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Monday, 1 January 2007

A Good Website/Blog

So many people have, or at least want to create websites today,1 either:
  • to blog,
  • to do business, or
  • creating a self representation in the cyberspace.
Some are making a simple website display, while others are making a sophisticated one.2 Some got criticized, other praised.

What make a website good? Certainly, the ultimate principle is, it has to be user-friendly. How? In my opinion;

  • Bigger font-size is better than smaller font-size, even tiny.!!3 You will never know who your web visitors are. They come from a broad range of ethnics, nations, and age. The broader the range, the better.4 Remember, most old people cannot read small font clearly!!
  • Contrast font color is better than fade font color!! Again, older people cannot read it, and most people cannot read it comfortably!!
  • Sophisticated/flashy website tend to have bigger file, and bigger website file took more time to download than small website file!! Please remember, you are one of a few lucky person that have a high speed internet access, while many people in this world are still using the dial up technology.5 If it took a long time to open a page, I simply closed that page, and move on browsing other websites.6
  • I hate to scroll down!! It hurts my index finger, and certainly, it bring a bit more hassle to internet users who don't have a mouse with a scroll button.7
  • Keep your webpages simple!!8 I hate browsing webpages looking for some menu to click like trying to find a needle in haystack, or looking for Waldo in the Wacky World.
  • Remember, function makes fashion, not fashion makes function!!

Additional advise for blogger:
Please post your ideas!! not your typical daily experiences. I don't care whether:
  • you woke up late today, or
  • a mentally retarded person slapped you on wednesday, or
  • you slept with a sexy hot lad on saturday night.
It has nothing to do with me and every other internet users who don't know a thing about you.

Maybe your fiancee, or close friends, or family care, (and I believe, the interest level will remain for just a short period of time) but the rest of the internet users will not care!! If from such your experience, we -- the internet users -- could extract useful practical ideas to implement or contemplate, then go ahead post it on your blog.9
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*Do you have any more ideas or advise regarding this topic? Please post your comments.
1See: BlueVoda Website Builder, Why use the BlueVoda website builder to create a website?; Internet; Accessed on 21 January 2007 at http://www.bluevoda.com/.

2See:
Peter Twist and Stephan Ducharme, Interview of Stephan Ducharme, The "FreeAdGuru" (Virtual Contact inc. , 2004), p. 15; Ebook in Internet; Accessed on 21 January 2007 through http://www.freeadguru.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi : "Many people are obsessed with flashy looking websites with Flash and Shockwave. .... I often come across a web site that has Flash, ..."
3Of course not too big, but clear enough for older people to read it, just use your common sense. See also:
Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 16: "You don’t want to get distracted by sites with blinking text and text that is so big and bold."

4Certainly, there are some barriers that we simply could not break, like the cultural (specifically, the language) barrier, but there are some barriers that we could simply avoid.
5
See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 15: "I often come across a web site that has Flash, but I am still on a low speed internet connection because I’m not in the city and therefore don’t have a high-speed connection."

6See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 15: "It takes so long to wait for the display and a lot of people are not patient, so they’re just going to close the window, just close the page. So if you do have Flash, at least have an html version so people don’t have to wait for a Flash intro to load."
7Although this assumption is inconclusive, I believe that there are still many people in this world use the mouse with no scroll button.I admit that my own blog cannot fulfill this requirement, but I try hardly to make my blog fulfill this requirement.

8
See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 16: "No, just keep it simple... you don’t have to be a designer, you don’t even need any design on your website."
9
See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 16: "You say that when people come to a website they are either looking for information or solutions?... Yes, it’s the only thing they want, and they want it free."

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Further Readings: