Website and Graphic Design
Website and Graphic Design
This article was first published on September 6, 1998.
There are numerous Web sites that indulge in criticising the design of other World Wide Web pages. The famous site that gives a generous serving of insults is the "Web Pages That Suck" site (they have even published a book of the same title). This site uses examples of poor design to point out the bad elements of a World Wide Web Page that have become far too common. As you flick through the various examples you are supposed to learn from other peoples' mistakes, rather than your own. It is a great Web site to visit if you are thinking about designing your own Web site.
It ought to be noted that the Web Pages That Suck site is a fairly well designed site. There are one or two points that are often considered as "bad design". Mainly, the site's use of Frames to show the bad designs. Frames are often thought as pointless, however, the "Web Pages That Suck" site uses Frames in a good way despite splitting the viewers' window into four or more sections. Using Frames in this way can often cause confusion and such pages are often hard to read and always take longer to download.
What makes the WPTS site good is the fact that one can experience the horrid accidents of design that litter the World Web Web from one central location, from which a lot can be learnt and (best of all) avoided.
July 29, 2010
