that after publishing an elegant user interface, they return to their client’s site a few months later only to find it cluttered up with gaudy graphics and inappropriate colors.

One of the ways to keep this phenomenon under control is by providing good documentation.

  • Apr
  • 30
  • 2009

Some Priciples of Good Web Design

Posted by admin In Web Design | No Comments »

Once you have decided to create a website, it can be difficult to know where to start. How overwhelming it feels to consider all the aspects of site design! The User Interface, Usability, Accessibility, SEO, Social Marketing, who your web hosting company will be, blagh blagh—auuughgh!! Remember though that the best designs are the ones based on strong principles and simplicity. An “over-gagetized” approach that tries to offer everything to everyone will not only overwhelm you, it will overwhelm the people who arrive at your web site only to quickly exit. So take a deep breath and think – “reasonable”, “simple”, “principled”. Do not focus on the masses of people coming to your web site. Focus on the individual person, the visitor that you

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