Web Style Guide
The Yale University Center for Advanced Instructional Media offers internet users information on "fundamentals and fundamentally sound advice to help us think for ourselves and design for our users." While the 1st edition of the Web Style Guide was written to help design medically-related websites, the principles have been revamped in the Web Style Guide, 2nd Edition, and can be applied to improve any type of website. This edition of the online guide to site design was written by Patrick J. Lynch of Yale University and Sarah Horton of Dartmouth College.
The authors are very knowledgable in web design; just browsing through the site, I felt that the site was more organized than many other websites I have visited. The navigation bar on the side lets visitors skip to certain sections without scrolling all the way down the page for the link. Visitors are given a "consistent and predictable set of navigation buttons" that show the general organization of the site. The site demonstrates aspects of good web design by example; the user interface is simple and clear, and visitors can learn more about the design in the guide's chapter on interface design. The only drawback for me was the labeling of the navigation bar. At first, I didn't notice that it was actually a navigation bar because it wasn't titled, and because the chapters aren't labeled. The main section would display "Chapter 1: PROCESS," but the navigation bar of shows "PROCESS." The front matter and the back matter aren't included in the navigation bar either, so those who want to see the content would have to scroll to the bottom of the page.
In addition, while the website shows others how to effectively design a website, it didn't seem like the designers of the Web Style Guide took heed of their own advice. On thing I noticed was the dearth of graphics on the page. According to Lynch and Horton, "Without the visual impact of shape, color, and contrast, pages are graphically uninteresting and will not motivate the viewer." They have an entire chapter devoted to page design, so I thought it was ironic how the website was also a victim of graphically uninteresting design. When I first accessed the site, I quickly lost interest in looking around, and it became very tedious to explore the guide even further. I don't know if the designers purposely designed their website to have a neutral look--one that wasn't great or wasn't horrible--but it is evident that they do know what a good page looks like; they cite Williams-Sonoma as an example of a site that balances text and graphics in an effective manner.
The site contains valuable information and links to many great examples of web design; the only flaw I see is that it doesn't follow its own principles completely.
The authors are very knowledgable in web design; just browsing through the site, I felt that the site was more organized than many other websites I have visited. The navigation bar on the side lets visitors skip to certain sections without scrolling all the way down the page for the link. Visitors are given a "consistent and predictable set of navigation buttons" that show the general organization of the site. The site demonstrates aspects of good web design by example; the user interface is simple and clear, and visitors can learn more about the design in the guide's chapter on interface design. The only drawback for me was the labeling of the navigation bar. At first, I didn't notice that it was actually a navigation bar because it wasn't titled, and because the chapters aren't labeled. The main section would display "Chapter 1: PROCESS," but the navigation bar of shows "PROCESS." The front matter and the back matter aren't included in the navigation bar either, so those who want to see the content would have to scroll to the bottom of the page.
In addition, while the website shows others how to effectively design a website, it didn't seem like the designers of the Web Style Guide took heed of their own advice. On thing I noticed was the dearth of graphics on the page. According to Lynch and Horton, "Without the visual impact of shape, color, and contrast, pages are graphically uninteresting and will not motivate the viewer." They have an entire chapter devoted to page design, so I thought it was ironic how the website was also a victim of graphically uninteresting design. When I first accessed the site, I quickly lost interest in looking around, and it became very tedious to explore the guide even further. I don't know if the designers purposely designed their website to have a neutral look--one that wasn't great or wasn't horrible--but it is evident that they do know what a good page looks like; they cite Williams-Sonoma as an example of a site that balances text and graphics in an effective manner.
The site contains valuable information and links to many great examples of web design; the only flaw I see is that it doesn't follow its own principles completely.
posted by James Teng at
11:20 AM
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