What is a Well Designed Web Site?
Professor Robert J. Skovira, Ph.D.

Introduction

What is a well designed Web site? Web sites are visual events enabling the communication of significant information and easy customer response. Communication that accomplishes these ends requires good design. Well designed sites should be grounded in an aesthetics (Galitz 1997, 36) and not in techniques alone. A site’s HTML documents are presentations of information that embody the designer's conception of the Web site in order to satisfy the needs of customers and the demands of clients. Information design is the construction of visual events embodied in the displays of the subject matter of the HTML documents, which customers see and act upon.

A well formed Web site has iconicity. It is an icon-like situation. Icons, a particular icon, makes sense only to a believer. A believer is the only one to fully comprehend the sensibility or meaning of an icon. At least, if we are honest, we do not remark about not understanding. We understand because we live a culture that contextualizes these icons (images), or any icon (image) religious or secular. Any Web site behaves as an icon because it is both form and content, and makes sense only within a culture. A Web site, and its documents, performs as an icon that makes ideas visible (Norman 1988, 4), and that channels and makes sense of an audience’s response to its informational details (Dervin 1999, 44).

Consequences of Good Design

There are many ways to design good Web sites; the idea is to design in such a way that you convey the information clearly to your audience. Good design will cause people to see a different perspective. Good design will also help people think and imagine alternatives. Finally, good design will enable people to do things. Good design helps people remember the Home Page. The Internet is a mode of communicating ideas and facts to others. A document on the Internet is a way of representing what we want to tell others about. Good design is a matter of communicating a perspective to others and persuading them about the informational situation (Holzschlag November 1999).

A Web site’s purpose is informational. The structure of a well-designed Home Page is implicit and transparent, invisible, and does not interfere with the information presented. Good design results in a focused and straight-forward site. Good design demonstrates an awareness of how, when, where, and by whom the information may be used. Good design uses informational structures to create clear and focused HTML documents. Finally, good design always creates a desire in the audiences to respond and to remember. A well designed Web site is an informing structure that is active and dynamic. Because it focuses attention on the informational content, it creates a behavioral event.

A Web site is a visual and verbal event. that is a staged experience for the information seeker. It is an informational and persuasive situation. Good design of a Web site visually communicates a perspective to other people and persuades them to make up their minds and act (Laufer and Butler 1996, 13). Designed according to the communicative constraints and possibilities of the World Wide Web and the Internet, Home Pages communicate a corporate identity (Burcik) while informing potential customers of products and services. The Home Page is a structure designed to convey clearly the desired information to various audiences and to motivate them to seek further information. A Web site is an informational event.

A well designed Home Page is an informing system that focuses attention on the goods and services of the business, or the intent of a personal web site? What is this focus? It is the informational content, the details, reflected in the images and major themes of the Home Page.

Good communication requires attention to design. The design of information focuses on the display of the subject matter of the HTML document. HTML documents are presentations of informational details, ideas or facts. They embody the conception of the Home Page and its purpose. They are made up of text, graphics, and HTML tags. Their subject matter is represented by text and graphics. Well designed Web sites inform their audiences.

Matching Design and Audiences

Various audiences must be considered when designing the HTML documents of a Web site (Mountford May/June 1995, 63; Wonnacott January 31 2000, 60). The design process for HTML documents is framed by the views and expectations of several quite different audiences: the client, the client’s customer, the designer, and other users of the World Wide Web. Each of these audiences may be more than one person. For instance, the client could be a firm, and the designer may have to work with (and satisfy) a committee. The perspectives represented by each audience must, through the creativity of the designer, be combined in an appropriate way in order to create a site that possesses integrity, harmony, and melody. A Web site always has different groups of people interested in looking at the information you have provided in the documents, and, if possible, their expectations should be met, their curiosity satisfied, and, their checks mailed.

