Web Design
This page provides links to a number of advice sites that deal with general style and web design guidelines when creating e-learning solutions for the net.
Articles in date order, most recent first.
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| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 |
"Web Design from Scratch is for everyone involved or interested in creating web sites - whether novice or expert. It will help you understand what makes web sites succeed or fail, and what can be done to increase the chance of success." Ben Hunt
Added: 13 February 2006
Reviewer's Note:
Ben Hunt has been a successful web designer and developer for over 10
years. He publishes this site to share his experience in making web
sites that are appealing, easy to use, and successful. Professional
web design companies
across the UK can be found on The Designer Site.
Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005
"The oldies continue to be goodies -- or rather, baddies -- in the list of design stupidities that irked users the most in 2005." Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 3 October 2005
Added: 5 October 2005
Reviewer's Note:
Jakob concludes: "This year's list of top problems clearly proves the
need to get back to Web design basics. There's much talk about new fancy
"Web 2.0" features on the Internet industry's mailing lists and websites,
as well as at conferences. But users don't care about technology and
don't especially want new features. They just want quality improvements
in the basics."
"Good typography is just as important on a web page as it is in any other medium. The fact that it appears on a computer screen and not on a piece of paper is immaterial, it should still be pleasing to look at and easy to read."
Added: 29 January 2005
Reviewer's Note:
A look at the use of typefaces and styles in web design
"Web design and Web designers: Guidance for those contemplating their first Web site with information on choosing a Web designer, domain names, Web hosts, HTML, optimization, promotion, and much more."
Added: 30 October 2004
Reviewer's Note:
The author has explored hundreds of professional Web designer's sites
and ranked them according to the quality of their own sites, as well
as the Web sites that they have designed and included in their online
portfolios.
XML and content reuse systems for instructional design
"Content reuse continues to be a hot topic, but the technology involved is new and complex. This is the first of a three-part series that explains how content reuse tools are used in instructional design." Henry Meyeding, eLearning Developers Journal, 19 January 2004
Added: 22 January 2004
Reviewer's Note:
You will need to become a member of the eLearning Guild to access this
article. Here is Part Two and Part Three.
"The guidance we offer in Web Style Guide has always been grounded on the functional aspects of design. In this second edition we extend our focus on functionality with additional sections on Web site accessibility, Cascading Style Sheets, and flexible page design. We include additional sections on information architecture, site maintenance, and multimedia design. And we have added illustrations and updated our Web site examples to reflect current best practices."
Added: 27 May 2003
Reviewer's Note:
This is the 2nd edition of this well respected resource. Also available
to purchase.
"Free Adobe Photoshop, web design and graphic design resources. Features articles, Photoshop tutorials, free website templates and web buttons."
Added: 3 May 2003
Reviewer's Note:
Resources written by Daniel Piechnik, a professional web designer
XML and the future of e-learning
"You've probably heard of XML but may not know what it is or why you should care about it. Well, here's why: The promise of e-learning is the ability to develop content (about learners or for the actual course) that's reusable anytime, anywhere, any way you want. Unfortunately, that just isn't possible.yet. Enter XML, which according to many geeks-our own Answer Geeks included-has the potential for revolutionizing the Web." Patti Shank, Learning Circuits, December 2002
Added: 16 December 2002
Reviewer's Note:
A novice's introduction to XML
Understanding the web as media
"The medium is the message," is Marshall McLuhan's most frequently quoted and least understood mantra. It basically means: The fact that we watch television AT ALL affects us more profoundly than any single piece of "content" we watch on television. Each communications medium has its own inherent characteristics and ways of impacting people, regardless of the "content" sent via that medium. And the web is a communications medium." lab404.com
Added: 5 January 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Understand what the web's strengths and weaknesses are to use it most
effectively
"It never ceases to amaze me how people can spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for a Web site and end up with a creation fraught with spelling errors, typos, grammatical errors, and paragraphs that run longer than War and Peace." Lee Creek, Web Developers Virtual Library Item, December 2001
Added: 4 January 2002
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This article looks at some of the mistakes made.
