STAA Conference, Washington DC, January 2002
Bells and whistles
Can be good, are often bad, and many need to be widely tested A short list:
- Flash movies
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- (always provide an escape)
- Dark colours and type that can't be read on some monitors
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- (an example, an English Department that should know better)
- Frames
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- (only the first page can be bookmarked)
- Cascading style sheets
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- (can be classy, but need modern browser and processor)
- Animations (and rotating bullets)
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- (distract from the message -- do you really want to know this man?)
- Javascript doodads
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- Rollovers
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- (do they tell you anything? they slow loading time)
- Pop-up menus
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- (they can work, but why complicate things?)
- Graphics that don't have a function or are cluttered, or both
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- (people will click on them anyway -- an example of a site that deserves no curtain call)
- Trying too hard and assuming your audience knows who you are
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- (an example -- do you know what tdf means?)
- Coloured text that doesn't link to anything and just shouts
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- (more wasted clicks -- and do you really think that this site is about quality entertainment?)
Red check marks highlight points that will be of interest to established sites as well as new ones.
