(Web Design: Part 2 of3)

The last thing a visitor to your web site wants to do is wait for a picture to download, a video to upload or a flashy graphic to stop moving on their screen before they can get the information they want off your site.Here are a few tips to keep in mind that will make the most out of your message using proper multimedia techniques and readability guidelines.

Beware of Bogging Down your Web Site – Try Talking Characters!

Compress your images

30K is better than 300K. Requiring your reader towait for large graphics toloadcan be irritating and even cause the viewer to exit your site. Graphics softwarecompresses files totake up less room, simultaneously offering less time to load into a browser. A few graphics software packages may include GifBot , HVS GifCruncher and JPEG Wizard. Macintosh: GraphicConverter.

Sound and Multi-Media

Also, as we explained in Part 1 of this series, auto-playing sound files can bog your site down.Sounds or music can be put into place as long as it’s short and loads quickly.Moving or flashing graphics should be carefully orchestrated so they do not become a hindrance to visitors seeking information from your site.

A Better Approach!

A new, more effective alternative to the old Flash style animations, graphics and sounds is “Talking Characters”.These are live people co-mixed with pertinent images or information that present a powerful direct message to your audience.Your talking message should be to the point and directly touch the needs of your customer.Keep your message concise but be creative with complementary graphics to encourage the listener/viewer to stay tuned.Here’s a prime example directly from our own Foremost Media web site: http://www.foremostmedia.com/CompanyProfile/tabid/250/Default.aspx

Make sure your site is easy to read

As a standard rule, your text lines hould not exceed about 600 pixels wide.Make the lines short, so one can easily move onto the next line i.e. the columns you read in the newspaper or your favorite magazine.

Sidebars can be a way of breaking up text or separating lengthy messages.Since we’ve already mentioned that the viewer should not scroll more than 2 pages, you will want to break up your text into shorter formats.Mix supporting images where necessary to give the page some life.Extremely long bodies of text should be condensed into a downloadable .pdf instead of pages and pages of information on your screen.A perfect example is an installation manual or a larger multi-page product catalog.

Make your site even easier to read by using contrasting colors and simple backgrounds. Lighter text shows up better on darker backgrounds and darker text better on lighter colors.Some color combinations just look poor together.Another problem is putting text over multi-colored or textured background images. You can improve readability of text on a background image by increasing the text size and/or making it bold but if your characters are lost in the image, you may have to alter the image itself.Before launching any updates to your pages, view them to make sure they are pleasing to the eye.

One thing we find helpful for businesses that use specific terms to their industry is to include a “Glossary of Terms”.Although you are close to these terms, your viewer may be new to your product line and will be thankful that you offered a miniature dictionary of common language throughout you site.This also comes in handy for instruction and installation manuals that may use highly technical or engineering terms rarely used by the layman in the same business.

General rules that you should already know but simply as a reminder:

• Be very limited in using ALL CAPS.
• Never use more than one exclamation point!
• Spell check every page.

Please watch for the final series of our “Designing Websites Trilogy” which will be in our First Quarter “First and Foremost” Newsletter of 2011.