Web design 101: Making your site un-ugly

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From the Tubes

As with all things in this illustrious age of technology, there are certain parties that have a hard time keeping up with the rapidly evolving (and ever-changing) standards that make up the tubes. The following rant is merely serving an educational purpose and is in no way intending to offend anyone.

Besides, I don’t like ostracizing anyone’s business, especially when I sincerely appreciate the fantastic sweet and sour chicken balls and - especially - the Beijing chicken dish that said business(es) may be known for.

But if right now, in December 2009, your website looks like www.diplomatrestaurant.com, we need to sit down and have a little chat.

First, a little background. The business used in this example is an excellent Fredericton restaurant with a great atmosphere. Further, it’s incredibly convenient in that it’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week -- and it delivers (ideal for university students tired of ordering pizza.) These reasons are the source of my frustration: it should have a stellar web site, because people need to know about this place.

It doesn’t, though, so let’s cut to the chase: tiled backgrounds are terrifying. Seriously. Make them go away. A neutral solid background colour is far less distracting and allows users to actually focus on the main focus of the website. 

I’m not really sure what’s happening with the gold buttons with awkward edges, either, but they should certainly be addressed.

Another major issue is that there is no real defined colour scheme on this particular website. The faux-wood background, blue tiles reminiscent of a bathroom floor, and horizontally stretched ribbons all betray any sense of unity that might have once existed. In order to restore peace to the webosphere, diplomatrestaurant.com needs to go back to its roots - perhaps the complementary green and burgundy used in its logo - as a source of their colour palette.

Clicking over to the menus reveals some of the same symptoms seen in the rest of the site. Here we’re greeted by large, awkward, orange red and green text colours complete with inline frames.

Despite its appearance, this site serves its purpose -- to provide contact and location information and an idea of what kind of food is served at the restaurant.

The real point I’m trying to make here is that poor website design doesn’t discriminate. It’s everywhere, but you can avoid letting it get the best of you by getting opinions, consulting designers, and -- better than any of that -- talking to real, everyday people who would be making use of the website. Try to keep it as clean and professional as a letterhead; remember less is more.

You don’t need a degree in astrophysics to deploy a great website. If you’re a web designer, or if you’re looking to have a website built for you, you might interested in reading more on the topic. I highly recommend a (slightly dated but still very relevant) guide put together by the folks at Firelily Designs. http://www.firelily.com/opinions/thumb.html.