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Anyone who's had the *pleasure* of working with
me can tell you I'm passionate about a few things
Clean design - I can't stand clutter, it
drives me up the wall. I like clean, simple and
light pages. Graphics and photos should be used
sparingly to illustrate products, strengthen the
meaning of connected content and/or subtly 'enhancorate'
content. Graphics and their parent pages should
be light enough so that people on dial-up connections
can view pages without fear of browser overload
or outrageous download times.
Animation - Great for educational purposes;
to illustrate how the earth rotates on its axis,
for example, or to demonstrate the time-lapsed
progression of a turkey from infancy to the dinner
table. Banners with moderate animation can work
wonders to grab attention. I do not believe in
Flash intros for the sake of Flash intros. It's
downright mean to subject a visitor to your company
name flying across the screen for 30 seconds with
wild abandon. It's cruel, useless and I always
advise clients, coworkers and friends against
it.
Site Architecture - The purpose of ANY
web site is to disseminate information or sell
something, or in many cases, both. A visitor should
not have to search for information - they should
be able to find what they came for and more. It
is the designers' responsibility and DUTY to devise
an architectural plan for the user that is easy
to follow, to find and to understand. One should
not have to work to find navigation on a site.
They will leave.
Affectionately termed "Mystery
Meat" navigation by Vincent Flanders,
or buttons you have to dig for, is a big no-no.
It's very snobbish of web designers to assume
everyone knows those white dots with no text are
actually buttons leading to other parts of the
site. Here is a
good example of "Mystery Meat" navigation
on a wholesome slice of useless animation bread.
My goal is to make the web a cleaner place.
Some gush about the environment, some holler about
campaign finance reform - I concentrate my energies
on the web. I have other interests, too - but
who cares about those.
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