Are visually impared (and might use a screen reader)?
Tufte's fundamental precepts of graphical design:
The most important information should be the most visually salient.
Too often, the important information is overwhelmed by pure decoration.
Tufte's
books show many examples that present a large amount of information
but do not appear to be cluttered.
This effect is often achieved by using bright, fully saturated colors for
the key information, while less important information is drawn with more
subdued colors, causing it to fade into the background and not compete
as strongly for the reader's attention.
Primary information also tends to be larger than secondary information,
again drawing the eye.
At the same time, the visual appeal of a colorful image can be very effective
when used to break up large bodies of text. Using images as headers and
sub-headers gives the eye a visual resting point, a place to pause while
perusing a large grey mass of text.
There are other ways to break up large bodies of text besides including
in-line images.
One thing that is frequently done by magazines and newspapers is to include
a quote in the middle of a long article. Such a quote is generally set
off from the text by horizontal rules and is frequently set in a larger
type size. This is another good way to give the eye a rest.
A look through C|Net's
News.com reveals many interesting techniques for breaking up large
sections of text, such as using in-line images to create displayed quotes
Layout artists have long recognized the importance of organizing a layout
around a grid.
Horizontal and vertical "eye lines" help guide the reader around a page.
These eye lines are seldom actual lines, however. They are formed from
the edges of images and columns of text.
Thus, aligning the edges of such design elements often increases the effectiveness
of the design. HTML tables allow designers to create eye lines.
Web magazines and newspapers use this technique frequently [USA
Today].
Web user should know what site they are visiting by the page design, without
having to look at URL. [WWW4]
Orphan pages: pages that do not indicate what they are a part of
Long scrolling pages (90% of users won't scroll)
Lack of navigation support: give users sense of structure, site map, and
search feature
Non-standard link colors
Outdated information
Overly long download times
A Web site could attract more visitors if run as a monthly magazine, with
the content varied monthly.
Sun recently switched to this idea in its home
page.
But then again, Netscape recently dropped it in its home
page!
"It is the responsibility of the Web editor to prioritize the information
space for the user and to point out a very small number of recommended
information objects. The beauty of hypertext is that the user can then
browse the information space further and dive deeper into the specific
information of interest to that individual user." [Jakob Nielson, Interface
Design for Sun's WWW Site]
People have little patience for poorly designed Web sites, they don't want
to scroll, and they don't want to read (reading a computer is 25% slower
than reading paper). So organize your Web site, make everything fit on
a single page, and write 50% less. [Jakob Nielson, Interface
Design for Sun's WWW Site]
Design a Web site that builds a relationship with users. For example, Hotwired's
"What's New" page, that keeps track of when each user last visited and
highlights new stories. Users can also customize the "What's New" page.
[Jakob Nielson, Relationships
on the Web]