** Continued From: Webpages: Neat & Tidy! - Part #1

"Yes, surfers want full-featured sites, but they'd rather have less full, more feature. Your form means nothing if your design has no function."

In part one of this two-part article I asked you to look at your site as if you were a stranger. I asked you to consider taking the time to make your website Neat & Tidy. While some of us (like me) are layout-stupid, most of us can grasp the significance of a clean, functional webpage. We may sell a product that is messy by nature but that doesn’t mean our sites have to be messy.

In these days of faster connections it seems a contradiction that there exists a trend toward simpler design. But one must keep in mind that, fancy decoration and needless animations are old hat to everyone including surfers. Surfers don’t care if your logo moves. They want to know where your pics are and if your video clips will play on their browsers. It’s one thing to keep your sponsor ads within your surfer’s eye-line. It’s another thing to fill your page with so many ads it’s confusing. Sure, that big-ass paysite graphic looks great but where is the TOUR button? Oh, yeah! There it is, hidden at the bottom, all monochromatic and practically invisible! That’ll win them over!

Yes, more surfers have broadband Internet connections. Yes, surfers are able to interact with sites like never before. Yes, they download video streams and Flash animations quickly and happily. Yes, surfers want full-featured sites, but they’d rather have less full, more feature. Surfers want to see your content and your offers. They want to traverse your web without getting lost. Your form means nothing if your design has no function.

Take a long, hard look at your adult site. It may be Neat but is it Tidy? Are those rollover icons necessary? Instead of ten different button-sized ads, would it kill you to post three larger ads instead? Maybe your should convert that graphic money bar into a text-link money bar. Perhaps you could do without the Flash Splash page opening or the slide-out menu. Count the colors on your page. Are you sure that six colors are better than four are?

If you’re a terminally amateur designer like I am, you might want to turn to the professionals to help you clean up your act. Below are a few articles and sites that will help you understand some basic principals behind a Neat & Tidy webpage:

Web Design from Scratch: Current Web Style
(http://webdesignfromscratch.com/current-style.cfm)

Great summary of websites that are functional, attractive and orderly. The author, Stephen Coles, names the common features found among them: Simple layout, 3D effects used sparingly, Soft neutral background colors, Strong color used sparingly, Cute icons used sparingly, Plenty of white space and Nice big text. The rest of the site is a devoted to web design, with subjects ranging from goal-oriented design to accessibility.

PingMag: Web Design Trend Death Clock
(http://pingmag.jp/2006/05/01/the-web-design...)

This site is a little higher on the snark meter. Probably the best part of this article, predicting the demise of pixel fonts and gradient fills, are the comments from other designers. Some are quite passionate about their fondness for the elements that writer Jon has earmarked for extinction. You be the judge. In addition, explore all of PingMag. You’ll discover tutorials, reviews and humor on this sunny, clever site.

Pages That Suck: The Worst Web Design Techniques
(http://webpagesthatsuck.com/worst-web-design...)

In case you don’t get the joke, Web Pages that Suck (WPTS) has a crappy design on purpose. Even the title of their end-of-the-year-sucking summary is filled with silly text. WPTS believes the best way to help you avoid lousy design is to show you. Vincent Flanders’ WPTS is a respected destination complete with friendly advice and information for any webmaster.

Pantone: The Color Guard
(http://www.pantone.com)

Have you ever wondered if there was a conspiracy behind seasonal color combinations in fashion and design? Who says everyone will be using muted colors with bold touches of contrast this summer? Pantone, that’s who. This little group of 8 are the standard-bearers for determining biannually, the “it” colors for spring summer, winter or fall. If you’re color-blind or color dumb, download some of Pantone’s .pdf color recommendations, located within their TREND links. One of the simplest ways to enhance your site is with color. Get the hottest new colors from Pantone.

Think of it this way. You want surfers to enjoy your site. You want them to remember your page as that place where they found what they wanted with easy satisfaction. You want them to come back. You want them to experience your design as a natural part of the whole. You want them dreaming of your sample content and curious about your sponsors. If a surfer comes away from your site, more impressed with how it looks than what it does, maybe it’s time to make your webpage Neat & Tidy!