Best Practices For Great Web Design
Installing Internet Explorer 8 provided a great reminder of how complicated it is to produce great web site designs. Just read the explanation of how Microsoft Is Expanding Support for Web Standards
Internet Explorer 8 has been designed to include three rendering modes: one that reflects Microsoft’s implementation of current Web standards, a second reflecting Microsoft’s implementation of Web standards at the time of the release of Internet Explorer 7 in 2006, and a third based on rendering methods dating back to the early Web. The newest rendering mode is forward-looking and preferred by Web designers, while the others are present to enable compatibility with the myriad sites across the Web that are currently optimized for previous versions of Internet Explorer.
That is the reality of the online world that Microsoft has created through its continued support of the legacy websites that were designed with prior versions of Internet Explorer. On top of that you have the problem that different browsers interpret the web standards in different ways in such matters as the width concept (padding in or out, etc.). No wonder web designers need all the help they can get in coping with this complex world.
Some people have tried to produce checklists that will help the web designer develop with best practices in mind. For example, Terry Morris has a Web Design Best Practices Checklist. He covers in detail such topics as Page Layout, Browser Compatibility, Navigation, Color and Graphics, Multimedia, Content Presentation, Functionality and Accessibility. It is good as far as it goes, but it does not cover the big picture.
Robin Good casts the net wider with his 20 Rules Of Smart And Successful Web-development. However again it relates much more to the visitor experience on the website, than how the website should achieve whatever goals may have been set.
Ensuring you know what you are trying to achieve and measuring your progress towards those goals is an essential part of effective website management. This covers more than just what is important in web design. It must also deal with how the website is marketed for maximum relevant traffic and how visitors to the website ‘convert’ to become clients or at least warm prospects.
This is what Andreas Huttenrauch, Internet Strategy Consultant and Web Architect, covers in his guide to Web Development Best Practices. That of course includes what might be designated as Best Practices in Web Design, which are covered in great detail. In addition based on almost two decades of experience, he covers all other necessary topics including legal requirements and obligations and security matters. Only a well-rounded guide like this can ensure all critical issues are handled successfully.
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April 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
That’s a nifty feature in IE8. MS is not really known to follow and support ‘web standards’ or standards of any kind for that matter. Coming back to best practices, I have often found designers putting a LOT of emphasis on eye candy part of the design and not concentrating on functionality and features. Those are good resources you have listed, will probably just bookmark them for now.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:29 am
I’ve tried IE latest version, and to be honest, it’s much better than the IE7, although there’s still a little bit downward in the security system matters, Barry.
April 27th, 2009 at 3:53 am
I would rather agree what Jeet has said. I do not think Microsoft all the time follow web standards. Sometimes web designers think out of the conventional box.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Nice article. You have listed good resources. IE 8 is much better than IE7, but I read that it has security problems.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
It seems like IE 8 is taking quite a long time to catch on. I mean the vast majority of my Visitors are still stuck on iE7 or older!
May 21st, 2009 at 12:12 am
This is one thing that gives even more trouble to the developer who is handling the design because now he must make the design compatible with ie7, ie8 and other browsers as well.