

How to Spot Quality within Web Design: Examples & Tips - anuraggoel
http://wefunction.com/2009/04/quality-within-web-design/

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krav
Way too focused on pretty design. Give me a simple, clean site with a single
big call-to-action button.

In the end, detail to what converts users matters, not typography or richness
of color.

~~~
JoelSutherland
I disagree. Here are the 7 points:

1\. Spacing

2\. Pixel Perfect Detail

3\. Well thought out Typography

4\. Organization of Elements

5\. Restraint and Subtlety

6\. Using Color to its Full Potential

7\. Doing something Nobody else has done

Considering the content of each of the points, I would argue that at worst
only 2 and 7 focus on form over function. If you're a person that has a hard
time telling if a design is good or not this is a great list.

Also, design must start somewhere. You cannot A/B test starting from a blank
page.

~~~
foulmouthboy
And even then, item 2 is a simple example of how attention to seemingly slight
details can draw the eye to site features without resorting to a big button.

~~~
potatolicious
It also sets ambience and establishes your brand image subconsciously. You
wouldn't try serving $50 steaks in a run-down diner, so why would you try to
sell an upscale product on a site with no attention to detail?

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saturdayplace
One of the best resources for getting typography right on the web:
<http://www.webtypography.net/>.

~~~
nocman
I found it amusing how awful the text (or should I say "the typography") for
the introduction and table of contents from that site looks in Firefox on
Linux (on my machine). I'm sure it is due to the site using fonts not availble
in my installation, or something similar to that. Still, it was amusing. I'd
be curious to hear if others had the same experience. In case anyone cares, I
can't remember the last time I had the text on a web site look so bad with
this setup. I visit a lot of sites, and I haven't had one look this bad for a
long time. It is still readable, but if it was my site on web typography, I
wouldn't want it to look that way.

~~~
thristian
It looks pretty great to me (using a Firefox 3.5 nightly under Linux), but
then I've configured Firefox to use the Android system fonts, and unticked
"Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above". It's
amazing how much better pages look when they use a _nice_ font, instead of
whatever lowest-common-denominator font the original author put up with.

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yan
Beautifully composed. Makes me wish I was graphically talented...

~~~
noodle
Beautifully composed. Makes me want to go back and revamp most of my designs.

~~~
timcederman
What is this, Reddit?

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noodle
wow. this severely disappoints me. i've never posted or really read reddit
ever. i tried to be a little clever in my response (operative word: tried) and
get crushed. if i would've rephrased my response it would've likely gone
unnoticed.

this anti-reddit fervor that has been developing over the last few months
seems to have converted itself into a "no fun allowed" atmosphere, and that
just plain sucks. that is not how a community works.

~~~
bdr
Your first sentence literally added zero new information, because, as you
know, it was also present in the parent post. Content comes before fun.

I didn't downvote you. I just want to let you know how people vote on this
site. People also appreciate capitalization.

~~~
noodle
i know, i've been here for more than a year and was on the top 100 list for a
while. no need to patronize.

what i wrote was not present in the parent post. this article literally made
me go back and check, revamp, and do mild redesigns to almost every site that
i have control over. this is statement of fact that i tried to express in an
apparently disagreeable manner in my op.

~~~
bdr
I was referring to "Beautifully composed." That sentence is why your post was
modded down so much.

~~~
noodle
and again, like i said, i was attempting to be clever/funny. clearly failed,
and i admit that. but that doesn't mean there wasn't content there. two
innocuous, inoffensive words actually ruined the post?

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logjam
The many misspellings and grammatical errors in an article pushing the
importance of pretty, colored, 1px borders as an indicator of "quality" just
looks like the same old advocacy of flash over substance.

No thanks. We've had enough of that over the last decade.

~~~
michael_dorfman
I was wondering why I would want to "Design using a gird system"

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mechanical_fish
I was going to joke that it was like that playset I used to have as a kid:
"Girders and Panels":

<http://bit.ly/scqR6>

But then I realized that it might not be a joke. Designing in a grid system
_does_ remind me of "Girders and Panels".

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mahmud
Great article!

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_pius
This is a superb article.

