Web Design Core Issue 1: What is Web design (3)

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1.5 Web's graphical user interface tradition

Many Web sites offer features such as online shopping malls, electronic banking, software downloads, games, and online chats, which not only provide content, but also allow users to interact or operate as if they were using traditional software. However, Web sites are not synonymous with traditional software, although they are all designed with a similar program approach, but Web site publishing is different, must be easy to learn, without the hassle of installing and uninstalling, must focus on content, and more directly consider the market. Furthermore, the web has more complex time efficiency and software release considerations than traditional software. Consider such as s U P e r b o w L. C o m site, you will understand the aging and software issues such as the issue of what it means.

Although the web differs in many ways from traditional software, they all rely on the basic design artifacts of the graphical user interface (G U I): windows, icons, menus, and pointers. In Chapter 1th 2, we will discuss the use of a lot of graphical user interface pieces (Wi D g e t). Because users are familiar with objects in the traditional graphical user interface, they want to encounter similar situations on the web. In short, the Web site employs a modified graphical user interface model. When some graphical user interface design routines such as double-clicking and dragging fail in the web context, there is no reason not to build a site in the way people understand it. This can be summed up in the following rules:

Rule: When appropriate, the Web site should follow the graphical user interface principle.

Traditionally, Windows and Mac applications have used the same graphical user interface design guidelines so that users do not have to learn from one software package to another. Does the Web graphical user interface also have rules to follow together? This may seem impractical, especially given the fact that there is no organization, even the World Wide Web forum (w. W. 3). O R G), nor is it capable of developing standards that all users and companies must follow. Maybe one day the situation will change. Whether or not there is such a possibility, at least today there have been some widely recognized and used design ideas. These concepts are no more abstract than the cumulative rules of sharing, and they are not to be obeyed (in the legal sense, they are general law rather than Roman law). These rules are influenced by traditions, social forces, technology, common sense, and accidental factors. A good example of an unrecognized rule is the color of the link body. As experience increases, web users know that the underlined blue characters are clickable. Changing the color of the link body often leads to usability problems. Users want to see the blue text of the link body, and when the other color is used, the user will be confused and frustrated.

1.6 Attention to content

The web is more focused on content than traditional software. The boundaries of the site with its content are often very vague. It is the content that makes up the Web site, which provides the bricks to construct the virtual pyramid. Content can be text, two-dimensional images, three-dimensional animation, audio, video or a variety of content in the form of a hybrid. First, high quality content is important in the Web world, where users look for useful content and use them when they find it. A pleasing navigation image or a well-designed design will entice a user to visit the site, but that alone will not keep the user. Eventually, the user browses the site with obvious intent, such as finding valuable content or doing something useful. If the site is empty, the user will eventually leave. However, there is a situation, even if the site has high-quality content, if the user can not find it, these content is worthless.

Users need to refer to the road. The 4th chapter will mention the clear site structure, this helps the user, but good navigation requires more than just the structure, the name of the linked body, the logical combination of buttons, the semantic clarity of the page title and the consistent navigation elements all affect the user's browsing process, which will be discussed in chapters 5th and 6th respectively. Navigation design is of course very important, but users often spend a lot of time trying to organize the site more logically, but ignoring the main points of navigation. The best web design often uses simple and subtle navigation. Remember, users visit your site not to appreciate your design. Site visitors through the navigation system to find the information needed, the navigation system is only a path. Even if these designs are really unusual, they don't get the attention of others. Remember, for users, their focus is not on navigation or search itself, but on the results and content they want. As stated in the following rules:

Rule: A navigation system is nothing more than a means to an end.

In fact, leaving aside the discussion about site structure and navigation, it is doubtful whether users care about where they are visiting the site. Users don't have a flowchart in mind and don't take the time to figure out complex organizational relationships. For the user, their location in the site only becomes important when they cannot find what they need. The navigation system is appropriate as long as users feel that they can find the information they need in a satisfactory way. Of course, due to user differences, it is impossible to achieve the perfect navigation system. What users need is simply to guide the accessibility tools, such as search engines, site images, site indexes, or help systems that lead them to the goal. These navigation systems will be discussed in detail in chapters 7th and 8th.