Audiences determine the presentation style of information. Every Web site has a rhetorical style (Kaufer and Butler 1996, 34). A Web site’s rhetorical style determines the expression of content or information, such as the extent or placement of text in relation to image. A Web site’s rhetoric is the expression of the designer’s and client’s stories told to affect customers’ choices and needs and their purchases (Laufer and Butler 1996, 12). The style expressed in a Page represents the nature of the information to be communicated (Holzschlag April 1997, 35). The style (Kaufer and Butler 1996, 38) of a site is inseparable from the representation of the subject matter.

A Home Page may have different personae. The persona of a site is the image the designer creates in the mind of the customer. A well designed Web site is visually appropriate when it matches informational content with audience (Holzschlag February 2000, 24). It also reflects the designer’s ethos or character as well as the client’s character or perspective (Kaufer and Butler 1996, 44). A Home Page’s rhetoric depends upon the ethos portrayed by the company or corporation. To persuade people to buy products, trust must be apparent, and, initially, trust depends upon the persuasive power of the Home Page.

A Web site’s personae show up in visual and textual metaphors and narratives that inform people (Kanarick May 1996, 24; McAdams October 1996, 43). While Home Pages are informational and market-driven, the design represents the designer’s interpretation of a company’s self images (Kaufer and Butler 1996, 45; Burcik). While there may be different personae, presenting varied voices, they should combine, in the end, to create an integrated Web site, and a holistic corporate identity. In other words, a site to remember.

Informational Architecture

A well designed Web site and its documents consists of a set of informational structures (Kuchinskas July 1998, 45). These forms of informational presentation are the frame, the list, the table, the paragraph, and the image. When used in a coherent and sensible manner, they produce well formed Home Pages and HTML documents (the informational structures match some basic HTML tags that are common building blocks of sites).

The informational structures articulate differences in significance and in complexity. The list and table informational structures give simple form to complex narratives. The paragraph structure is textual and narrative. The image structure is a visual informational structure that articulates simple to complex graphical representations of informational detail.

A frame is an informing structure that gives us the ability to present thematic information, or categories that organize content. The frame informational structure is the most important during the design process. A frame is a theme or topic. Major themes or frames become subject matter for whole documents; minor themes or frames become subject matter for topics within documents. The frame informational structure is a way of grouping and segmenting the subject matter of a Home Page easily and systematically (Skovira 1999, 21).

The layout of topics, motifs, or refrains within frames can be organized and structured using the informational structures of list, paragraph, table, and image. These structures allow for the arrangement of thematic material. These different structures articulate differences in significance and in complexity.

Lists of things are common everywhere; in a list, items are grouped together because they are viewed as members of a group (a frame). Lists are important informational structures that abstract and summarize states-of-affairs or stories. Lists present items that require description and explanation.

A sentence or a group of sentences usually make up a paragraph. A paragraph is a basic textual building block. A paragraph is a common informational structure and is basic to seeing a Home Page as a narrative or story.

Another very common way of representing information is the two dimensional table. Tables are structures that allow us to order and categorize information effectively. This structure is often used as a container for other informing structures.

The image is a structure that presents information visually. It is a visual narrative. Color and shape are the building blocks of any image. Images are informational structures that demand a viewer’s attention.

Characteristics of Good Design

Characteristics of good design for a Web site are elegance, simplicity, clarity, harmony, and integrity. A designer will naturally develop a style or persona through the consistent use of graphics, text, and document layout throughout the Home Page. The same style should be implemented across all of the documents; having a style means that a modicum of consistency can be expected in the representation of information. The style of a site also conveys the identity of a corporation or company.

Elegance is the perception of a pleasing and appropriate presentation of information (Kanarick May 1996, 26; Galitz 1997, 96-116). Web sites are visual events that should be well-formed graphical and textual compositions. Text must be used appropriately. Images should support text and thus the intended message. How words, phrases and pictures translate the details of the source documents to the screen can affect the perception of elegance.

