On: How can a programmer learn to design websites that don’t suck

[oleganza]

The first thing you'll notice in this article is that each section header is closer to the previous paragraph than to the next one.

[gb → oleganza]

Also the text is fully justified, which is generally not the way to go on the web.

[beshrkayali → gb]

Maybe out of context, but I really hate justified text.

[pedalpete → oleganza]

I only noticed it after your mentioned it. Yes, it is true, maybe a pixel or so.

But that doesn't negate the content of the article, it just shows that the author is still a programmer learning to design.

[Tenhundfeld → oleganza]

Actually the first thing I noticed was the typos (or grammar and spelling mistakes).

Even with its blemishes, the article still has a nice message: decent design is pretty simple and gets easier if you just keep at it.

[haakon → oleganza]

I did not notice and still cannot see it. I guess I'm a programmer.

[ritonlajoie → oleganza]

I don't see it

[anthonyb → ritonlajoie]

The headers are not visually associated with their paragraphs. So you have this:

  para para para para
  
  Header
  
  para para para para

instead of:

  para para para para
  
  Header
  para para para para

Not sure that the ascii art does it justice, but that's hopefully clearer.

[samdk → anthonyb]

It's actually not that. Spacing a header equally between preceding and following paragraphs can work fine. There's an obvious association with the following paragraph, because headers are expected to come before content, and so you don't need to imply that association visually.

In this case, the header is closer to the preceding paragraph (~15px) than to the following paragraph (~19px). It's visually implying a connection that doesn't exist, which is why it's problematic.

[bjz → oleganza]

I think this highlights something that is missing from the article. That is, the importance of hierarchy. Colour, contrast, position and weight (ie. 'boldness') are all highly important in communicating the order of importance. One should be able to squint a distance away from the page and know instantly where the most important elements are.