Son of Web Pages That Suck : Learning Good Design by Looking at Bad Design

by Flanders, Vincent; Peters, Dean

• ISBN13: 9780782140200
• ISBN10: 0782140203
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Summary

Web usability expert Vincent Flanders is back with an irreverent new look at the Web's worst. If you design Web sites or hire people who do, you need to hear Flanders take on the many mistakes that undermine some of the best-known sites on the Web. Flanders skewers sucky pages from Britney Spears, Microsoft, Century 21, Jesse Ventura, and tons of others, all so that you can be sure you don't make the same mistakes they did. You'll learn crucial techniques for developing content that keeps people coming back, optimizing your graphics, choosing effective text colors and matching backgrounds, and plenty more. Whether you're designing a site for your digital photos or are in charge of your Fortune 500 company's Web presence, Flanders' scathing commentary will have you laughing while his insights have you learning how to create a truly effective site for your audience. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Vincent Flanders is a leading authority on usability and Web design who created the award-winning Web site WebPagesThatSuck.com and coauthored the best-selling design book Web Pages That Suck. Vincent consults on the topics of Web design and usability for a variety of clients, including some in the Fortune 500, and he gives non-boring speeches on design and usability throughout North America.

Table of Contents

These Pages Suck. Why?	1	(22)
The Whys of Suckage	2	(4)
Your Boss Is an Idiot and Related Problems	3	(2)
Corporate Politics Can Get in the Way	5	(1)
Sales and Marketing Can Get in the Way	5	(1)
What Is a Good-Looking and Effective Web Site?	6	(17)
Web Design Is Like Haiku Poetry	12	(2)
Limitations	14	(1)
The Number-One Technique for Making Your Web Site Usable	15	(8)
Judging Web Sites and Dog Shows	23	(14)
How to Judge a Web Site	24	(7)
Types of Sites	26	(5)
Jakob Nielsen vs. the Artists	31	(6)
The Rules Sorta	37	(18)
Rule 1: We're Not in Bakersfield Any More	38	(6)
Rule 2: I Don't Care About Your Problems, Solve My Problems Now!	44	(4)
``No, I Don't Care About Visitors to My Site''	45	(3)
Rule 3: Follow the Leader	48	(1)
Rule 4: Know Your Audience and Design for Their Expectations	49	(6)
People Don't Want Surprises	49	(6)
Design Issues Even Martians Should Know	55	(30)
Big Picture Issue #1---Web Design Isn't Sex	56	(1)
Big Picture Issue #2---Designing Under the Influence (DUI)	57	(7)
Too Close for Comfort?	58	(1)
Design Level Over 80 percent	59	(5)
Big Picture Issue #3---Music Files, the Law, and You	64	(2)
Contracts	66	(1)
Big Picture Issue #4---Technical Concerns	66	(19)
Upgrade Your Browser or We'll Shoot This Monitor	67	(10)
How Do I Check My Site?	77	(1)
Internet Connection Speed---If the Bits Don't Flow, People Will Go	78	(7)
Content Is King	85	(24)
Content Is King---and Queen and Prince	86	(1)
What's on Your Site That I Need to See?	86	(1)
Heroin Content Is the Best Content	87	(4)
It's More Than C21H23N05	87	(1)
Smack Me with Interactivity	88	(3)
Don't Get Conned by Content	91	(18)
TMI	93	(1)
The Content Doesn't Match Your Audience's Expectations	94	(4)
Inappropriate Content	98	(3)
The Changing Nature of Good Taste	101	(2)
Is the Content Typographically Correct?	103	(6)
Splish, Splash Pages	109	(22)