Simplicity is a way of being elegant. Busy screens are not perceptually pleasing; while they may be emotional, they are not good design psychology. HTML documents are aimed at visually presenting information easily and in a pleasing fashion. Keeping a screen simple controls the focus of the document and of the information seeker (Friel April 1997, 61; Galitz 1997, 105-106). The Home Page should focus explicitly on the content and the objectives of the site. The design characteristic of simplicity should help keep the focus of the site and, as a user moves into the site, actually sharpen the focus of the user on the information presented (Levi and Conrad July-August 1996, 58; Paciello December 1997, 69). However, the nature of the information being communicated may make it difficult to control how busy a screen appears. Of course, consistency in font size, image size and use, and in colors contribute to a sense of simplicity (Holzschlag February 2000, 29).

Clarity is the perception of sensibility and reasonableness in communicative style. The information is expressed in a straight-forward manner (Paciello December 1997, 69; Galitz 1997, 36, 94-95). The site and each document should be sensible (Kanarick May 1996, 26). Using white space, formatting standards (for the documents), integrating text and images, and placing navigational aides in documents are ways of increasing clarity (Holzschlag February 2000, 27).

Integrity is the perception of informational focus of the Home Page. The Web site presents a holistic attitude, indicating that the site is complete and that the company is prepared for business. This attitude contributes to the sense of presentation as much as do stylistic devices, such as white space, bold or emphasized text, or font size. The entire web site should be recognizable as a coherent place (Thuring et al. August 1995, 58). This aspect is the informational flow across the web site and to which each document contributes. The design characteristics of elegance and integrity would also affect decisions regarding this issue.

Harmony is the perception of a Web site’s balance. This ought to be subtle and is the responsibility of the designer. Content, text, and images ought to be balanced (Holzschlag April 1997, 34). Balance means being physically and conceptually symmetrical as much as possible when displayed on the screen (Galitz 1997, 97-98). Balancing text and images allows them to share the burden of representing the information to be communicated. The Home Page ought to be balanced from beginning to end. This is especially true when tables or other block type tags are being used implicitly or explicitly to structure the images and text on the screen.

Consistency is a good indicator of a well designed Web site (Garzotto et al. August 1995, 75; Galitz 1997, 38-39, 95). The web site, and even individual documents, need to be consistent in style of presentation, but consistency does not mean sameness (Holzschlag April 1997, 34-35). A site or Home Page has its own harmony and melody. These are always variable elements that can be used to enliven yet give a sense of consistency. Text fonts should be consistent in size. Image size and use need to be carefully thought out (Busch June 1997, 98-99). The colors used should work to the advantage of the information. A consistent style of the headers and footers of a document will contribute to a sense of elegance (Holzschlag February 2000, 27).

Another indicator is the focus on the informational content and that this focus is apparent. One might question this as being a silly issue, but it is not. Designers and clients sometimes want to include many inappropriate items. Images, especially, need to be appropriate to the content and context of the site (Edwards April 1998, 45). The design characteristics of simplicity and clarity should help keep the focus and actually, as a user moves into the site, sharpen the focus.

Navigation is another indicator of good design. The visitor to the site should be able to know where he or she is no matter how they arrived there. Navigation helps with making a web site consistent and focused. The design characteristics of elegance and integrity would show up in this manner (Holzschlag April 1997, 34; Holzschlag February 2000, 28).

An important aspect of good design is the use of color. Color is an important indicator in Web site design. Color ought to support the informational display and not detract form it, or impact the viewer negatively. A another design issue is the choice of font style and size. The designer should experiment with fonts in relation to color. Usually, sans serif fonts display better than serif fonts. (Holzschlag November 1999, 26).

