Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015 by Vincent Flanders

1) This article discusses the many mistakes that web page designers make while creating a web page. It addresses all the issues that makes web pages difficult for users. Thus, it naturally fits well with the concepts of a user-focused design that we have talked about in class. Flanders' stresses that web pages have to be designed for the user, not for the designer. Companies need to design their websites with only the customer in mind, but unforutnately most do not do this. A strong emphasis needs to be placed on the behavioral design. If the user cannot find what he or she wants easily, then the website is a failure. The user can simply go to another website and try again. Flanders says that the purpose of a website should be understood within the first four seconds of looking at it. This also ties into the visceral design of the website too. Flanders talks about how there has to be good contrast and color schemes because users do not want to have to strain their eyes to read the text. There should not be distracting images or animations. When a user first opens up a webpage, their eyes should be drawn to the focal point. A good visceral design helps to accomplish this. This article deals less with reflective design than visceral or behavioral, but one can infer what might make a webpage have good reflective design. There are many websites that are fun to search through and are good enough that people will come back to them. Flanders called this the "heroin content" of a webiste.

2) While all of Flanders points are important and must be taken into account when trying to design a good website, there are several that stand out. The first is his first point about how users do not care about the website. They simply want to get the information they need or accomplish what must be done and then be done. This is important for the designer to keep in mind because it will help them decide what information is pertinent and should be put on the webiste. It is frustrating when one has to spend a lot of time searching through a website to find what he or she needs. The entire website has to be designed with the user in mind and making it easy to use. This leads to Flanders seventh point of navigational failure. Users should be able to easily know where they are in a webiste. Links should be labeled and clearly indicate where they will take the user. If a user gets lost in a website, no matter how good the content is, he or she is likely to close the window and find another website. Another important point is Flanders' ninth about the need for heroin content. A website should make a user want to come back multiple times. There has to be an appeal to it that attracts many people to it. If a website can accomplish this, it can sometimes overcome other design problems. Flanders gives the example of Post Secret which has quite the bad visual design, but the content is good enough that users come back and back.

3) A webpage should be concise and clear. It should not take long at all to figure out how to navigate the page. This is the most important point, and all other things revolve around promoting this. The color scheme, use of flash, images, and everything else has to make it easier for the user. If the color scheme makes text difficult to read, then it should not be used. Any pictures or videos that are not pertinent to the information being presented should also be excluded from the website. Information should also be categorized in a convenient, understandable way. For example, all of the contact information for a company should be placed in one area. Pages should also not be too long because it is annoying to have to scroll down for a long time. If a page is too long, it means that a link could probably be used. It is also really convenient when webpages have "Printer-Friendly" pages. This not only makes it easier to print the page, it is far easier to search the information. "Printer friendly" pages exclude all of the advertisements and extra information.