What makes a great website?
- Written by: Adam Sleight
- Job Title: Graphic Designer
- From: SharpSushi
- Skill set: HTML, CSS, ActionScript, JavaScript
- Interest's: Drawing, Illustration, Animation
- Website: www.sharpsushi.com
Has purpose. It Communicates. It’s usable. It’s accessible. It’s responsive. It’s Navigable. Easy to acquire information from.
Sites that are nice to look at are all good and well but too often we make content for the design. It should be the other way around. “Content is the most important feature”.
Time and time again I see people revisiting sites that are terrible to look at (in my opinion) but it serves them the information they’re looking for quickly and easily. Spend hours making it look pretty won’t help if the prettiness stands in the way of progress.
If it can have both - well done!
So here’s a list of things I hear people in the industry say a website should have.
- Has purpose
- It Communicates
- It’s usable
- It’s accessible
- It’s responsive
- Easy to acquire information from
- Content is the most important feature
- Sound Programming ie. Clean Markup
- Well planned framework
- Easy to maintain and update
- Quality assurance tested
- Marketing Strategy
- Search Engine Optimised (SEO)
- Reliable ISP
- Optimised imagery
- Cross browser compliant
- Navigable
- Interactive
The list is extensive to say the least.
Now for a DESIGN check list.
Text
- Black on white is better for reading
- Large, legible font sizes
- Columns of text are narrow
- Hierarchy of text is clear
Navigation
- Clear and easy to understand
- Large sites should have sitemaps
- Consistent navigation throughout
Links
- Link styles are consistent
- Link colours coordinate with pages
- Links give users cues to action
Graphics
- All images are optimised for WEB
- All images have alt tags
- Graphics are not too busy so they detract from the content
- No flashing strobing gifs
General
- Pages are fast to download
- CONSISTENCY
- SPELL CHECK! all pages
- Users know Where they are! throughout the site
- Easy to read and understand