Design Strategies

Home Page quantification (Tufte 1997, 29-37) is an important design characteristic for an information designer. Quantifying a visual composition is the presentation of the subject matter in such a way that the customer may make comparisons visually. A Home Page is quantified if the users are able to effectively see differences between the organization’s offerings and its competitors’ products and services

Making good HTML documents depends upon the designer having a sharp focus on the ideas to be presented by the Home Page. Such focus allows Web sites to be quantified (Tufte 1997, 13-23) and allows people to compare and contrast products and services with information on other sites. To accomplish these goals, designers must understand the problem or task from the client’s perspective, and the informational needs from the customer’s perspective.

Home Pages are quantified (Tufte 1997, 13-22, 23) when they provide answers to questions like: What goods and services are available? How much do they cost? How do I order? Who can I e-mail? Who will answer my questions? Whose site is this? How do I navigate through this site? Home Pages that are not quantitized fail when customers cannot easily have the answers to such questions.

There are several information design strategies to aid in the development of well designed Home Pages, and help quantify the sites. These are visual multiples, visual confections, and visual parallelisms. They are also ways of making sites easy to remember.

Using multiple images (Tufte 1997, 105-111) to express informational content is an information design strategy. Visual multiples are images used to express visual verbs, to represent activity and processes. They are images grouped to represent a sense of a dynamic perspective reflecting multiple facets of complex ideas. Visual multiples express experiential patterns and repetitious events or things; they show how events, things, and experienced patterns evolve and change. Web sites and HTML documents become montages (Stephens 1998, 109).

Multiples are integrative images of space and time. Multiples allow the informational designer to organize effective and significant differences that surprise the viewer. They enhance the presentation of information about products and services. Visual multiples are used to maintain comparative and analytical details of a Home Page arranged for effective persuasion.

The idea of visual parallelism (Tufte 1997, 82-93, 103) is another informational design strategy. Parallelisms are the building blocks of a web site’s visual narrative. Visual parallelisms tell a story. The information designer needs to situate a Web site’s graphics and text so the customer can understand the company’s story. Visual parallels allow for common perspectives and shared views. They permit the designer to build combined expressions of corporate identity and products and services.

Visual parallelisms construct relationships of conceptual links. Parallelisms are visual conceptual maps. They integrate multiple images representing similar but distinctive informational layers of a Home Page that support or define a visual market orientation. Parallelisms allow for a better handling of complex and multiple informational streams. The use of parallel techniques and devices allows a just-notable difference (Tufte 1997, 73) to be highlighted, emphasizing the information of a Home Page.

For information design, confections are syntheses of visual events into a unified explanatory image (Tufte 1997, 121). Web sites are themselves visual confections, and they may contain visual confections. Visual nouns (any image that is visually static) and visual verbs (images that represent action or change) intersect as a visual event. Visual confections describe and explain, contrast and compare; they construct, as one image, visual representations of an informational situation. A Web site is a visual language game (Horn 1999, 27). Structuring the information space, they create one identity from the various personae.

Visual confections are combinational devices that are used to pull images and text together to represent an organization’s goods and services (Tufte 1997, 151). Confections are visual stories, the visual event that tells the world about the organization and its products. They are made up of informational layers which consist of multiples and parallelisms. Confections are used to put on a visual informational performance (Fisher June 1996, 36). Confections are the ultimate rhetorical device of the informational designer.

Conclusion

What is a well designed Web site? The qualitative dimension of a Home Page and its documents show up in the informational display and is a consequence of the various characteristics of good design practices. The Web site represents a convergence of visual and verbal literacy. This convergence, although far from complete in its analysis, may be construed as a synecdoche of the total design elements and processes. Successful design creates the Web site as a destination. It is a confluence between designer, client, and audiences. The focus of the well designed Web site should have a sense of universality over against the incoherence of an ego-driven system. The Home Page should incorporate the practicalities of a limited sphere but at the same time have the ability to focus the user’s thoughts and actions beyond the screen. The Web site should be sensible and interactive, coaxing or influencing the viewer’s sensibilities toward the designed destination. Successful design has at its essence an aura of results, the mapping of a process of communication between designer, client, and audiences through the judicious use of pictorial and verbal content.

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