STAA Conference: Bells and Whistles
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
- (always provide an escape)
- Dark colours and type that can't be read on some monitors
- (an example, an English Department that should know better)
- Frames
- (only the first page can be bookmarked)
- Cascading style sheets
- (can be classy, but need modern browser and processor)
- Animations (and rotating bullets)
- (distract from the message -- do you really want to know this man?)
- Javascript doodads
- Rollovers
- (do they tell you anything? they slow loading time)
- Pop-up menus
- (they can work, but why complicate things?)
- Graphics that don't have a function or are cluttered, or both
- (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
- (an example -- do you know what tdf means?)
- Coloured text that doesn't link to anything and just shouts
- (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.