tailieunhanh - Taking Your Talent to the Web: A Guide for the Transitioning Designer- P6

Taking Your Talent to the Web: A Guide for the Transitioning Designer- P6:It was a simple solution to a complex problem. On one side, thousands of designers and art directors are eager to take their talents to the Web but aren’t sure how. On the other, web agencies could not find enough good web designers to get their work done. | Taking Your Talent to the Web 81 There were other reasons a number of web businesses failed in late 1999 and early 2000. Some businesses that served no earthly purpose and appealed to no imaginable audience managed to suck up venture capital anyway until the investors woke up. But many sites with legitimate business models bit the dust when it was discovered that nobody could navigate them except perhaps the designers. Each site speaks to a particular demographic. A site that is everybody s friend is nobody s best friend. Focused usable brand-supportive interfaces are as particular as the taste of a fresh-picked plum on a summer s day. While great web design like all great design is specific in nature web design like all design has developed a series of guidelines and best practices that can aid you as you begin to shape your own sites. Some of these practices are rooted in common sense others in human interface guidelines developed during the personal computer revolution of the 1980s. We will examine these guidelines in the following sections bearing in mind that they are suggestions not rules. Interface as Architecture Navigation is the experiential architecture of a site. Web designers use consistent visual cues to guide visitors through the site as an architect guides a building s visitors from the lobby to the elevator bank. Subtle visual hints cue a building s visitors as to which areas of an office are open to the public and which are private. Folks can find their way to a bathroom or a public telephone without asking for help. The goal of a navigational interface like the goal of real-world architecture is to enable people to do what they need to do. As you develop web interfaces ask yourself if you re helping people find the site s offices elevators and bathrooms or leaving them to fend for themselves. Poorly structured buildings win few tenants poorly structured sites win few repeat visitors. 82 WHY Where Am I Navigation Interface Ten Okay Three Points of