First thing to know about improving website layout and design

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+1 Q:

First thing to know about improving website layout and design

I am building an internal, data-heavy website for my company on the Microsoft stack (ASP.NET 2.0/C#/SQL Server). Lately I have been trying to improve the layout and design of this site, partly because I want it to look good for my employers, but mostly because I want to learn about page layout and design.

My question is, what is the first thing I should know about improving the layout and design of pages in a data-intensive (e.g. lots of large grids, validation, minimal navigation, etc.) website. I really have no idea where to begin.

+1 A:

This is something I constantly learn about myself.

I'm not sure what to say exactly. But I can recommend a good source... Alistapart.com. In particular their "design" section of articles are good and may provide just what you need...

http://www.alistapart.com/topics/design/

They talk about designs, layouts, and in many of their articles -- the HTML & CSS required to make it happen.

Steve Wortham 2009-09-17 17:50:13

+1 A:

I consistently refer to this article when asked this question. This is by far the most to-the-point summary you can read:

http://wefunction.com/2009/04/quality-within-web-design/

The first 4 points I believe would apply to you the most. Here's a quick synopsis:

Spacing
Pixel Perfect Detail
Well thought out Typography
Organization of Elements
Restraint & Subtlety
Using Colour to it’s Full Potential
Doing something Nobody else has done

Josh 2009-09-17 17:50:58

Very cool article indeed.

Steve Wortham 2009-09-17 18:02:19

There is one thing I disagree with, and that's their examples under the "Doing something Nobody else has done" section. Funky navigation is rarely a good idea for usability. And in my opinion usability really should be the primary concern.

Steve Wortham 2009-09-17 18:21:07

+3 A:

Just Don't Make Me Think.

Wyatt Barnett 2009-09-17 17:51:47

Fantastic usability book, I also suggest that the op for this question give SERIOUS consideration to usability testing with mockups.

Mayo 2009-09-17 17:58:12

I found it rather simple. I come from a background of e-commerce usability optimization, and I'll say if you have any experience in this field, this book is not going to make you any smarter.

orokusaki 2010-02-05 04:54:33

Hypothesize. Test. Reiterate. Iterative testing is the most important thing you can do because it gives you objective evidence as to what actually works. If you were doing an external website, you would have an analytics package that you could use for this. With an internal website, pull some of your colleagues in from the hallway and ask them to use the new layout while you observe them. You'll learn a lot by watching your users and you can make changes based on what you learn.

VirtuosiMedia 2009-09-17 17:56:05

Well the FIRST thing for web is the browser box model.

Mark Schultheiss 2009-09-17 17:58:19

ansaurus

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First thing to know about improving website layout and design

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