Splash Pages Get in the Way	110	(14)
FlashSplash Pages	117	(3)
Two Splash Pages	120	(3)
Search Engines and Splash Pages	123	(1)
Good Splash Pages	124	(2)
Not Everyone Agrees	126	(1)
The Splash Page Hall of Shame	127	(4)
Home Sweet Home Page	131	(22)
Your Home Page Is Just a Billboard on the Information Superhighway. People Scan It Quickly and Then Move On	132	(13)
You Better Not Mess Up Your Home Page	132	(1)
The First Screen	133	(2)
The Big Question Your First Screen and Home Page Must Answer	135	(1)
The Second Question Your Home Page Must Answer	135	(6)
Developing the Eye	141	(1)
Vincent Messes with Your Head	142	(3)
What Works for the Man from Mars	145	(8)
Creating a Workable Home Page	145	(1)
Home Page Design Techniques to Avoid	146	(7)
Navigation and Mystery Meat	153	(18)
The Number-One Question about Navigation	154	(1)
Navigational Goals	155	(8)
Easy to Find	155	(5)
Easy to Understand	160	(1)
Easy to Use	161	(2)
Mystery Meat Navigation Is the Spawn of Satan	163	(8)
The Two Most Powerful Forces Known to God and Man Have Fallen Victim to Mystery Meat	165	(1)
Even Macromedia Thinks Mystery Meat Sucks	166	(5)
Jumpin Jack Flash	171	(14)
``I Believe Flash Abuse and Mystery Meat Navigation Are Signs of the Apocalypse''	172	(1)
Flash---What It Is	172	(2)
Flash---Good or Evil?	174	(8)
Flash Is Good	174	(1)
Flash Is Evil	175	(7)
``You Are Too Soft on Flash Abusers''	182	(1)
Annoying Flash Techniques	182	(1)
Go to the Principal's Office	182	(3)
Grrraphics	185	(26)
Frequently Seen Graphics Mistakes	186	(8)
Using the Wrong File Format	186	(1)
Large Graphics	186	(5)
Bad Backgrounds and Color Problems	191	(2)
GIF Animations	193	(1)
Graphics Optimization	194	(5)
Software Web Sites	195	(1)
Standalone Optimization Programs	195	(3)
Web-Based Optimization	198	(1)
Other Graphics-Related Problems	199	(12)
``Text is Text. Graphics is Graphics.''	199	(1)
You've Got to Be Able to Read the Text in the Graphics	199	(1)
If a Graphic Looks Like a Link, It Better Be a Link	200	(1)
ALT= Attribute Not Set	200	(1)
Bad Scan Job	201	(1)
Inappropriate Graphics	202	(1)
Missing Graphics	203	(1)
One Image Equals One Page	204	(1)
3-D Logos and Images: Just Say ``Whoa''	204	(1)
``Damn, We're Smooth''	205	(1)
Cheap and/or Ugly Clip Art	206	(5)
The Joy of Text	211	(18)
Text Is More Than Words	212	(2)
WYSDFIYSYMRCSGCBSLOFAPVS	212	(1)
There's No Silver Bullet	213	(1)
Text's Two Non-Rules	214	(10)
Text Size	215	(4)
Choosing the Right Font	219	(3)
Text Contrast	222	(2)
Put Your Text to the Test	224	(5)
Tweak, Tweak	229	(20)
``A Webmaster's Work Is Never Done''	230	(1)
You Can Tweak Too Much	230	(1)
Tweaking for Fun and Profit	231	(14)
Does My Site Look Acceptable to Nondisabled People?	232	(1)
Is My Site Accessible to People with Disabilities?	233	(4)
Does the Code Break?	237	(6)
Are the Graphics Optimized?	243	(1)
Do the Links Work?	243	(2)
Selecting a Web Host	245	(4)
E-Commerce: What Would the Big Dogs Do?	249	(14)
Arnold vs. Vincent, Amazon vs. You	250	(1)
What Amazon Does Right Is Not Do It Wrong	250	(1)
Learning from Amazon	250	(13)
Reputability	252	(1)
Personalization	252	(2)
Community	254	(2)
Useful Features That Work	256	(7)
The Bleeding Edge Is Where You Bleed	263
It's All in the Delivery	264
Why Bother with the Edge?	264
Web Pages for DoMmies	265
DuHTML	265
Onward Client Servers	271
The Really Technical Edge of the Bleeding Edge	277
Distributed Computing	277