Good design checklist:
q Background
does not interrupt the text
q Text is big
enough to read, but not too big
q The hierarchy
of information is perfectly clear
q Columns of
text are narrower than in a book to make reading easier on the screen
q Navigation
buttons and bars are easy to understand and use
q Frames, if
used, are not obtrusive
q A large site
has an index or site map
q The navigation
bar or buttons give the visitor a clue as to where they are, what page of the
site they are currently on
q Link colors
coordinate with page colors
q Links are
underlined so they are instantly clear to the visitor
Graphics
q Buttons are
not big and dorky
q Every graphic has
an alt label
q Every graphic
link has a matching text link
q Graphics and
backgrounds use browser-safe colors
q Animated
graphics turn off by themselves
q Pages download
quickly
q First page and
home page fit into 640x460 space
q All other
pages have the most important stuff in 640x460
q Good use of
graphic elements to break up large areas of text
q Every web page
in the site looks like it belongs to the same site
Not-so-good design checklist:
q Gray default
background color
q Color combination
of text and background that make the text hard to read
q Busy,
distracting backgrounds that make the text hard to read
q Text crowding
against the left edge
q Text that
stretches all the way across the page
q Centered type
over flush left body copy
q Paragraphs of
type in all caps
q Paragraphs of
type in bold
q Paragraphs of
type in italic
q Paragraphs of
type in all caps, bold and italic all at once
q Underlined
text that is not a link
q Text that is
too small to read
q Default blue
links
q Blue link
borders around graphics
q Links that are
not clear about where they will take you to
q Links in body
copy that distract readers and lead them off to remote, useless pages
q Text links
that are not underlined so you don’t know they are links
q Dead links
(links that don’t work anymore)
q Large graphic
files that take forever to download
q Meaningless or
useless graphic files
q Thumbnail
images that are nearly as large as the full-sizes images they link to
q Graphics with
aliasing around the edges (jagged edges)
q Graphics with no
alt tables
q Missing
graphics, especially missing graphics with no alt labels
q Graphics that
don’t fit on the screen
q Borders turned
on in tables
q Tables used as
design elements, especially with extra large borders
q Anything that
blinks, especially text
q Multiple
things that blink
q Rainbow rules
q Rainbow rules
that blink or animate
q “Under
construction” signs, especially of little men working
q Animated
“under construction” signs
q Animated
pictures for e-mail
q Animations
that never stop
q Multiple
animation that never stop
q Counters on
pages
q Junky
advertising
q Having to
scroll sideways
q Too many
little pictures on the first page of awards that don’t mean anything
q Unclear
navigation; overly complex navigation
q Complicated frames,
too many frames, unnecessary scroll bars in frames
q Orphan pages
(no links back to where they came from, no identification)
q Useless page
titles that don’t explain what the page is about
q Frame scroll
bars in the middle of a web page
q Multiple frame
scroll bars in the middle of a web page
q Narrow frames
that make you scroll sideways
q Entry page or
home page that does not fit within standard browser window (640x460 pixels)
q No focal point
on the page
q Too many focal
points on a page
q Navigation
buttons as the only visual interest
q Cluttered, not
enough alignment
q Lack of
contract in color, text, hierarchy of info, etc.
q Pages that look OK in one browser, but not in another