Although a good site must have good features and simple navigation systems, these features are not immediately recognized. The appearance of the site is often the first to be noticed. Although good taste is impossible to coerce, it is almost impossible to predict, but we know that good web design is directly related to the user's taste of the site's appearance, the first impression depends on the online site. As shown in Figure 1-6, the user does not need any prior knowledge and may subjectively assume that the second site (front end) is more worth browsing than the first. The appearance of the site will affect the user's view of the site. A site that looks good is subjectively perceived to be better than a site with a bad appearance, at least at first glance. Therefore, there are the following rules:

Rule: appearance can significantly affect the value judgment of the site when the user starts.

Note that the appearance may also be important in gaining user trust, which is critical in line trading. In the case of knowing nothing about each site, consider which site you would choose to trade. Remember, trust is not just about the site, it is largely influenced by a third party's initial impression of recognition or the company's reputation.

Comprehensive impression value

The appearance starts very important, but when users continue to use it, they gradually reduce their attention to the appearance. When a user leaves a site, he will have a comprehensive impression-the general feeling of success of site access. In general, this feeling may be positive, negative or neutral. Consider a case where a user hates a site. Why is this happening? Does the user find the site difficult to use? is the site access speed slow? Does the site run poorly or often make mistakes? Is the site badly designed? Any one of these causes may cause users to have negative comments about the site when they leave. May initially be influenced by appearance, and the final impression comes from a synthesis of content, appearance, technology, and usability. The overall impression value may be largely related to whether the user has achieved the goal during the visit. In this way, although the appearance of the first impression of the dominant role, the final impression is very complex, can be summarized as the following rules:

Rule: Site's comprehensive impressions are influenced by appearance, content, technology, usability, and user satisfaction.

Although the comprehensive impression value does not only include a user's appearance evaluation of the site, it does not reduce the importance of the web's appearance, colors, backgrounds, text usage, images, and page styles can be used to improve the performance of the page. Consider figure 1-7, one site has no image and page styles, and the other has.

Regardless of the visual barrier and computer environment does not support graphics browsing users do not talk, the visual effect of a good site is destined to be more interesting. Instead of focusing on the specific look of the site or the pages that can be downloaded, consider what is more enjoyable at an abstract level. Even if the design of the site more emphasis on the content, function or fast download, the design should also be pleasant to avoid failure. If graphics are not important, why is the information System g O p H e r no longer used on the Internet at the beginning of 1 9 9 0 years? G o P h e r is easy to use, supports hyperlinks, and is rich in content. But because the graphics are not supported, the appearance is very bad, so the web is quickly surpassed. While some activists think the web is overly decorated with buttons, backgrounds, and graphic elements, the web will look very dull and dynamic without these.

The web can be either designed for art or designed for use, and different pages have different purposes on the same site, requiring a different look. Of course, too much emphasis on differences can affect usability. In this way, the designer should consider adopting a consistent page style and size to facilitate browsing, which is discussed in chapter 9th. Text styles can also affect the usability of a page. In the past, because of the limitations of web technology, the control of text is very limited, new technology such as C S S provides more control. The principles and techniques of web typesetting will be discussed in Chapter 1th 0. Basically, the use of graphics, colors, and backgrounds can significantly affect the user experience. For example, misuse of graphics can affect the access speed of the web, and even with low bandwidth design principles, the situation can become very bad, such as the color and image can not be properly displayed, which will affect the user unpredictable. The 11th chapter will discuss the knowledge of color, image and background. Although the appearance of the site will greatly affect the user's evaluation, it is important to note that you cannot just focus on the appearance. There are many reasons why a user likes or dislikes a site's appearance, such as from a simple taste to an interest in content. If you are not interested in snowboarding, you may not evaluate the appearance of the snowboard on the site. Also, others may not be interested in your rose garden. Further, if the graphics themselves are pleasing and they behave badly or download slowly, users will still not like it. Remember the pyramid analogy, you can't just focus on one aspect of building.