"The World Wide Web, as a means of communication, differs from and yet is strikingly similar to using paper. Almost all of the rules for written communication apply to the web."
Added: 26 November 2001
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A nice little guide from Daniel Pfeifer, DePauw University
"Nadav has divided this tutorial into two sections. In the first lesson, Nadav provides a gentle introduction to typography to give you a basic overview of how type works. The second lesson examines the challenges specific to using type on Web page: How to make it legible on a computer screen? Which type technologies do you need to master to control the fonts on your pages? Nadav reveals answers to those questions, and more!" Nadav Savio, WebMonkey
Added: 22 November 2001
Reviewer's Note:
I have always been fascinated by the impact and effect that different
type faces have on users - one reason I use Comic Sans with care! This
tutorial is a simple and effective way of helping designers understand
the psychology behind the use of different typefaces
Accessible webpage design: resources
"Web sites, just like buildings, can be designed to meet the needs of all people, including those with disabilities. Unfortunately, most current web pages contain major access barriers. This site was created to promote awareness about the need for accessible web design and to steer those who wish to learn more about the topic into the right direction. The audience for this resource guide include public school teachers and administrators; college and university instructors, administrators, and policy makers; distance educators; librarians; and disability professionals." Axel Schmetzke, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, USA
Added: 12 October 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Links to lots of resources on creating accessible web pages including
online courses
"Measured in Internet time, the Web is a fairly old and established technology. By now, you would think we'd know how to build Web sites with the balance of aesthetics and functionality that meets our audience's needs. Somehow, that isn't always the case. Numerous Web sites are still a punishment to the eye, or frustrate users' attempts to find information." Steve Franklin, webreview, 28 September 2001
Added: 29 September 2001
Reviewer's Note:
The ten most common flaws in website design
"Good writing is the exception rather than the rule on the Web. One reason for this is simply that good writing is hard to do. Another is that many of the people who've been involved with the Web from the beginning have been slow to realize that writing is a very big part of what the online experience is about." By Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton and Catherine O'Dowd, to be published October 2001
Added: 10 September 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Tailored for online writers
Usability, user experience, and learner experience
"E-learning stocks are a rare bright spot in a gloomy tech market these days. Boosters of on-line learning promote its lower costs, broader accessibility, and personalization potential. But much e-learning still has slow adoption and high dropout rates. Online learning leaves many students frustrated or unenthusiastic. The good news is that concepts and processes for addressing these shortfalls in learner experience can be found in the field of usability. In this paper, I outline ways in which the field of usability, properly understood, can help online learning fulfill its promise." Mark Notess, elearn Magazine
Added: 24 August 2001
Reviewer's Note:
An in depth look at usability
"Macromedia supports the creation of great Web experiences for everyone. We encourage Web developers to produce rich, engaging content that is accessible by all. While much has been done to make the Web accessible, there is still more work ahead. Macromedia joins the rest of the technology industry dedicated to removing Web technology barriers for people with disabilities." Macromedia
Added: 19 August 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Some useful resources for freelancers or web design companies to deal with accessibility, including some accessibility
vtemplates for Dreamweaver
First rule of usability? Don't listen to users
"To design an easy-to-use interface, pay attention to what users do, not what they say. Self-reported claims are unreliable, as are user speculations about future behavior." Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, 5 August 2001
Added: 7 August 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Watch users work!
