Successful sites
Useful, accurate and
timely content is the key to the successful web site. Content is the
commodity in which we deal, the product we provide, the very reason
for our service. Design has often been ignored, or at least
overlooked in favour of the content. Clearly the best sites combine
both content and design in a complementary manner- information is
more accessible through good design. But if no one knows about the
resource, the effort is wasted. The effective web site combines and
balances the three key features- design, content and promotion.
Building the web’s
biggest resources in your subject area is not synonymous with
building the web’s best resources. The content of the world wide
web is expanding at around 1-1.5 million pages per day. What your
users need is access to the relevant information for their
interests, preferably sorted, assessed, described by someone they
trust. Of course they also want to browse for the unexpected
materials- your web site will be just one of their information
sources: but it should be their favourite one.
Accessing the required
information on a web site should be easy and fast. Attractive and
effective navigational and information design should enable the user
to find the information they are after with the minimum of
backtracking or unnecessary browsing. Graphics should be optimized
for fast downloading, and the overall use of graphics should be
reflect an awareness of the users’ technology.