My favorite session so far has been "New Rules of Web Design", presented by Jeff Wisniewski, Web Services Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh. The tagline was "Web design has evolved over the last decade: Do you know what the new rules are?" His presentation tackled many of the misconceptions of web design; while these rules were applicable in the late 90s, the glorious Netscape days, they no longer hold much weight for today's websites.
Outdated rule #1: Design your layout for 800x600.
Jakob Nielsen, "the guru of webpage usability", states that layouts should be optimized for 1024x768. This resolution is now the lowest-common denominator, as 800x600 displays are now nearly non-existent.
Outdated rule #2: Use web-safe colors.
Web-safe colors are now obsolete. Most web users are using displays with at least 24-bit color.
Outdated rule #3: Provide a text-only version of the site (for print, portable devices, etc)
Not necessary when separating content and presentation w/HTML and CSS. Use media-specific CSS stylesheets for different devices.
Outdated rule #4: Flash is evil.
Pointless Flash intros/greetings are evil. When Flash became popular in the mid 90s, this is what it was primarily used for. The latest versions of Flash have transformed it into a fully-fledged programming language, allowing for much more useful rich uses (instead of simply a pointless flashy animation).
Outdated rule #5: All important info on a page MUST be placed above the fold.
Today's web users are more than willing to scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Other items of note:
- Follow established web standards and conventions: link to homepage in upper-left corner of each page; navigation menus across top of page or down lefthand side; etc
- Higher broadband penetration != design freedom: even though more users on broadband, more users than ever will be accessing on slower portable devices (PDA, cellphone, etc)
- Mouseover menus (like on our current website) have been abandoned: raise usability concerns, require precision mouse skills, not scannable, etc
It was a very informative session, and a reassuring one as well. We are already following all of the "new rules" and his suggestions for the new website.
Gotta get to bed so I'm fully energized for the presentation tomorrow. Wish Maryann & I luck!!
-Josh