XML - New formula for e-learning
"As the electronic-learning market matures, a growing number of vendors and federal agencies are embracing XML - Extensible Markup Language - to streamline the way e-learning software is built and handles information." Cheryl Gerber, FCW.com, January 2001
Added: March 2001
Reviewer's Note:
Designing for Different Resolutions
"So you've designed a startling site. It looks great on your computer, and you're bucking convention by putting the navigation bar on the right side. But if you don't pay attention to monitor resolution, some of your audience may never see that navbar and won't get past the first page." (1999) Michael Kay, WebMonkey
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Designing Attractive Web Pages
"A well-designed Web page is a thing of beauty. Your readers may know nothing about fonts, leading, justification or kerning, but can subconsciously sense when a page is well laid out." (1999) Charlie Morris, WDVL (Web Developers Virtual Library Item.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Differences between print design and web design
"Print design is highly refined, as evidenced by glancing through the recent book of award-winning designs. Web design is impoverished because too many sites strive for the wrong standards of excellence that made sense in the print world but do not make sufficient advances in interactivity." Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 24 Jan 1999.
Added: 2000
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"These articles written by Dmitry Kirsanov are for everyone interested in the important basics of design proper---design as art and science." At webreference at internet.com
Added: 2000
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This is Sun's "cookbook for helping people create better web pages. The guidelines presented here represent the opinions and preferences of a small group of people within Sun who have created some web pages, and have looked at many more." (1996) Sun Microsystems.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Now to purchase from Sun Microsystems Press
"Web usability depends on a successful navigation scheme which is both user-centered and well supported." (1999) Jakob Nielsen in ZDNet Developer
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
"People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In a recent study John Morkes and I found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word." Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 1 October 1997
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Information Architecture Tutorial
"Information architecture is the science of figuring out what you want your site to do and then constructing a blueprint before you dive in and put the thing together." John Shiple. WebMonkey.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
"No matter how good a site looks, or how much useful information it offers, if it doesn't have a sensible navigation scheme, it will confuse visitors and chase them away." (1998) Charlie Morris, WDVL (Web Developers Virtual Library Item)
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Page Layout, Margins, Indenting and Columns
"The commonest type of question asked about web page design is "How can I indent text?" or "How can I make columns?" or "How can I make margins?". Alan Richmond, WDVL.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Principia Hypertextica: A Mathematics Educator's View of Web Design
The author, William I. Johnston, begins "These pages express my views about good web design. I was invited to prepare them by Jon Choate for the 1997 annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in Minneapolis. For this reason, some of the examples are directed at mathematics educators and I include some discussion of the challenge of communicating mathematical ideas within the limits of HTML. But I hope that the design principles expressed on these pages will be useful for anyone who is preparing material for the web." (1997)
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Teach Yourself Great Web Design
"These series of Web pages were designed to give you the opportunity to view and interact with some of the graphics, animation, and Web sites featured in this book" Anna-Rae Vasquez-Peterson and Paul Chow, A R & B(1998)
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Jakob Nielsen's Website. Includes Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design. He wrote this in May 1996 in the early days of web design. However, much is still relevant today.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
This is a collection of links about human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web. (2000) Usable Web.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note: UK Web Directory
CountyWeb.co.uk is an online business directory that includes companies
that can help you with interface design.
"Since the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) launched the Web Accessibility Initiative in October 1997, designing the Web to be more accessible for people with disabilities has evolved from theory into practice. It seems like a small thing, but over time we may look favorably upon simple tools such as the WAI's authoring checklist as a rare facilitator in the discourse between politics and design." (1999) Matt Margolin, WebMonkey.
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
These guidelines from W3C "explain how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are intended for all web content developers (page authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility."(1999)
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
Web Design: More than Meets the Eye
"Many elements go into successful web site design; we can cluster those elements into sensory, conceptual, and reactive aspects. That is, design isn't only what you see, it's also what you think and feel as you navigate a web site. This article explores some of the basic principles of web site design, and provides many links to other resources for further detailed study." Alan Richmond, WDVL.
Added: 2000
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"WPDFD is a site about designing for the World Wide Web, with a particular emphasis on graphic design and content rather than on technology."
Added: 2000
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"What are the essential traits of great Web sites? After you visit a site and find yourself staying awhile, what makes you stay? A sense of humor helps. Flashy graphics are nice. But the fundamental traits that make a site work are more elusive. This article will break down the essential characteristics of great Web sites into some easily followed rules of thumb." webreference.com, 3 Aug 1999
Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:
