Website Candy not just for Halloween

If it's not wrapped, don't eat it!

Remember the times when you went trick-a-treatin' and Mrs Jones next door would give you home made cookies and fudge? Then a couple of years later weirdo's would put sharp objects into the treats and all of a sudden mom said you can't eat it if it is not wrapped?!

That reminds me of our websites and how much it has evolved over the years. We've come a long way from home made sites to wrapped designer sites and yet there is always still room for improvement.

Over time, changes emerge in all kinds of industries, but in IT and especially the web, the change is phenomenal. The more people accessing the web the more everyday conventions are being established. And its these conventions that is biting designers in the "behooty".

Let us look at the normal conventions on a website and what users are expecting to see:-

1. A Logo - this should be left top corner
2. Navigation - this should be either top or left of the page
3. Help or Questions - this should be right top corner etc,

Ok I can just hear you designers going crazy with the thought of monotonousness and boredom, and though I believe in conventions I firmly support pushing the limits ALL THE TIME. There is a golden rule we've started to apply when trying to get out of the every day normal site design and we borrowed it from Michael Twidale when he said :"Break rules only if you're going to do something USEFUL with it, never break them just to show how good you are"

Bottom line - if its good for the website, good for business and its different then DO IT. If it is only good for your ego and to brag about when you have a designers-only meeting at the local starbucks, get it off your clients site now!

We've learned that users who browse the internet wants to move on autopilot. Have you ever watched a person read a newspaper? They don't read, they scan. We are all scanners from way back when we "scanned" the comics in the Sunday newspaper right through adulthood where we still scan everything that happened this week - we even scan the news on TV by just having TIVO! The same principle apply to your website. Users are notoriously impatient, they want all the info NOW, they don't want to look for it, read about it or follow endless lists of directions.

So speak the speak and talk the talk when you designed hat site. Get the basic ingredients right and then fill it up with all the bells and whistles you'd like to see on there. If the website is suppose to bring in money don't gamble with a fickle crowd. They won't complain ... Like in never. They simply won't come back.

So my designer friend, wrap your candy before you hand them out or you'd be out of business before you can swallow your first bite!