thinking question...

[ColdSteel]

I was wondering people's opinion on a foundational web-design concept...which is more needed when designing a site, the looks, or the productivity (as in ease of use). Will most agree that it is a mix of both? Or is it "Just Depends" like on the situation? Thanks for the opinions...

[Dark Dragon]

Well, I do like a site that looks nice, well organized and has a few interesting images.

But I also like having a site where the link names are clear and tell you via the name where they go...some sites I have seen had links that had odd names but no "Tool Tip" thingee that told you what it did or where it links to.

So a pleasant mixture of both attributes is most helpful.

[Daria]

In other words, organized crap or unorganized beauty?

It's gotta be both - organized beauty, of course. (with a scale tipping a bit both ways depending on situation, like, when people don't have a budget to spend for artwork, etc).


If the site has killer look, you will woo and waa over it, but you will not come back (maybe once more, but why?) if it doesn't function right. It's kind of like a great-looking, modern shoe, that doesn't fit right. You'll be in love with it buying, but you'll put it away relatively fast, if it will hurt your feet.

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On the other side: the answer will look on the type of people you ask. Artist will leen toward "visual", technogeek will say "functional".

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On the OTHER side, opinion of the developer does not necessarily reflect an opinion of a client: most of potential clients judge you by the look and feel first...

[pyro]

Obviously, it is a combination of both. But, functionality/accessibility must come first and formost. Start by making an accessible site that works. From there, start adding design elements to add beauty/interactivity... What you'll have when your done is the best of both worlds... ;)

[Jona]

Originally posted by pyro
Obviously, it is a combination of both. But, functionality/accessibility must come first and formost. Start by making an accessible site that works. From there, start adding design elements to add beauty/interactivity... What you'll have when your done is the best of both worlds... ;)

Couldn't have said it better myself, pyro!! :) (Wait... actually, I'm so awesome, I probably could have. :D lol J/K :p)

[J]ona

[ColdSteel]

Hey. thanks everyone for your input...really thought it was good...especially yours Pyro, But your input is almost always the best anyway , or maybe I should take off the "almost"....hmmm, anyway thanks all....

[pyro]

hehe... happy to help, man... :)

[ColdSteel]

BTW Daria, I liked your correlation between "organized beauty" and "organized crap"...hehe, never thought of putting it that way....Also, since Dark Dragon brought up Tool-tips, I had a question...Is there situations where tool-tips do more to confuse than to inform? If you know of examples of both pages that use tool-tips good, and sites that use tool-tips in a bad way, I'd be interested in seeing the sites...also, anyone ever seen anyone that was a mixture between visual artist and technogeek? It seems if we had more people that were a mixture of both, than we could get the job done by one person, in better time, and the graphics wouldn't overpower the internal workings, or the workings overpower the graphics since we had one mind working on both; well, I guess I've asked enough questions for this reply....