Philosophy
Web standards |
Using the right tools
Understanding the user |
The importance of the content
To me, good website design means a lot more than a flashy looking blog or a nicely laid out template. This page is intended to identify some of the things which are really important to me in producing content and systems for web-publishing — things that are not necessarily skills based.
Web standards
As with any complex technology, there are many standards relating to web publishing. Many of these standards are at least partially ignored by the vast majority of websites. In fact many of the most successful and useful websites ever choose to ignore all or part of the recommendations for markup and style syntax usage. If they don't care why should anyone?
The recognised W3C standards include strict guidelines and recommendations on usage for markup (HTML, XHTML, XML etc.), style (CSS, XSLT) and dynamic programming (Javascript). There are many valid reasons for having pages that do not fully validate for some reason or another, however I think that designing with no regard for standards leads to confusion and contributes to the weakening of the web as a presentation technology. Much progress has been made in the last 5 years to improve standards compliance, both in terms of browser development and the large number of sites and open source software solutions that have championed W3C standards.
As a designer, I take pride in producing high quality websites that are compliant and accessible. I do of course recognise that not all real-world projects necessarily require strict adherence to standards especially if it there are budgetary considerations, however as a designer I will always push for the highest quality, most standards compliant solution that can be agreed upon.
Using the right tools
There are many technologies available to provide website functionality. An understanding of all of them is technically demanding which leads to many people favoring those they have most experience with. This can often lead to a technology being used that is not necessarily the most suitable for the task.
As a designer and developer for web, I strive to maintain at least a functional knowledge of the broadest range of technologies possible so that I can produce websites and applications using the most suitable tools for the task. Of course we all have areas of particular expertise, but I believe in doing the best job possible not necessarily the easiest.
Understanding the user
As with many technical systems, the bit that often gets forgotten in webdesign is the user. This usually starts with the client making assumptions that may not necessarily hold true. What they ask for may be what they think looks good or works well rather than what their intended audience will appreciate. It is easy to get caught up in the art of web design and miss the fact that your graphical design and layout is not (usually) an expression of your personality, but a tool to serve a particular purpose.
Recognising this can often lead to a much more productive web design experience. Understanding the user, what they like and how they might interact with a site or application is vitally important in producing something that is functional and provides a high-quality end-user experience.
The importance of the content
As a developer it can be easy to get hung up on technicalities. To deliver a brilliant Content Management System is great but the average client won't have fully considered the structure, language or message of their content. Leaving them to it may result in a beautiful, standards-compliant interface and a technically fantastic management system but the product the end-user sees may be unhelpful and unusable because of poor content.
I believe the content is always the reason for producing a website and is equally, if not more, important than the interface or back-end system design. I will always try to ensure the quality of the content is considered as a vital part of the design.
